| 0 |
Subject: Jon Miller Should Stick to Baseball
Posted by: KrazyKoalaBears
- [354152921] Sun, Aug 05, 2007, 20:42
I haven't been around this board for a while, but I couldn't resist this. I'm watching the NYM/CHC game and they cut to a "30 at 30 Update" about Kurt Busch winning at Pocono. Miller's response?
"Thanks, Steve. And Joe, I'm the first to admit it. I know Kurt Busch is good, but I thought no way he could win at Pocono. But, he proved me wrong; showed me up. What a surprise for me."
Given that I had Busch starting on my Yahoo team this week, I was dumbfounded. Surely I hadn't selected Busch because he was horrible at Pocono, had I?
Of course not! Including today's win, Busch has 1 fifth place finish, 4 second place finishes, and 2 wins! All in 14 career races. In other words, he's finished 5th or higher in half his races there. Actually, he's finished first or second in JUST under half his races there. He also dominated his win there in July 2005, much like he did today. Check out the stats!
Hey, hen, if you're reading, tell Jon Miller to stick to baseball and stop trying to make small talk about sports he knows nothing about. |
| 1 | Frick
Donor
ID: 3410101718
Sun, Aug 05, 2007, 21:14
|
I'm not sure what to tell you KKB. In my opinion the vast majority of ESPN anchors know just enough about sports to keep their jobs. Other than catch phrases, good looks and being able to sound good most of them have a serious lack of sports knowledge, or they aren't allowed to show it. I used to watch SportsCenter every day, now I just flip to ESPNews and watch the crawler. Even seeing the highlights, they normally don't show important parts of the game, but what will look flashy on the highlight reel. I'm sure it's great for ratings, but it turns me away.
|
| 2 | Great One
ID: 201155199
Sun, Aug 05, 2007, 21:19
|
They should have showed video of Busch singing at the Cubs game a few weeks ago (w/ tonights game being at Wrigley)... great job of producing!
|
| 3 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 710321114
Mon, Aug 06, 2007, 00:51
|
Agreed - that was a pretty incorrect comment to make. It's out of character for Miller - he generally covers other sports quite well.
You knows who's great at the cross-sport coverage? Scott Van Pelt. Watch him sometime. Berman too. Berman may be all about the catch-phrases, but he knows a lot of stuff about a lot of sports.
|
| 4 | Building 7
Sustainer
ID: 171572711
Mon, Aug 06, 2007, 09:50
|
ESPN anchors are also required to watch Caddyshack about 10 times.
|
| 5 | blue hen
ID: 16322314
Mon, Aug 06, 2007, 12:00
|
According to one unbiased website, Miller's folly was not the worst of the night. Click and find out...
|
| 6 | KrazyKoalaBears
ID: 354152921
Mon, Aug 06, 2007, 22:22
|
Yeah, Morgan also said it didn't look like Soriano would miss much, if any, time because, according to him, Soriano was reacting to a hamstring issue and not a quad issue.
An MRI revealed a small tear in the right quadriceps of Alfonso Soriano, increasing his estimated time on the sidelines to as much as six weeks.
Good call, Joe.
Then again, we expect this of Joe. Not so much with Jon.
|
| 7 | blue hen
ID: 16322314
Tue, Aug 07, 2007, 13:33
|
Joe, from today's chat:
Carl (NY): Hey Joe, watched you gorwin up, you were one of the best ever! How much does switching leagues hurt a player, say like Luis Castillo, who played their entire career in the other league?
Joe Morgan: It used to be a big difference in the leagues. The umpires used to be different. The AL was a breaking ball league. The NL was a fastball league. It's changed now because the umpires are all the same, the players switch leagues more.
|
| 8 | blue hen
ID: 16322314
Wed, Sep 12, 2007, 14:58
|
John (Chicago, IL): Joe, who do you think, in your opinion, is going to represent the AL in the World Series this year and why? I like Boston because they have the best run differential in baseball and their pitching top to bottom has been statistically the best all year. What do you think?
Joe Morgan: Well the run differential means nothing. It is like OPS, it mean nothing in the grander scheme of things.The Dbacks differential is on the minus side, at one point it hit minus 40, and yet they were in first place. Arizona wins a lot of close games and then every now and then gets beaten up. To me it is more meaningful to win close games. But what does mean something is consitent starting pitching, relief pitching and offense, which they have shown. So I do agree that the Red Sox are the favorite. But in a short series the Yankees can hang with anyone.
|
| 9 | KrazyKoalaBears
ID: 48859158
Sun, Sep 16, 2007, 22:47
|
Run differential doesn't matter, but pitching (runs allowed) and offense (runs scored) do.
Yep, pretty much Classic Joe Morgan.
|
| 10 | blue hen
ID: 16322314
Mon, Sep 17, 2007, 11:45
|
He is right about one thing - if a team has a great run-differential, they won't make the playoffs if they don't convert it to wins.
I'm not totally convinced that OPS "means nothing in the grander scheme" - I bet the ratio of OPS to OPS allowed is a lot more in line with winning percent (overall) than just about any other stat Morgan has heard of.
|
| 11 | Toral
ID: 575542418
Mon, Sep 17, 2007, 12:18
|
The irony of the comment is that has there been no serious-fan recognition of OPS -- specifically the on-base average component -- Joe Morgan would not be recognized today, as he now is, as either the 1st or 2nd greatest 2Bman of all time, depending on how you compare him with Hornsby, considering Hornsby's poor fielding and reputation as a jackass and clubhouse poison (and possible improvement of play over time, the absence of blacks when Hornsby was playing, etc.)
Joe Morgan was a great offensive player because, in addition to his other skills, he walked 100 times every year. Well actually not 100...usually more -- he put together years of 115, 111, 120, 132, 114, and 117 walks. He also had great power in his prime of course -- but if you look at his lines in Total Baseball the black type (representing league leadership) is mostly in on-base percentage -- a component of OPS, needless to say.
Many simulation baseball players (Strat-O-Matic, APBA, etc.) learned the importance of walks by looking at Joe Morgan's card (and also that of his old teammate Jimmy Wynn, who Joe criticizes in his autobio as a guy who never tried enough, who eventually stopped caring about anything except homers). 100 walks a year and can steal bases -- he was an offensive force as soon as he came into the league, at a time when in real life, he was not even recognized as an especially good player.
Joe is a brilliant announcer in one specific aspect -- noting where second basemen play in a double-play situation, whether they are 'cheating' towards the bag in order to get ready for a DP, noting when they have done so successfully and pulled off a double, noting when they didn't cheat enough to turn the twin, and also when they can't get to a ball hit between 1B and 2B because they were (correctly) cheating towards the bag. That is because Joe, when he came up, was a butcher, and taught himself (with help, he often credits Nellie Fox, who was with him in Houston) how to be a good defensive 2Bman. So he recognizes that.
The skills that came to him naturally he doesn't recognize. And he also repeats as gospel the things he 'learned' as part of the Big Red Machine. 'The only thing that counts for a (starting) pitcher is wins.' He says that because when guys like Jack Billingham were pitching for the Reds, they could win 18 or 19 games even when they were mediocre.
Toral
|
|
|
|
Post a reply to this message: (But first, how about checking out this sponsor?)
|
|