NYT on the "Moneyball Ethic" and Its Universal Importance
This is a nice article. The premise, or thesis, is that the team composition of this year's playoffs proves that "it's all Moneyball now." The Greinke trade is mentioned, but the Royals current status is not referenced. I particularly liked this passage:
Thanks partly to the cultural phenomenon of "Moneyball," which demonstrated that teams didn’t need a big payroll to win, we’re all small-market fans now, no longer rooting for the hapless underdog — sorry, Mets and Cubs — but for the team that is doing more with less.
It’s a subtle but significant distinction and it has unmistakable political overtones, especially during this time of rising class resentment. You didn’t have to spend the day dancing around the drum circle in Zuccotti Park to see Game 5 of the Yankees-Tigers division series in New York — with its constant cutaways to those slick-suited men hunched over their BlackBerrys in the Legends Suites — as more than just a baseball game. (It may be time to update the old cliché that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel. Today, it’s more like rooting for Goldman Sachs.)
Discuss. - TL
8 months ago
timlacy
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Comments
The fact that the author considers the Cubs and Mets
at #6 and #7 in MLB in 2011 payroll to be “hapless underdogs” completely counters the thesis of the article.
Yeah, that is a weird reference
They certainly are “hapless”, but they’re underdogs of their own doing, not of some financial or market constraint.
Kila's slash for Apr 20 to May 4, 2011, right before he was sent down: .276 / .344 / .448
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Oct 14, 2011 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions
The Cubs' market constraint is...
…that a weird portion of their market doesn’t want them to succeed—-wants them to be the loveable losers.
"Sir,--It has been wittily remarked that there are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third and most aggravated is statistics." *The National Observer* (June 13, 1891): p. 93-94.
It that his point?
We don’t feel sorry for those lovable loser Cubs because they are big market teams. Class war. Middle America, middle class teams are in the playoffs. He is equating screw the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies vibe, to screw those Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sach.
But it's substantially less than...
…the Yankees and the Dodgers—-and even the Cubs.
"Sir,--It has been wittily remarked that there are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third and most aggravated is statistics." *The National Observer* (June 13, 1891): p. 93-94.
This would be my issue with this article
The Tigers and Rangers aren’t exactly low budget small market. And the Rangers are poised to move into shouting distance of the Red Sox and Yankee’s payrolls with their new TV deal.
If Tampa would've won
Different story
If the Jaguars beat the Steelers I will record my self singing "Living La Vida Loca"
while dressed as the cowboy from "Village People"
by tiquanunderwear on Oct 15, 2011 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Rooting for the Yamlees is just plain wrong UNLESS
1. You are from there
2. You were branwashed at an early age..
It may be time to update the old cliché that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel. Today, it’s more like rooting for Goldman Sachs.)
Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for Lex Luthot to finally beat Superman..
"Stay Classy Kansas City"
Are The Yamlees
Yam Fun Kam Fun’s arch nemesis?
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Oct 15, 2011 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Every single girl in my HS
is a “Yankees fan”…only knows Derek Jeter
If the Jaguars beat the Steelers I will record my self singing "Living La Vida Loca"
while dressed as the cowboy from "Village People"
by tiquanunderwear on Oct 15, 2011 7:31 PM EDT up reply actions
He even puts TL at the end of his fan shots
GOD DAMNIT
If the Jaguars beat the Steelers I will record my self singing "Living La Vida Loca"
while dressed as the cowboy from "Village People"
by tiquanunderwear on Oct 15, 2011 3:50 PM EDT reply actions 6 recs



















