Just a few inches to the right of where you're reading this, you'll find a handful of links that I humbly recommend. Continuing an unfunny running joke from my Friday Music News Bootleg days, all of the links fall under the "General Haberdashery" heading.
All I remember is that I stole that line from an old episode of King of the Hill. And, considering the source material, it's hard to believe that I ever thought it was funny enough to use as a non sequitur title in the first place.
Anyways, I wanted to write a few words to assure you that these links are worth your time. Just a quick synopsis, with both positives and negatives, in an attempt to make your internet experience a little more enjoyable.
And, yes, I can appreciate the irony of that last sentence, while all of you are here visiting TBG.
Fire Joe Morgan
Synopsis: A rabid media watchdog that's gained quite a large following and a good deal of mainstream pub, FJM critiques the abundance of bad sports journalism that's out there with an emphasis on baseball. They save their most tasty disdain for the work of ESPN baseball analyst, Joe Morgan.
Positives: FJM pulls no punches in taking writers and broadcasters to task for perpetuating clichéd subject matter like "intangibles", "intensity", "grit" and "gumption" (all those "Heart of David Eckstein" stories were easy pickings during last year's World Series). Their assertions are backed up with stats, while their "know-it-all" approach is what can be best described as "enjoyably obnoxious". FJM also has no shame in re-printing previously published material in its entirety, some of which is hidden behind "pay/premium" walls like ESPN Insider.
Negatives: FJM leans heavily on non-traditional baseball stats like VORP, WARP and other sabermetric magic. So, if you're not into Baseball Prospectus or Bill James, a lot will be lost on you. I've recommended this site to other baseball fans, but if you believe that Darin Erstad's squinty, taciturn style equates to "talent", you won't enjoy FJM. Updates can be erratic during the baseball season and nonexistent in the off-season (but, the archives are abundant with goodness).
One Sentence Summary: Who doesn't like a site that supports an increase in African-American unemployment?
Next Week: Low Resolution (Uh oh, Joe!)
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3 comments:
I love FJM. Any site that regularly slags Joe Morgan, Michael Kay, Rob Dibble and Bill Plaschke is alright by me.
Remember who owns your wife, dude.
I've been reading it for a couple months now (in fact, its rss folder is directly below yours), and it's quite enjoyable. It's definitely better when they are disecting non-sensical arguments, rather than "well, of COURSE Player X is the MVP, he has a VORP of 12.276!" Especially enjoyable is when any columnist does a column trashing Moneyball when it's clear that they've never read it and think it only comes down to "get OBP, and dump players with good baseball sense". It's about market forces, jackasses!
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