Took me a few minutes to figure out to go to the first page to see Joe C’s mention, but there it was:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/74041912.html?page=1&c=y

It’s probably not even worth rehashing this but OK Patrick, I guess that runs scored mean something. In a literal sense that and outs are all that count in baseball. But then RBI is already a slippery slope into “make believe” OPS-land. What happens when you ground into a double play and a run scores Pat? Could that be an arbitrary exception to a made-up scoring rule?

And who needs OBP when there’s a nice, clean stat like batting average, a tried and true stat with no weird quirks or glaring oversights. And of course we’re stuck with RBIs because no one’s come up with a more direct way to figure out power by, say, totaling up the number of bases a batter and averaging it out per PA.

I also like how he mentions Liriano as a turkey. Maybe that’s deserved, but he attributes Liriano’s problems to being “thick, disorganized, and stubborn.” I’m not sure what Liriano’s problems were this year, but I really doubt he was just too stubborn to improve.

Reusse is vying for the spot that Souhan currently holds: most disliked Minneapolis/St. Paul writer. We’re quite lucky to have two of them in the cities.

Have a nice Thanksgiving, Twinkie Town. :)

Reusse is retarded

For his assessment of Liriano…..shut the F….up Reusse. A guy that went through major Tommy John, um, most pitchers have taken awhile to completely rebound from that one. Wonder how well Reusse would do if his writing arm went through that. Wait a minute, maybe not, he would have too much down time to think of more idiotic things to say.

As far as Wilf, Im just as frustrated as he is over things. Hell, Redneck McCombs had no desire to keep the Vikings in Minnesota and in about a year was pulling the “build it” or I’ll leave. In the meant time, he did what he could to bleed the Vikes dry. WIlf has not only spent money to right the ship, but spent the money to get this team poised to a run to the Super Bowl. Doesn’t sound like a guy that is saying to hell with Minnesota.

I wiold have to say my turkey award, more like “Take them out of the gene pool” award goes to Reusse. But then again, over the years wether when I still lived in Minnesota and since living in New Mexico, Reusse has always provided plenty of mindless entertainment and laughs.

Man, now I’m spending my Thanksgiving with an image of Reusse, all lathered up in a butter glaze, roasting in a turkey pan. Arrgh!

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!

Reusse’s piece was original, entertaining, and he got paid for it. Kind of a triple crown of writing.

Easy to see why some people are jealous.

Trolls are mean.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Parts of the column were well written and entertaining. Reusse has an occasional gem and is one of the better sports writers around. But to call OPS a “make-believe” stat in this day and age proves that he is a baseball ignoramus. And to throw your colleague under the bus for using a stat that 95% of baseball writers rely on (including Sir Sid) is asinine.

I’m watching the classic black and white Home Run Derby on ESPN Classic right now. Harmon Killebrew vs Willie Mays. Man, Killer’s swing was really sweet. Willie Mays had the typical swing of his era—all out on his front foot. Killer’s swing is timeless. That being said, Mays still beat him! I think I may have to buy an old school Minneapolis Millers jersey with Mays number on it.

Okay, so that wasn’t a tangent. It was a complete off topic post. Sorry, but I had to share with someone.