Baseball for the Thinking Fan

Login | Register | Feedback

btf_logo
You are here > Home > Baseball Newsstand > Baseball Primer Newsblog > Discussion
Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Basebology (The Study of Baseball): Tim McCarver making sense

Stop the World - I Want to Get Offed!

Since the Cubs were playing, Joe started rambling on about their supposedly cursed past. That Kosuke Fukudome appeared recently on the cover of Sports Illustrated also served as fodder for Joe’s discussion of famous jinxes. Joe remarked that Fukudome had gone 4-4 the day after the his cover issue hit the stand. After musing over Fukudome’s ignorance of Cubs history and the variety of curses associated with them, he then asked Tim if he believed in curses or jinxes.

Now, it would be normal for Tim to play along with this silly idea. Tim however chose to rather bluntly shoot it down. “No,” he said, “I don’t believe in curses or jinxes or anything like that.”

Buck then decided to bait McCarver by talking about how poorly McCarver had played after his two appearances on the cover of SI. McCarver responded again bluntly: “Can’t a guy just play badly? What can’t a guy just not play well? You don’t need some curse or jinx to play poorly. Haven’t we come far enough as a society not to believe in those things?”

Buck disagreed. He was probably being facetious, but I don’t care. This whole superstitious curse nonsense is junk. It was junk for the Red Sox and it’s junk for the Cubs. Yeah, it’s marginally funny, but only for so long. I’m tired about hearing about the freakin’ Billy Goat. I don’t want to hear about black cats.

Tim McCarver, at least for five minutes, was a stalwart defender of the scientific way of looking at things, of reason and common sense, of not being an idiot.

Repoz Posted: May 04, 2008 at 12:07 AM | 9 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralAnnouncersTelevision

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Page 1 of 1 pages
   1. pthomas Posted: May 04, 2008 at 01:20 AM (#2768291)
Thank God I still watch Fox Baseball with the sound muted.
   2. Debs Posted: May 04, 2008 at 05:24 AM (#2768320)
A short list of luminaries who believed in jinxes and curses:

William Shakespeare
Rembrandt
Ernest Hemingway
William Faulkner
Dwight Eisenhower
Yogi Berra

There are mysterious forces at work in this Universe. Tim McCarver knows jack.
   3. Jon Koltz Posted: May 04, 2008 at 07:23 AM (#2768331)
What, so because Ike and Yogi believe(d) in curses, that means that they exist?
   4. xdog Posted: May 04, 2008 at 08:29 AM (#2768335)
Yogi exists, Ike doesn't.
   5. TerpNats Posted: May 04, 2008 at 09:41 AM (#2768348)
It's needed for the storyline for Fox and other media. Without curses, the Cubs are the pre-2005 White Sox...and who (beyond Chicago) cared about them?
   6. Hello Rusty Kuntz, Goodbye Rusty Cars Posted: May 04, 2008 at 10:15 AM (#2768359)
Other than Bartman, the Cubs haven't really had bad luck like the Red Sox had. They've just sucked.
   7. Tricky Dick Posted: May 04, 2008 at 10:45 AM (#2768373)
A short list of luminaries who believed in jinxes and curses:

William Shakespeare
Rembrandt
Ernest Hemingway
William Faulkner
Dwight Eisenhower
Yogi Berra


Five out of six of those people are dead. What more evidence do you need that jinxes exist?
   8. Miss Remember Posted: May 04, 2008 at 11:29 AM (#2768390)
He doesn't believe in curses but he does believe in situational stats based off of 5 ABs.
   9. Third True Outcome Posted: May 04, 2008 at 12:38 PM (#2768415)
Say Mr. blind squirrel, how does that nut taste?
Page 1 of 1 pages

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

 

<< Back to main

Support BBTF

donate

My Bookmarks

You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.

Vivid Seats is a sports ticket broker, concert ticket broker and theater ticket broker offering the best baseball tickets like Yankees tickets, Cubs tickets, and Red Sox tickets, as well as Police reunion tour tickets and Jersey Boys tickets.

Ticket Nest sells Braves, Cubs, Padres, Indians, Marlins, Nuts, Pirates, Rangers, Patriots, Royals, Stars, Tides, Tigers, Twins, Phillies, Wings, Mets, Yankees, Angels, Dodgers tickets, and Dragons tickets.

Live the Experience when you buy Yankees Tickets, Red Sox Tickets, Rockies Tickets, Cleveland Indian Tickets, Padres Tickets, all MLB Tickets, NFL Tickets, Wicked Tickets at Tickets3D.com

Tickets Made Simple when you buy Yankees Tickets, Red Sox Tickets, Rockies Tickets, Cleveland Indian Tickets, Mariners Tickets, MLB Tickets, Seahawks Tickets, and all at Seattletixx.com

Buy Cheap MLB Tickets

Concerts Theatre NFL Angels Dodgers MLB Celtics Theater NBA Tickets Venues NHL Lakers Tickets NFL Yankees NHL Phillies NBA Wicked Marlins MLB Concerts Cubs Mets Red Sox Wicked WWE Red Sox Mets Yankees Dodgers

Page rendered in 1.1685 seconds
81 querie(s) executed