Some early Bracketology and offseason whimsy ...
In the West region….
#4 38 Pitches: The tourney’s most famous name, Curt Schilling, checks in with his extremely popular baseball blog where he tells it like it is according to the Schill. It’s hard to find a bigger name who actually writes his own material. Not many pics but you probably don’t want to see any skin on this site.
#13 BBTF Baseball Primer:
Welcome to the worst matchup of the tourney. It’s going to be nearly impossible to beat a Hall of Famer. However, you can tell your grandchildren. BBTF is yet another baseball geekfest. But they do it well. You’ll find a lively comments section here.
First of all: Are we all really sure that Schilling’s a Hall of Famer? HoM guys, care to weigh in? And second of all, we’re much, much more than a geekfest.
I think you all know what to do.
(Eds. Note - the link does have some banner ads featuring girls in swimsuits, so may be less-than-safe-for-work)
Other baseball blogs in the field after the jump…
West Region
No. 15 Athletics Nation vs. No. 2 ESPN’s True Hoop (NBA)
No. 5 Extra Bases vs. No. 12 Storming the Floor (College Hoops)
No. 6 Fire Joe Morgan vs. No. 11 Sactown Royalty (Sacramento Kings)
No. 8 Home Run Derby vs No. 9 You’ve Been Blinded
East Region
No. 4 Hardball Times vs. No. 13 Forum Blue and Gold (LA Lakers)
No. 6 Bugs and Cranks vs. No. 11 Bleacher Report (general)
No. 9 BPro Unfiltered vs. No. 8 Football Outsiders
Midwest Region
No. 2 MLB Trade Rumors vs. No. 15 Joe Sports Fan (general)
No. 5 Baseball Musings vs. No. 12 We are The Postmen (general)
No. 7 Baseball Analysts vs No. 10 Epic Carnival (general)
No. 8 Pete Abe’s LoHud Yankee Blog vs. No. 9 Golden State of Mind (Warriors basketball)
South Region
No. 4 Baseball Prospectus vs. No. 13 Larry Brown Sports (general)
No. 12 John Sickels’ Minor League Ball vs. No. 5 Need4Sheed (Rasheed Wallace/Pistons)
No. 6 MetsBlog vs. No. 11 The Sports Hernia (general)
Reader Comments and Retorts
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At the end of the day, I don't particularly care whether BTF or 38 Pitches wins (and I think the site's administrators would be perfectly justified in throwing both out). What irks me is that this site went to the trouble of setting up what was supposed to be a fun endeavor for people interested in sports blogs, and a couple of dumba$$es kind of spoiled it simply because they could. It sucks for the guys at Busted Coverage, whoever they may be.
Does 38pitches allow comments?
Presuming there's no other issue, thanks for the opportunity to respond here and clear everything up.
The opportunity is always here; we're an open forum. ;-)
Yes, and they can be very entertaining.
Ruin this place? How about create it? You should be thanking him for putting up with intolerable comments like this one. It's crap like this why some of us that were part of the early days just lurk now rather than participate. Ungrateful bastards.
No kidding?
They were merely the most histrionic. For others expressing similar dismay at the outcome of this faceoff, scroll up.
Ruin this place? How about create it?
I was unclear. We have someone who has banned posters, suspended posters, and created registration, on grounds that certain people were "ruining" the site. To me, compelling the departure one of the great baseball minds and informative posters this site has had hurt the site FAR worse than any of the above. Tango's loss didn't "ruin" the site, but it was more damaging most other things which have been attacked in the past.
It's crap like this why some of us that were part of the early days just lurk now rather than participate.
On the other hand, absolutely no one remembers or misses your contributions, so I can understand why you'd be so upset.
For someone who joined on September 27, 2007 you sure seem like you know what's happened in this site.
Both sites should be suspended for 1/4 of the season.
I must say I'm surprised that this thread here got over 200 responses and the one at SoSH didn't even hit 40.
Why? BBTF is in the tournament; SoSH is not.
Hey, all my F!@3ing votes for Rory were legit.
This has been an interesting thread. Its nice to know that many of the people that "don't care about steroids" feel so strongly about an internet poll. I'm also surprised that some people all of a sudden care about thread closures, or are willing to jump down Tango's throat for rallying another web site.
Hey, you're either with us, or with the terrorists.
I was unclear. We have someone who has banned posters, suspended posters, and created registration, on grounds that certain people were "ruining" the site.
That's the oddest objection ever.
That's like criticizing a judge who, <gasp>, has fined people, imprisoned people, on grounds that certain people were "breaking" the law.
There are exactly 43 banned users in 3 and a half years. 6 of those users were additional accounts Jeff K, a poster who's not banned, had made when he was suspended for a week and 19 of them are Rob Base sockpuppets. Of the other 18 names, only 2 even made 5 posts. I think it's safe to say that, with less than 5 banned posters a year, you'll be hard-pressed to find any site that lax.
Yeah, I wouldn't personally have suspended Backlasher, but if BL wants to ##### about it, that's his business.
As for the very fact of registration, without registration, the fact is that Baseball Primer/Baseball Think Factory would have ceased to exist sometime in 2004. That's not speculation; neither Jim nor I wanted to continue working on a site which had become based on people making dozens of rapid-fire one-liners in a row between isolated attempts at discussion. The worst steroid thread contains far more signal than the best threads of the January 2003-to-March 2003 timeframe. If that type of discussion is preferred by users, PoorlyAttemptedStreamofConsciousnessComedyFactory.com is still available.
To me, compelling the departure one of the great baseball minds and informative posters this site has had hurt the site FAR worse than any of the above. Tango's loss didn't "ruin" the site, but it was more damaging most other things which have been attacked in the past.
And you clearly can state this with certitude, knowing the exact details of the disagreement between Jim and Tom?
Rob Base and who else?
I crossed the line with my post.
in my defense, i work late and i had just woken up.
Merry Christmas.
Worst defense ever. :-)
I’m really not interested in any Primer/Tango feud (real or imagined) and I don’t see anybody in the mix that would bother being that petty. Stuff happens and it’s a waste of time and energy to haul around any bad feelings.
Yeah, we can get a little competitive at times but the only person really hurt are the folks who tried to set up a fun thing in cyberspace and have to see a couple of factions make it a major headache.
My .02 cents cdn
Best Regards
John
JC and myself were banned briefly. It was all his fault. He said something bad about Neko Case so I had to kick his ass.
Same thing happened when JC spanked kevin in one-on-one, we didn't see kevin around here for like a month. Still screams JC pushed off on the final shot once in a while.
Hold your horses Szym. I'm not the one crying on this thread. You can find plenty of people going "WAAAH, its not fair" but not me.
This thread is retro Primer. It was someone in your circle that came out and branded Tango a heretic, and made some cutesy comment about an alleged verbal smackdown they gave him. Just like the old days and as expected, that lead to some newbie coming out and going way over the top on insulting Tango. When somebody ran to his defense, you got some poster that nobody knows come out of the woodwork telling us how we are lucky that Jim allows us to breath.
The banninations and thread closures are fact. The basis of the closures are specious. If anyone tries to go into any detail about the specifics to counteract your statement, they are just going to open the door to get themselves insulted (in probably a worse manner than Tango), and if they try to explain anything at all, they will get banninated.
Now, I do think I know about the Tango/Jim spat, but that is moot. Tango has opened a thread on the matter; there is a thread at SOSH, and there is a thread at the linked website. If the site politics, banninations, or Tango spats are going to be discussed, why don't we take it over there. There isn't the freedom to talk here.
I'll check said threads this afternoon.
This is a good strategy, even off of the Interwebs.
I'm untouchable mofos!!!
Says the voice inside your incredibly small penis.
It's not like losing in the first round is gonna effect recruiting, so I can live with losing to Schilling. I'll root for THT.
Then shouldn't you change your handle?
Posting at SoSH is going to be interesting. Let me know how that goes.
Not anymore. Cross the border, disgruntled Akbars, Piazzas, Wizards - freedom awaits!
Which is probably as interesting as posting at NYYFans.
I'm sure I'm the reason that he doesn't post here anymore. Then again, IIRC, you changed your handle to avoid confusion with another poster, so you might have a point.
I'm not interested in a closed community. I'll take open registration forums like BBTF anyday.
Was that 6? In addition to those 6, I also lost the 5 or 6 other handles I had before I was banned (you can check my profile for those.) If you add those 12 to the other 2 or 3 accounts I've had banned (if you know why, you know why), I'm personally responsible for 1/3 of the bannings. *proud*
All as a result of posting about Star Wars, but let's not get into that again.
I gotta get me some o'dat. Are the threads still available to read, or does BTF redact comments that lead to bannings?
Gotta bring up Karim Garcia, dontcha.
I believe he is referring to the back end of your handle.
I have a wee, i'm still around
i didn't never get suspended - even for saying stuff like almost nekkid men are hottern almost nekkid chicks. yes. i said it and i believe it even if there is only 2 other posters around here who agree with me on that.
or even (gasp) that i was sexually attracted to barry lamar bonds when we were both a bit younger and i even named my dog after him!!!!!
or even that my youngest got his nickname from backlasher!!!!!
so i guess that The Jim he is pretty cool with pretty much most stuff
I'm not sure anybody wants anything to do with the back end of your handle.
Someone (not me) wrote this on the BTF wiki.
That would be a suspension, not a banning.
2370-1843 with 14 hours to go
Oh, great. They're in that Daffy Duck sci-fi, Duck Dodgers cartoon while we're stuck on the Oregon Trail. I wonder which one of us will die of dysentry.
When I hit the wiki article, I was prepared to get all appalled about censorship and all that. Instead, I decided that "Crackdown" seems a little harsh. Chairman Furtado allowed those threads to go to 400+ posts before shutting them down. At that rate, the JoePos/Burger and BRob/NBA threads would have to remain active and off-topic for at least the rest of the week before being shut down. I think the latter thread has already expired organically.
I am pretty bummed I didn't get to read the Star-Wars-Jeff-K-Banning thread.
I know you're not crying. I'm saying that if anyone has some right to moral outrage to get upset about Bl being suspended, it's BL, not some random pissed-off dude.
Tangotiger's mom obviously isn't banned.
Thanks for the hard work. The site is a treat.
He has a room and it's got lots of leather jiggly things in it.
Tango is not publishing his original work here anymore.
Given his commercial collaboration with MGL et al., I don't know why we would necessarily expect that he would continue to do so, even if he and Jim were all hugs-and-kisses.
Not that it makes much difference. When he publishes something of interest on the net, it just as often gets linked to here. And if he wants to comment, he appears perfectly able to do so.
It all makes perfect sense. 38 Pitches lagged, because SOSH hadn't put out the word. Once they did, they instantly generated hundreds of votes per hour, UNTIL, 38 pitches had a safe lead. At that point, hundreds of SOSH voters checked the totals but did not vote, until BTF caught up. Then they once again sprung into action, giving Schilling an even safer lead, and since BTF never caught up again, there was no need for further action, so they stopped voting once again. And all without a single post directing their action.
If every "view" was actually a unique person, Jim and I would drive solid gold rocket cars. And SOSH would get significantly more traffic than the entire ESPN.com domain.
By this logic, BBTF is seen by 200,000 different people a day. With only 2,000 votes, that suggests that only 1% of our readers were voting, which is way too low, and tens of thousands of votes are left uncounted!
Yeah I saw it the other day and found it amazing that this guy was trying to say that within 5 hours of Tango posting his message 5000 people checked into that thread of his. If that was the case google or Microsoft would be calling SOSH and wanting to buy it.
I'm interested to see how many votes 38pitches gets this round.
Sweet Jesus, can someone make that happen?
Btw, I have no clue about the technical aspects of that guy's posts. It does seem to be high in terms of the "unique views", but the general point may not be wrong, ie that it wouldn't necessarily take a bot for SoSH to push a vote total that high, that fast. I've seen it on other polls. Simple need for a mindless diversion during the work day and cookie clearing would be enough, I'd think.
But whether it was a bot or a monumentally bored couple of SoSH posters, the idea that it was an actual grassroots campaign is beyond ridiculouss, unless one of the hidden features of SoSH is the ability for hundreds of members to communicate telepathically.
Yeah, it could happen, but you also run into the problem with the lack of posting. When SOSH organizes something, they get hundreds of posts and would be on page 2 in 2 minutes, not 2 days.
Plus, if all these people cared so much about Schilling's site in round 1, where are they in round 2? There's no SOSH/BTF feud that provided a backdrop.
Of course, this is all a silly little contest, but it's the principle. Hell, we wouldn't be able to beat deadspin and the prize is what, 8 hours of our server costs?
What would be the cause of a SoSH/BTF feud, outside someone taking offense at my handle?
If the voting results hold, there could be a THT/BPro Unfiltered matchup in the Sweet 16, even.
So is Fire Joe Morgan after having knocked off Curt Schilling.
Let's have a THT/FJM final.
That vote total is suspiciously low. They got 1193 in the sweet 16.
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