Choices, choices.

4 Responses to “Choices, choices.”

1. Sarah Green Says:
   March 2nd, 2007 at 5:43 pm

   I believe I can shed some light on the essential anxiety that is the raw nub of Murray’s irrational hatred of VORP. It goes back to the age-old schism between Number People and Word People. Murray Chass, like most journalists, is a Word Person. The seamheads and stat-geeks who come up with things like VORP are Number People. It is to baseball’s great credit that it can accomodate these two antithetical groups, as counterposed to one another as, say, the Israelis and the Palestinians, the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. However, it is an uneasy coexistance. While Number People like to generate ever more stats to quench their insatiable thirst for new data, Word People dig in their heels and insist upon “the human element.” While the Word People then go on to quote Shakespeare, allude to characters of Hellenic mythography, and desperately attempt to coin new timeless phrases to describe the same old things, the Number people scoff and insist on finding new statistics to describe the same old things.

   Indeed, it appears that without some sort of Road Map or preliminary peace accords, possibly with the intervention of NATO or resulting from a personal appeal by Kofi Annan, the two camps of baseball fans will forever have a no-fly zone between them.

   Except here on UmpBump, of course.

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2. Nick Kapur Says:
   March 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 pm

   Well, I’m completely cognizant of this difference between “Word People” and “Numbers People,” but that doesn’t mean that Murray Chass has to acuse the Numbers people of destroying the game or whatever. As someone who considers myself one of the Word People, I’m ashamed and outraged that someone whose words are so consistently asinine presumes to represent us in a war that shouldn’t even be taking place. As you say, baseball is big enough for all kinds of fans.

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3. Nick Kapur Says:
   March 2nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm

   By the way, I just found some great Murray Chass ripping over at Fire Joe Morgan.

   Hilarious!

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4. Marc aka MDG Says:
   March 9th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

   Honey. Baby. Sweetie. Don’t get a Lowell shirt. He’s gone after this season and you’ll be stuck once again with someone not on the team. Until they come out with a Rice or Remdog shirt. I fully endorse Wakefield.

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