Why baseball is like a good chick flick
I recently wrote an essay for Dry Ink Magazine on what has made baseball so enduringly successful. Baseball, you see, is like a chick flick.
I recently wrote an essay for Dry Ink Magazine on what has made baseball so enduringly successful. Baseball, you see, is like a chick flick.
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November 8, 2009 - 12:25 pm
Here we go again. Time for another edition of our semi-annual “What They Need” series, where we play GM for all 30 teams. As usual, we’ll be suggesting subtle tweaks for some squads, and major overhalls for others. There’s already movement going on in the Hot Stove front, so there’s no time to waste!
Here’s a [...]
September 3, 2009 - 11:20 am
The 2003 Los Angeles Dodgers had one of the greatest pitching staffs the game of baseball has ever known. At the height of the steroids era, in a season when 104 players would test positive for performance enhancing drugs, the Dodgers hurlers posted a 3.16 ERA, good enough for an insane 128 team ERA+, and [...]
August 31, 2009 - 11:19 am
Okay, so at a time when most people are debating whether or not the Washington Nationals can even break .500 next season, this is going to sound more than a little crazy, but I think the Nats have an outside chance at contending next season.
I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I am saying [...]
June 29, 2009 - 9:30 pm
We here at Umpbump have done quite a few all-time teams. We’ve also cataloged quite a series of Hot Baseball Wives. In this post, I will attempt the acrobatic feat of bridging the twain. Yes, reader: The All-Hot Team.
For reasons of attention span, or specifically, the lack of it, I am focusing on current major [...]

April 16th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
I don’t care if he’s wearing an Orioles jersey now. “Rockin’” Leo Mazzone has caused me nothing but pain.
But it getting to the point where it’s becoming impossible to acknowledge the existence of the “Mazzone Factor”. Even the anti-superstition sabremetric community has embraced it. JC Bradbury does a really interesting look on this in his new book: http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2006/07/the-baseball-economist/
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April 16th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Whoops, I meant “not acknowledge”… But you people are smart, you figured it out, right?
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April 17th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Nice work, and very true. I linked it up over at the Loss Column.
Why can’t the rest of Red Sox nation roll like you guys roll? Or am I wong in assuming you’re actually part of said nation?
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April 17th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Sarah and Nick are part of the nation. I’m part of the Phillies nation (which I can hardly bring myself to type), Alejandro is a White Sox fan and Paul is a Mets fan.
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April 17th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Being a Phillies fan has to be almost as hard as being an Orioles fan. I feel for you.
All of you do nice work here. Keep it up.
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April 17th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
As a Braves fan, it pained me to see Leo leave the ATL after the 2005 season.
I offer just a few of the most damning examples of “The Mazzone Factor”:
Mike Remlinger, Chris Hammond, Jaret Wright, Russ Ortiz, John Rocker…the list goes on and on.
While in Atlanta, ALL of these guys were shutdown studs…elsewhere, well, let’s just say they’ve struggled.
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April 17th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I think Nick is more Dodger nation than Red Sox nation…
And I’m definitely White Sox nation…
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April 18th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Dammit, Coley. You have completely emasculated us. I mean, sure, I consider “When Harry Met Sally” among my favorite movies of all time. And yeah, I own DVDs of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Amelie”, “Say Anything”, and “Footloose”…
I am not helping my case here.
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April 18th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
See. Coley just “gets” women. He also “gets” why I love tennis.
He was also the one who forced me to watch “When Harry Met Sally” for the first time.
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