Alydar in California:     JB,

      Tell you what: If it\'s OK with you, let\'s leave it at that. Call it two for the price of one because we enjoyed it so much.

    Now I have to get to work on Lindsay\'s appeal. Seeing her in that jail outfit was devastating.

Alydar in California: Mall wrote: \"What\'s surprising is that we were able to figure this out w/o any help from an alleged genius who has somehow reached the dubious conclusion that a hot power hitting team with poor defense is going to prevail over a team with a vastly superior rotation.\"

Mall: Care to elaborate on this? Name names?

Alydar in California: JB wrote: \"Because they show you hits, walks, and innings when they bring a pitcher in, and it\'s better than ERA. I\'m sure there\'s a better stat, but I don\'t want to work that hard, and that stat correlates well with effectiveness. Maybe Bob Barry will run a few guys for us.\"

  How do YOU judge effectiveness? To know that runners per inning correlates with effectiveness, you have to have a way of judging effectiveness, and if you do have a way of judging effectiveness, of what use is runners per inning?

TGJB: There are 3 major sports going on right now, none of which is called baseball. You need a hobby. Lay off the coffee.

Alydar in California: JB wrote: \"There are 3 major sports going on right now, none of which is called baseball. You need a hobby. Lay off the coffee.\"

Fine, pal. You have until April to find in that stat something that is useful. You will fail.

magicnight: I know the names of the first two. What\'s the third?

TGJB: Against my better judgement, but while I wait for them to run off a set of hollywood so I can go downstairs and play a couple of races:

Batting average measures batting average, not effectiveness, and the same can be said of all stats. I understand (and Yogi would too) that my statement was somewhat circular (what\'s effective is effective), but really...

Alydar in California: Bob Barry wrote: \"I know the names of the first two. What\'s the third?\"

     It\'s a pleasure to hear from you, Bob. I\'ll give you all the clues that are fit to print. It ain\'t horse racing. As Malkovich said in \"In the Line of Fire,\" too many people are thinking about the next quarter instead of the next quarter of a century.

Alydar in California: JB wrote: \"Against my better judgement, but while I wait for them to run off a set of hollywood so I can go downstairs and play a couple of races:\"

Great example, pal. Like you, I have always believed that the decision to bet a race should precede the handicapping of it.

\"Batting average measures batting average, not effectiveness, and the same can be said of all stats. I understand (and Yogi would too) that my statement was somewhat circular (what\'s effective is effective), but really...\"

This collapses from the weight of its contradictions. But you will have nothing better in April.

magicnight: I know it\'s not racing judging by the way the national media (The New York Times excepted, of course) has followed the fix-six story. If you listen closely, Arnold Rothstein can be heard turning in his grave.

JB simply provided the opportunity to yank the chain of my favorite Avalanch fan and I could not resist the temptation.

Alydar in California: Bob Barry wrote: \"JB simply provided the opportunity to yank the chain of my favorite Avalanch fan and I could not resist the temptation.\"

If I\'m your favorite, you\'ve never seen Joe Sakic\'s wife.

BB: No, I have not. I need to get out more.  Or, at least watch an Avalanch home game and hope for a crowd shot.

Alydar in California: Bob,

I\'ll ask Joe to bring Debby to New York. Meanwhile: http://www.8ung.at/sakic/stats01.html

This picture doesn\'t come close to doing her justice, but it will have to do for now.

TGJB: Speaking of the 98 Belmont, Bob Barry wrote a terrific piece for the Observer before that race, but I don\'t think there\'s anywhere to find it on-line.

gaaaaaining grooooound: none of those stats hold up in isolation --- you\'ve got to normalize for the year.

if some guy hits a hundred homers, and the league average is 150, he\'s not such a great player. (or, homerun hitter, anyway)