AaronGNP's profile

AaronGNP
2789
Location: Taint Paul, MN, USA
Member since: August 24, 2005
Last visit: September 12, 2012

AaronGNP has posted 11 links and 35 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room.

Recent Links

'Black Power' Olympic Saluter To Sell Gold Medal: But not, he insists, because he needs the money. Tommie Smith, the Olympic sprinter whose political display got him expelled from the 1968 Olympic Games, is selling the gold medal that started the whole controversy.

posted by AaronGNP to olympics at 02:55 PM on October 14, 2010 - 6 comments

David Ortiz's Decline: Not PEDs, but Age: Bill Simmons asserts that Big Papi's decline is due to age, and that he is older than the Red Sox media guide lists (4 years older).

posted by AaronGNP to baseball at 03:50 PM on June 04, 2009 - 6 comments

Baseball Pitches Illustrated: Interesting look at how to identify pitches, including speeds and pitch movement.

posted by AaronGNP to baseball at 10:19 PM on February 04, 2009 - 6 comments

Pirates sign 2 Indian pitchers — and, no, not from Cleveland: The two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts Monday with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.

posted by AaronGNP to baseball at 10:30 AM on November 25, 2008 - 10 comments

Fan Ejected From Yankee Stadium For Bathroom Break During 'God Bless America': The no movement rule has been in place since 9/11, much like the playing of the song.

posted by AaronGNP to baseball at 12:20 AM on September 03, 2008 - 25 comments

Recent Comments

Hank Steinbrenner Hammers Revenue Sharing

If he doesn't want to pay for a team in Kansas City, perhaps he won't mind another team in New York?

posted by AaronGNP at 11:28 AM on February 23, 2011

Miguel Cabrera swigs from a bottle of scotch in front of a cop; gets arrested for DUI

I can't feel sorry for him. Fact is he's rich as hell, and even if he wants to be HOF, Mantle-level alcoholic, he has the cash to pay for a cab and not drive drunk. Hell, he could buy a limo and a driver, 24/7/365 and never even have to drive.

posted by AaronGNP at 12:26 PM on February 17, 2011

Adding Rushing to Quarterback Rating

Passer rating is a pretty meaningless statistic as it is. Compared to many stats in baseball, there does not appear to be any rhyme or reason on how things are combined and the ratio in which they are combined. The modifications he's suggesting are even more stupid. Just because you can combine two statistics mathematically, doesn't mean you should, nor does it mean that it will have any actual value.

Heck, using this formula, any running back who makes one pass attempt is going to have a stupid high rating.

While I appreciate the effort, the results are less than meaningful, because it doesn't include carries in the denominator.

posted by AaronGNP at 08:03 AM on November 26, 2010

Legendary Tigers/Reds Manager Sparky Anderson dies at 76

76?!

I had the exact same thought. Even though I'm too young to have seen him on WKRP, I vividly remember his 1986 Topps card (the same year I became aware of professional baseball), and I thought he must have been the oldest manager ever.

R.I.P.

posted by AaronGNP at 04:35 PM on November 04, 2010

'Black Power' Olympic Saluter To Sell Gold Medal

Agreed. I don't understand what the big deal (about it being for money) is, aside from pride. I don't think it should surprise many that a black Olympian from the 60s was unable to cash in on their success like today's Olympians are able to. If he's living meagerly, 250k+ would go a long way. I would even guess that this will end up going for way more than 250k.

posted by AaronGNP at 03:01 PM on October 14, 2010

Giants accuse Rockies of cheating

Correct, the team supplied ballboy/ballgirl/clubhouse attendant fetches the balls from the humidor and provides them to the ump. While balls will get reused and lost in the shuffle, it's not impossible to imagine a scenario where balls are refreshed with non-humidor treated balls, specifically when the Rockies are up to bat. Of course this would mean someone is cheating and deserves to be punished.

I actually find it to be really bizarre that the league doesn't control all of the balls in all of the ballparks. If humidity of the environment that the balls are stored in effect the flight of the ball that much, there's nothing to say that something similar isn't happening elsewhere around the league.

posted by AaronGNP at 01:16 PM on September 27, 2010

Mets Call Up Knuckleballer R. A. Dickey

Not to be a turd, but I don't see why this is noteworthy. Dickey has been bouncing between AAA and the majors for several years now, including stints with the Twins, Mariners and aforementioned Rangers. Just because the Mets (a New York team) calls him up doesn't make it anymore noteworthy than when the Mariners or Twins did in each of the past two seasons.

posted by AaronGNP at 02:39 PM on May 20, 2010

Referee controversy ripples around NHL

Burrows is a cheap-shot artist, so I'm not going to shed any tears over him getting "jobbed" by the refs. He may have not deserved it in these instances, but lord knows he's gotten awawy with crap in the past.

That being said, Auger should be punished, and probably shouldn't get to keep his job.

posted by AaronGNP at 12:33 PM on January 13, 2010

A Solution to the Late Season Lay Down?

Or they could just do a split season, first half gets four playoff spots per conference, second half gets four, and any that had repeat winners could go to wildcards based on entire season record. Repeat winners would get first dibs on homefield advantage.

*shrug*

Seems kind of like a solution for where no problem exists.

posted by AaronGNP at 02:38 PM on January 04, 2010

Legendary Wrestler linked to slaying of 97 year old man

I think Hulk Hogan actually demonstrated this on a reporter once, caused him to pass out and bust his head open, and he later sued the Hulk for several million.

It was actually Richard Belzer (better known as Munch from Law & Order SVU).

Here's the video, but be warned, the quality is pretty much crap.

As far as the title goes, I think calling this unfortunate event a "slaying" is a bit of hyperbole.

Gagne pushed an elderly patient down, and elderly patient suffered a broken hip. Elderly patient ends up dying due to complications of the broken hip. Both suffered dementia. It's a terrible thing to have happened, but hardly a "slaying".

posted by AaronGNP at 01:06 PM on February 27, 2009

Fan Ejected From Yankee Stadium For Bathroom Break During 'God Bless America'

All I can say is I'm tired of hearing that song and/or Lee Greenwood's atrocious "Proud To Be An American" when I'm at the ballpark. "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" should be it. Period.

AGNP

posted by AaronGNP at 12:23 AM on September 03, 2008

The Return of Ocho Cinco

His Wikipedia page has already been edited to reflect the name change.

posted by AaronGNP at 02:19 AM on August 31, 2008

It's time to pitch the DH.

Yeah, I gotta agree that using the argument that the DH is keeping good hitting pitchers from coming to the forefront, is misguided. http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/HZPr Since 1900, Not one single pitcher, with at least 96% of the time played at pitcher, has had an OPS+ above 94 (minimum 200 career plate appearance). People don't want to see 1/9th of the plate appearances being wasted on nearly automatic outs. The "strategy" involved in a pitcher replacement or even the double switch is, at best, elementary. But regardless of my opinion on the DH, I'd fully agree that the imbalance in the league's divisional setup is much more worthy of repair. My suggestion: Each league goes back to two divisions, with the division winners and two wild cards being chosen, regardless of division. Fixes the intraleague imbalance, but also keeps the wildcard intact (since it isn't going away) and keeps the scheduling easy. AGNP

posted by AaronGNP at 09:45 PM on May 13, 2008

Fukudome, The New Greatest Name in Baseball?

It's not going to happen, but I'd love to see him sign with the Twins and play at the Metrodome. Fuk u dome indeed. AGNP

posted by AaronGNP at 02:42 PM on December 11, 2007

Modern era semi-finalists for Hall of fame

Carter gets in. 2nd in TDs, 6th in Recieving yards. How does he not get in? AGNP

posted by AaronGNP at 02:55 PM on December 06, 2007