Today at THT

I realize that I’d go to jail if I killed my parents, but do you think the judge would go easier on me if I told them I did it because they bought my three year-old son a drum set for Christmas?

  • Treder and Namee complete their exploration of the alternate universe no-Frazee Boston Red Sox. It’s worth noting that I just got my copy of SABR’s Baseball Research Journal, and the cover story by Dan Levitt, Mark Armour, and Matthew Levitt is an insanely detailed and insanely excellent historical analysis of what it was exactly that Harry Frazee did to the Sox, why, and whether he has gotten a bum rap for it over the years. If you’re not a SABR member you can order a copy of it here, but becoming a SABR member is not that expensive itself, and you all should do it so you can see good stuff like that and more. Plus, you can go to the SABR convention in Washington, D.C. next summer and tell Treder and Armour and Levitt and all of the others EXACTLY what you think of them.
  • Evan Brunell runs downs the week in transactions. Yes, he analyzes the big deal everyone was talking about last week: Gathright signing with the Cubs.
  • Finally, over at Fantasy Focus, Paul Singman runs Connor Jackson through the Consistency Meter. Unfortunately, in a fit of pique, Singman turned the machine up to level 5, which rendered him mostly dead.

  • 16 Comments
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    Wooden_U_Lykteneau
    15 years ago

    Any chance of getting the RSS feed fixed to show more than headlines?

    Craig Calcaterra
    15 years ago

    Wooden—Studeman addressed this in the thread from yesterday’s post about the 5 percent rule.  We haven’t done anything to mess with the feeds, so if you’re having trouble with it, it may be an issue with your reader.  We are seeing full-articles using the following feed:

    http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/rss/shysterball_art/

    I’m not sure what else to tell you.

    Sara K
    15 years ago

    There’s still time, Craig – assert authority. Forbid percussion instruments in your home.  Take the so-called gift and leave it at your local Toys-for-Tots. If your folks whine about it, threaten to blog about them. The uncomfortable forgiveness period for this incident is nothing compared to spending the next two years with Animal.

    Pete Toms
    15 years ago

    @ Sara.  Our house is frequently loud, boys 7 & 5.  I’ll advocate for Buddrow and his grandparents. 

    It’s Buddrow’s right as a 3 yr old to make as much friggin noise as he can.

    It’s Buddrow’s grandparents right to spoil the crap out of him and buy him whatever the hell they want.  It’s not about Craig anymore for them.

    Sorry Craig, pour a drink, fire up your bong, pop pills, hide in the garage, take up gardening, whatever…you’re just gonna have to put up with it.

    tadthebad
    15 years ago

    Sara, great Muppetts reference.  Better to be the two grumpy old men in the balcony?  Those guys always slayed me.  What the heck, my kids already have the scowl down pat.

    tadthebad
    15 years ago

    Pete, I have two boys as well…one is 2, the other is 8 weeks.  Should I consider your message a stern warning?  I’m way ahead of you on the remedies, but I will absolutely forbid my folks from buying any drum sets…of course, they’ve waited their whole lives to torture me in this fashion…

    Charles Kitchen
    15 years ago

    Why would they have the SABR convention when the Nats are on the road?

    Charles Kitchen
    15 years ago

    Why would they hold the SABR convention while the Nats are on a road trip?

    Craig Calcaterra
    15 years ago

    So we don’t have to see the Nats play?

    Seriously, though, I did find that odd.  I think there is talk of road trippin’ to Baltimore.  Which, quite frankly, is what I did when I lived in DC because there weren’t any Nats then.

    Sara K
    15 years ago

    Craig, don’t listen to “Pete Toms” – he is the devil trying to lead you astray! 

    My boys (5.5 and 3.5) make *plenty* of noise without having toys specifically designed to make louder, more frequent noises.  I figure that it is in everyone’s best interest to have sane parents in the house. To this end, I have established a blanket injunction against *all* beatings.  An ounce of prevention…

    Charles Kitchen
    15 years ago

    Why did I set you up for that?

    Is it common to join SABR mainly to wander around the convention? I imagine people are pretty approachable there?

    Also (obligatory convention taking place in someones mothers basement joke.)

    Craig Calcaterra
    15 years ago

    I’ll admit that I joined last year primarily because I wanted to go to the convention.  I now wish I had a long time ago because it’s pretty spiffy even if you don’t go to chapter meetings.  A handful of publications a year, some neat things on the SABR website, and of course the convention.

    As for that, everyone is very approachable, I found.  Pretty much everyone with a convention badge is like you: someone who will talk about anything baseball at the drop of a hat.  The majority of well-used time is spent watching research presentations in a handful of the hotel’s conference rooms or ballrooms, and there are always a couple of more glitzy events like 2008’s premiere of an MLBAM documentary about the origins of baseball and a Q&A;with Indians’ GM Mark Shapiro.

    Matt Sisson
    15 years ago

    Don’t forget the Sabr-L.  There’s so much baseball info out there its amazing. If you love baseball and baseball history joining SABR is something I highly recommend. If you’re under 30 its only $45 bucks…

    blaze
    15 years ago

    Having grown up in a house of darkness and silence, I couldn’t wait to throw open the blinds and turn up the music – get Carlo lessons. We have the piano, the drums, three guitars and a trombone. Garage band in the summer, everywhere else in the winter. There’s just nothing like hearing Jake plunking out a tune on the piano; he’s actually composing. It won’t be noise for long.

    Sara K
    15 years ago

    Oh, my objections to contaminating a household with the drums are half in jest. You see, I happen to have a shiftless brother who is a “drummer” (What do you call a drummer who breaks up with his girlfriend?  Homeless!).  Lord knows, exposure to music is a good thing (How can you tell if the stage is level? The drummer has drool coming out of both sides of his mouth.). Of course, there are a lot of instruments out there to choose from (How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb? 13 – 1 to hold the lightbulb and 12 to drink whiskey until the room spins).  I agree with blaze…encourage Carlo by offering him music lessons in a variety of instruments (Ever hear the one about the drummer who graduated from college? Me either!). And if you ever want to divert his attention from playing the drums, you can always show him some sheet music.  Works every time! 

    (All in fun wink – Happy Christmas everybody!)

    Thomas Park
    15 years ago

    About the drum set: Sound Proof room.  Regular insullation will work.