12/24/24
June 24, 2004
Two long interviews with Michael Lewis, : Part I in June 2003 and Part II in June 2004, "about his wave-making book Moneyball and the current state of baseball, plus what’s good and bad with journalism today, Red Sox paranoia, and the joys of screenwriting." Plus, he's working on a sequel to Moneyball.
posted by kirkaracha to culture at 12:42 PM - 9 comments
I love his observations on the hidebound culture of MLB, how teams are starting to shake out their management and organizations even so, because of the book. I also note with interest that Lewis is consulting with NFL teams. I'm waiting to see how it might be applied to soccer. There's market inefficiency there, too.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:00 PM on June 24, 2004
And this is the thing about Boston and just how politically charged the team is... If you wanted to point a finger at who is responsible for the curse, I think you point first to the fans. The nature of their support makes it a much harder place to play baseball in and a much, much harder place to put together a baseball team in. You are always doing things in response to the emotions of the fans, the emotions of the dumbest commentators— Ouch.
posted by dzot at 03:24 PM on June 24, 2004
Yeah, when I read that, I thought, "Wait 'til jerseygirl gets a load of this."
posted by worldcup2002 at 03:43 PM on June 24, 2004
OK, so... that's what you get paid the big bucks for. If you're a GM, and you're not competent enough to ignore the fans, you're not going to be a good GM anyway. Blaming people who provide the second-highest stadium revenue in the game for the poor decisions of GMs past is silly.
posted by tieguy at 03:54 PM on June 24, 2004
tieguy: Is it silly? Would Boston fans and sportswriters stand for a long-term rebuilding project? I suspect this would be met with a chorus of "WE'VE WAITED LONG ENOUGH" followed by a quick firing. It seems like this is why the Toronto Maple Leafs are always going for quick fixes with veteran players instead of improving through smart drafting.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 03:57 PM on June 24, 2004
Would Boston fans and sportswriters stand for a long-term rebuilding project? I don't think that matters. We don't own the team. The question is whether ownership would back a plan to tear apart and rebuild in spite of the criticism. Look at the Celtics today: they're awful because Danny Ainge blew up an ok team to try to make a great team*. There's been a lot of backlash, but it goes away and you just get ignored. Boston's a tough town to manage a team in, but it's not any different than other major markets except that we like to think we are. * Does not imply the author's agreement with said plans.
posted by yerfatma at 06:40 PM on June 24, 2004
Good link kirkaracha, thanks.
posted by vito90 at 02:58 PM on June 25, 2004
I agree. Boston fans are tortured for sure in some respects, but their not so different than others. Philly, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Hell-Minneapolis, Toronto, Montreal, on and on.... And what about those football clubs in Europe? That's some serious fan pressure shit too.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 03:02 PM on June 25, 2004
The interviews are on different web sites, but by the same writer.