Getting back into the swing of things after spending some time camping in the great north woods of the White Mountains and hanging around the Saco river…

Anything happen last week?

Roger Goodell is still a moron?

Good.

To mix things up a little and to remember good times from the past, I actually wanted to go over some of the Globe’s Sunday Baseball notes from yesterday. A couple things just slapped me in the face.

One suggestion offered: Would the Red Sox be able to obtain Matt Harvey for Xander Bogaerts?

What? Cafardo argues that this would be “one young superstar for another.” Yeah, lets dump the lone bright spot this season for a guy who hasn’t come back yet is coming back from Tommy John surgery. Sounds great.

David Ortiz is performing well in garbage time after vanishing when it mattered most.

When exactly did things matter the most this season? And man, if there’s one thing David Ortiz is known for, it is for vanishing when things matter the most.

4. Loved listening to Lee Mazzilli stories at Yankee Stadium this week. The former Orioles manager works for the Yankees, but he should be on the field. There are a lot of examples of true baseball men whose jobs have been taken by more analytically oriented, and not necessarily baseball-savvy, people.

5. If he doesn’t become president and the Steinbrenner family ever thought about selling, wouldn’t Donald Trump be the closest thing to George Steinbrenner you’ve ever seen?

Hoo boy. Gotta love references to those “true baseball men.”  Also, the “a lot of examples” – how about naming some of these “more analytically oriented, and not necessarily baseball-savvy, people.” If they’re so bad for the game, shouldn’t the reporter be calling them out.

I don’t even know where to begin on #5.

Alright, back to 24/7 Roger-Goodell-and-the-NFL-are-hopelessly-corrupt talk…

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

79 thoughts on “Back From The Saco River”

  1. Why is it still okay to imply that being analytical and understanding the nuances of a clubhouse are mutually exclusive? I would think joe maddon, buck showalter, and Tito amongst others have shown it isn’t if you are open minded and can strike a balance. Mazzilli may be an excellent baseball guy but the praise of willful ignorance to different processes (don’t know if it’s true in this case as cafardo seems to suggest) is mind boggling.

    Like

    1. And Grady Little was the complete opposite of those guys you mentioned: he completely ignored the stats (like how 2003-vintage Pedro would fall off the cliff, and fast, after 105 pitches) but was beloved by his players. Cafardo presumably prefers a Grady type. No thanks. I’m not 100% sold on Sabermetrics, but I do want the manager of my favorite team to play the percentages as much as possible in order to tilt the odds in the team’s favor. That’s not too much to ask.

      Like

      1. I am about to get flamed. Give me Grady Little over Terry Franconia every day and twice on sunday’s. I have always thought Little was wrongly run out of town because of one decision he made that happened to go bad. Had Pedro gotten through the 8th inning then Little’s Sox win the ALCS and most likely the WS. He is hailed as a hero and never buys a drink in the North End again.

        Its easy to look at the statistics and say…”well there was evidence that after 105 pitches Pedro’s performance fell off a cliff”. But Little’s job was to know if that happens all the time or if because of the circumstances, the adrenalin and the importance of the game he could get one more inning out of the best pitcher in baseball. At least he made a decision. Compare him to Franconia and his Sabrmetric worshipping culties. Well if a guy bats .300 then he needs to be in their over the guy who bats .280. Because over the course of a season (500 at bats) a .300 hitter gets 10 more hits than the .280 hitter. That works out out to .5 hits a week. Before anyone says it…I know no Sabramatrician would look at BA as a legit stat…it would be OBP, OPS, WOR or what have you. My point is stats show trends, they illustrate what happened, they are not the be all to end all about what will happen next. Franconia’s inability to actually manage (although he is better than Farrell) caused more problems than Grady’s unwillingness to live by every statistic supplied.

        Bruce you asked for who the old time baseball people are…I could give you a list but who they are is unimportant. To think anyone in baseball has ever ignored stats is silly…stats have been around as long as baseball…all managers use them as a reference point. What is new is relying on them as the only predictor of behavior. It takes the human element out of the game. As the last 4 seasons of Sox baseball have proven…its that human element that decides success of failure more than any Sabramatrician would every like to believe. So finding someone who can evaluate, relate, and then manage egos is far more important than being able to read a printout.

        Like

        1. As I said, these skills are not mutually exclusive. All I’m saying is that numbers are one of the tools in a managers proverbial tool box and it is silly to willfully ignore it.

          Like

        2. Yep, you’re about to get flamed, my friend… 🙂

          “I’d rather have the guy who just knows the Patriots are cheaters, because his football sense just feels it, instead of the person who read the facts accumulated in the Wells Report and realized that it’s all a mountain of tenuously-connected assumptions that prove nothing.”

          Like

          1. Apples and Oranges mio compadre. Looking at facts of a case is completely different than looking at manipulatable statistics that do not actually predict future performance but instead only catalog past performance.

            Like

        3. I’m not going to flame you. I’m merely going to state that my problems with Grady had been long-established many, many months before he made his fateful decision in Game 7 of the ALCS. I know we all feel, in the heat of the moment, that we can do a better job of managing a baseball team than the guy who’s actually paid to do it. In the case of Grady Little, I actually BELIEVED I could do a better job. I counted at least 8 games during that 2003 regular season where his boneheaded decisions, in my view, cost the Sox a victory, and I warned all of my friends and family that his seat-of-his-pants, “going with his gut” (and sometimes just lame-brained) managerial style was going to cost them, big time, when it really mattered in October. Sadly, my longstanding belief was confirmed that night in the Bronx. He was a terrible manager IMO — and my doubts about him actually began back in 2002, when he had two 20-game winners (Lowe and Pedro), a 40-save closer (Urbina), the AL batting champ (Manny), a pretty stacked lineup (including a healthy Nomar, who had missed most of the 2001 season), and a management team that went out and made a couple of big deadline deals, and yet he STILL managed to miss the playoffs after the team began the season at 40-18.

          Like

          1. Tony I understand the argument you make, I don’t agree with your conclusions but arguing with you about Grady seems similar to arguing with me about Pete Carroll…how anyone could not see Pete Carroll for the worst coach in Patriots history is just beyond me……so let me change the analogy.

            I thought Walpole Joe Morgan got a bad rap as well. Another old fashion baseball guy who drove the stat guys crazy. I thought he was a solid manager who had some bad luck that cost him job. He used stats, he just did not let them be the be all to end all. I think that is what us non sabramatricians think. I look at the Sox as currently constituted…and since Theo left and what I see are roto rosters and not actual baseball rosters. A group of players who perform in certain situations but not necessarily together or for a whole season. I blame Bill James and John Henry for relying too much on statistics and not enough of observation. You can’t quantify some’s inability to stay healthy with a stat. You can’t quantity a player’s effect in the clubhouse with a stat. You can’t quantify a player’s unwillingness to run out a routine grounder with a stat. There needs to be more of a human element involved with baseball. I think over 162 games the stats average out…so the issue comes down to how a player performs in one game at the end of the season…and for that you have to rely on more than just numbers spit out by an algorithm.

            Like

          2. I don’t disagree with you that there may very well be too much statistical analysis going on. For instance, does anyone believe the Sox current obsession with not signing pitchers 30+ to long-term deals isn’t stats driven? Of course it is. When it comes to Grady, he simply baffled me with some of the moves he made or didn’t make during games. I’ve seen worse Sox managers, don’t get me wrong. For instance, I’ve long been on the “don’t blame Buckner for ’86, blame the idiot in the dugout making the decisions” bandwagon (Johnny Mac totally botched that entire series, and Games 6 and 7 were merely the final, tragic acts of what had been his comically flawed stage direction over the full 10-day period). But Grady….man, I would watch those games he managed over those two seasons and just marvel at some of the mind-boggling moves he would make: pitching to guys he should have walked; walking guys he should have pitched to; putting the “shift” on in a tie game, with a lefty/lefty matchup and the winning run on 3rd (it almost always backfired, of course); lifting guys that should have stayed in the game; not lifting guys that should have been removed from the game; on and on and on, for those two full seasons. That ’03 season, in particular, he had a real affinity for light-hitting (but speedy) Damien Jackson, for some reason; that guy would come into almost every close game, it seems, as a pinch-runner (at first base with two out, a move which almost never works), for someone like Millar or Manny (somewhere around the 6th or 7th inning), and then he’d end up batting in their spot in the order like 2 or 3 times (with men on base) before the game ended in a Sox loss. It drove me insane. And I just had this nagging feeling during that entire ’03 season that he’d eff things up come October — he nearly did in the first round against Oakland, actually, but the chokin’ A’s of that era bailed him out of some pretty dumb moves he had made earlier in that series. His luck ran out against the Yankees. But, to your larger point, I totally agree that the human element is still necessary. I’m not a huge Sabermetrics guy, as I said before. I think it has some usefulness, but then again, it’s also the philosophy which brought us the “closer by committee” (Chad Fox, anyone?), among other questionable concepts.

            Like

      2. sabermetrics aside, I just don’t understand why wanting information to form a thought out strategy is viewed as a weakness. In any other field or situation it is idiocy, in baseball it’s lauded (by some). You wouldn’t want a manager to throw out scouting reports or medical reports, why do you want them throwing out hit charts or pitch patterns?

        Like

        1. I do not think anyone wants you to throw out the statistical data. What people like me want is context to the numbers and an understanding that it takes more to make baseball decisions than an algorithm. IF all you needed was the numbers then there is no need for a coach.

          Like

    2. Nick only knows who will talk to him and who doesn’t. His understanding of baseball, sports, and general bodyy movement is superficial at best. He’s like the old guy at the auto repair shop leaning on a broom and muttering “Why doesn’t Rico have a dent puller?”

      Like

  2. Wanna hear something crazy? I am working in Brighton today and I can’t catch weei on the radio. I will try the dbs and see how all I last. It’s been since last Oct since I had them on

    Like

    1. I have the same around Southern NH. Some areas, one or the other won’t come in. I can throw the stream on via TuneIn, or visit the website. They both offer streams there (about 1 min behind). If you’re more savvy, I can give you the direct URLs to throw into VLC or another player on a computer.

      Like

  4. Way to go Nick in keeping up with baseball trends. In the entirety of the deadline deals, almost no quality position player moved, only pitching prospects. Why? There are fewer quality hitters, even fewer quality hitting shortstops, and pitchers are more fragile. Bogaerts for Harvey is laughable given that Harvey had already had one TJ surgery and the odds of a second go up significantly after one. The scarcity of hitting was the rationale for the signings of Pablo and Hanley. The Sox have no consistency in team building but the reversal that trade would represent is significant, even for them. No general manager in the league would make it.

    I recently finished Lou Gorman’s autobiography and it is striking how much simpler running a team was in the 80s and 90s. The contract were much less, the scouting and analysis were really basic, and there were not many executives or managers challenging the prevailing way the game was played. Baseball has gotten far more complex and it is clear that the game has passed writers like Cafardo by.

    Like

    1. “Audience, how do you feel about this issue? Are you in tune with my thoughts, or do you wish someone would stand up to me and fight for honesty and a level playing field? I’m just asking for a friend, audience.”

      Like

  6. Minihane/Callahan has become the new Mazz/Felger. What a phony puke. Minihane, (YARG, You are right Gerry) agrees with everything that Callahan says.

    Also, I hate to say it but Shank gave him a severe dope slap last Friday on CSSNE Early Edition. Minihane just turtled once Shank went at him. I found it funny today that, Mr Minihane, who professes love of media on media conflict, failed to even bring it up. Not even on their podcast.

    Like

    1. You hate to say it, but you’ve said it twice already. You find it funny that he didn’t mention a 2 minute exchange with Shank on the podcast? Really? Who are you? Jimmy Stewart? Aldopho? Jim Murray? Come on. Reveal yourself.

      Comparing Kirk & Gerry to Felger & Mazz is LAUGHABLE. Two men agree on logical points, the other is a f**king echo in the room wearing a tin foil hat.

      Like

  7. Sorry I had to run out before I finished.. Shank (who I can’t stand) attacked Minihane (YARG, You Are Right Gerry), like a sharknado, about WEEI’s deal with Brady being compensated for being on the D & C show. And Shank Rhonda dope slapped him about how WEEI profits from Brady’s weekly, in season, segment. In less than 30 seconds Minihane reacted like Craig Janney or Adam Oates without Cam Neely, or I guess in this case Callahan. Not a good look for Kirk. Shank got YARG (Minihane) to agree that Brady’s appearance on WEEI is a good for ratings. And Minihane turtled. Then YARG said the regrettable “I agree with you Dan”. YARG’s comments have no chance of playing on WEEI. I’ve listened.

    I thought YARG had potential after he took down some of the biggest and baddest in the media. Are you kidding me? Look at who never had chance as YARG attacked them. I might have the order wrong but here are YARG’s take downs Jenny Dell, Erin Andrews, DJ Bean, Pete Abraham, Mike Salk, or as the industry says, a virtual who’s who of people that don’t have a voice on the Boston airwaves. Not a one could combat the self proclaimed crazy YARG on an even platform. Because they had no way to state their case.

    Until the POS Shank dropped him like Ronda Rousey

    Like

    2. Really? Are you just conveniently forgetting about Fred Toucher, Mike Felger, Andy Gresh, Tony Mazz, John Tomase? Pretty sure they ALL have “a voice in Boston radio.”

      And you probably should go to CSNNE and re-watch that segment. Minihane didn’t f**king “turtle” at all. What were you even watching? He dope slapped him? LOL….yeah, ok. Kirk challenged him about even making the stupid remark and said it doesn’t say “WEEI” on Brady’s check (which, by the way, the PATRIOTS get paid, not Brady, and it goes to a charity) as opposed to “John Henry” on Shanks. Get real. Shank did nothing. You don’t have to like Minihane but don’t paint a false picture.

      Like

    1. I assume he received an honorary degree from UMass Lowell as part of his appearance. Any UMass alumni on here? You could petition to have it rescinded…

      Like

  9. I’ll give credit that Russo comes on and at least defends his position. However, it’s the same old Brady hate–he just knows how to make it entertaining. The part where MadDog was trying to link his wife going incognito for work in NYC to Brady….. he’s the epitome of most people who hate him.

    Again, why these people don’t harp on the fact that there’s a dozen? two dozen? instances of lying between Goodell and the NFL, I will never understand.

    I’ll edit this once the audio is up. It’s entertaining.

    Like

    1. I found the interview fascinating for several reasons.
      – Russo admits he still has not read the Wells report, the rebuttal or the deposition transcript but he “got through some of the 20 page Goodell decision by skimming when he was in Hawaii last week.
      – Despite being uninformed Russo proclaims Brady did something. When asked what he said “was in on deflating footballs”
      – Russo thinks that it is damning that McNally has not given an interview proclaiming his innocence, and that he only spoke to the NFL once, refusing other requests. When told he had spoken 4 times he mumbled. When told Wells was offered a 5th phone interview but Wells requested it Russo moved on.
      – Russo is convinced the country hates the Patriots.
      – Convinced no court would ever consider Brady as having a case

      To me the biggest thing I got from the interview is that his tone has changed greatly…which is very telling. Last time he thought 4 games was not enough. This time he said he thought the punishment was way to severe and should be at most a fine. What changed Chris? My guess and I said this before he went on is that regardless of what he says he has done the reading and research. He knows this is a witch hunt. He panders to his audience by screaming for Brady’s head but in reality he gets it.

      Like

      1. D+C+M discussed the point, too, that if we think the judge will chuck the suspension and it sticks, that everyone will “come around” being wrong.

        There will be people like him, Tanguay, F+M, who will continue to proclaim that he/BB did something.

        Like

      2. Russo surprises me, really. I know his nickname is “Mad Dog”, but he always seemed to be more level-headed and less biased than Francesca when the two of them were paired together. I couldn’t stand Francesca, even when he was on TV in the late 80s and early 90s, before WFAN started up the Mike/Mad Dog show. Disappointing that Russo is so unwilling to accept the facts of this case; but, then again, he’s a sports radio personality, and taking a side (and sticking with it, no matter what) is part of the business.

        Like

      3. His tone changed? REALLY? Sounded exactly the same as the last interview. Mindless, uninformed, screaming about NONSENSE. What an utter f**king clown.

        Like

    2. Russo makes me want to never turn on a radio ever again on just the off chance I might accidentally hear him. My…GOD….I don’t even have the words….I can’t even

      Like

    1. “He’s guilty, Mike!! He broke up a marriage!” “He might have even been involved with the nanny, Tony. I don’t know. I’m just asking the question.”

      Like

      1. Mike, I just don’t trust Brady. How do we know he isn’t cheating on Giselle with her, too? How low can Brady get, Mike? I don’t know.. I.. I.. just don’t know. This whole situation REEKS, Mike! It REEKS!

        Like

        1. Is it just me, or is that “I’m just asking the question” copout perhaps the most annoying element of Felger’s entire schtick? It’s such a weasel-type thing to do. I’m not accusing anyone of doing the outrageous thing I just suggested was done…..I’m just asking the question. What a turd.

          Like

  11. How many times have we been told by the Boston Sports Mediots this season that the AL East is a terrible division (including, relative to the rest of the league)?

    As it stands now, by team W-L records, it is the 2nd toughest division in MLB.

    The AL Central, supposedly the best division in MLB, has one team with a winning record.

    Mediots, don’t let facts get in the way of a hot take!

    Like

  12. Ben Cherington has got to go. Either he’s inept or he is just unable to succeed in this Front Office. Either way, each deal has been one albatross after another. Uehara should have been dealt, and the only reason he wasn’t is because Cherington has built the worst bullpen since the late 90’s-early 00’s Sox. Rick Porcello could have went 20-4 with a 2.90 ERA and still wouldn’t have netted $22 Million/Year on the open Market. They sold their soul to sign Hanley who has always been and will always be a cancer when Nelson Cruz (40 HR last year) is making diving catches in RF at Safeco, leading the league in total bases and home runs for two-thirds the cost (plus if he fails a test you do not have to pay him). This team is fucking awful.

    Like

    1. It’s been a poorly constructed team, without question. I’ll give Cherington a little rope since I’m not sure if he’s had 100% final say over some of the decisions that have been made the past few years. Given that Lucchino, who was a true bud-in-ski type, is now on the way out, perhaps it will be Ben’s show to run, with the exception of getting JH to sign off on the really big money outlays. If the farm system is even half as good as the national guys (not just the local media) say it is, then at least that’s a sign that Cherington knows how to work the draft, as I believe the last draft Theo ran was four years ago. This is a critical offseason coming up, that’s for damn sure.

      Like

      1. Im a baseball junkie, I can watch the league aside from the Red Sox, which is good on the whole but I get frustrated seeing the complete lack of pitching they have. I love Bogs, Betts, Swihart, but until they get some pitchers in here they are screwed. I don’t mind the rotation of 3’s if they have some flamethrowers in the pen but they have nothing at all. It’s amazing – think of the landscape 10 years ago – who could imagine with this payroll they could be this bad?
        As for the rest of the MLB, the Pirates have a squad. They have the talent and the chemistry that is so important in the MLB season. If they make it past the one-game eliminator look out.

        Like

        1. In Ben’s defense, they would have locked up Lester in spring training 2014 had the powers-that-be above him not ordered him to make that insulting low-ball offer. There’s no way Cherington, acting on his own, would have opened the bidding at $70M over however many years (five?). That was ridiculous, and I’m sure Cherington was embarrassed to even have to make such an offer. That said, the Porcello situation is a complete mess and I have to believe Ben was behind that one. To owe that guy $80M-plus over the next four years is unacceptable. Terrible whiff there; however, he did have some success in the big leagues prior to this year, so there’s always hope that he can at least return to his 14- or 15-win form going forward. I think they knew what they were getting in Miley–a #4 or #5 guy who throws lefthanded. I don’t have a huge problem with that deal. Trading Lackey last year was going to happen no matter what, because there’s no way he would have played for the MLB minimum in 2015, and he was well past the age where they would have given him a long-term extension for big dollars. I was actually excited about the return they got from St. Louis, because I had seen both of those guys play against the Sox in the 2013 World Series, and I liked what I saw. I still have hope that Kelly can at least become a reliable bullpen arm. The problem now is that in order to fix the pitching, they’re either going to have to lay out big bucks for a FA like Price or Cueto (both turning 30 this year…OMG!!!! Can’t sign them! They’re 30 now!!!); or, they have to deal off 2 or 3 of their good prospects to acquire a #1 guy. At least Owens and E-Rod have shown promise. Perhaps one of them can at least step up and be the #2 starter next season. We can hope.

          Like

          1. With the Lackey thing – I thought they could just bump his pay up to where it needs to be for the year and he either sits out or makes $8 million. Porcello reminds me of Amobi Okoye, a Defensive Tackle who played at Louisville from age 16-19 and it wasn’t about how good he was but about how young he is. Porcello’s been in the bigs since age 20 and has been average to above average. It seemed they liked his age more than anything else, and to give him that money is insane. It is just crazy to me that this can be this bad and it will be the same cast of characters next year. Perhaps I am understating Lucchino’s hand in this situation.
            I am with you with sending Kelly to the bullpen. What is taking so long? I am all for getting Hanley out by any means necessary. Pay him to play in Cleveland with Tito.
            Joe Kelly today after the team blows a 4-0 lead to the worst team in baseball (besides them) – http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox_mlb/boston_red_sox/2015/08/red_sox_no_closer_to_answer

            Like

          2. I think saddling Tito with another temperamental Ramirez who plays hard only when he feels like it may finally push him over the edge….LOL.

            Like

  13. In “The New York Jets Being The New York Jets” news…..Geno Smith got sucker-punched by a teammate in the lockeroom. Out 6-10 weeks. I thought it was an Onion article when it came across Twitter. LOL. The Jets…..lol

    Like

      1. Fitzpatrick IS better….the probably is, he’s just Ryan Fitzpatrick, the ultimate placeholder QB who will look like Montana for a few weeks, and then look like Tebow (without the athleticism) for the next eight weeks.

        Like

      1. I heard the punch was intercepted on its way to the teammate, who allegedly was a wide receiver. Seriously, I guess you can take the REX out of the locker room…..but you can’t take the REX out of the team. It’s gonna take a couple of years to fumigate the roster of Rex’s six years of bombastic jack-assery. Not a bad coach, really, but when you’ve got a loudmouthed, undisciplined ass as your head coach, the mentality certainly trickles down to the players. Good luck to the new guy with that hot mess.

        Like

        1. No I think Hernandez qualifies as a serial killer. 3 murders and a 4th attempted one where the guy survived a gunshot to the face. I am willing to let him have that one. However I am going to laugh at the JETS.

          Like

          1. He doesn’t. Serial killers act almost exclusively alone; they kill primarily because it sexually gratifies them; they are mostly males who were sexually abused and/or bullied as children and feel disempowered and disenfranchised by society (there are exceptions who are pure sociopaths; e.g. Ted Bundy). And there are a number of other pathological statuses that apply to serial killers. Hernandez fits none of them other than “killed more than 2 people”.

            You can be a multiple murderer and not be a serial killer. (On the other hand, you cannot be a serial killer and not be a multiple murderer.) Mob hitmen, for example. They are criminals who kill a lot of people — but they’re not serial killers (who have specific characteristics relating to the “why” behind the murders), and they’re not mass murderers (who share a desire to kill as many people at once as they can), and they’re not spree killers (who are mass murderers stretched over a longer time period, e.g. Bonnie and Clyde).

            Calling Hernandez a serial killer is like calling Tom Brady a tight end, because like tight ends he’s a paid football player. As “tight end” is a specific, defined subclass of “football player”, “serial killer” is a specific, defined subclass of “multiple murderer”, one of several.

            Like

          2. You lawyers…have to be so definition conscious. I still think Hernandez fits your definition of serial killer. I think he enjoyed it and he got off on it. In any event…I am still laughing about Geno Smith.

            Like

          3. Does it really have to be sexually abused or bullied… what about losing a father as an adolescent or some other type of psychological trauma? Seems like – starting with the incident in Gainesville with Reggie Nelson – Hernandez developed a habit of shooting people with no regard for the consequences. It definitely seems to me like he derived pleasure from it, even if he created some type of drama/beef to rationalize his actions – the 2 that spilled the drink, Aaron Bradley not splitting the tab, Odin Lloyd doing whatever Odin Lloyd did.

            Like

          4. It doesn’t have to be — you’re correct, in that the common theme is some sort of psychological trauma at a young age, not specific types of trauma — but it’s sexual or physical abuse in something like 90% of the cases.

            The main distinguishing feature of a serial killer is the “why”. Serial killers have a compulsive, pathological NEED to kill, usually for a sexual reason, always for a power reason. Aaron Hernandez killed some guys who pissed him off. If Hernandez had gone through the rest of his life without someone pissing him off, it’s 99.999% likely he wouldn’t have killed again. That is NOT the case with serial killers. So long as their underlying drive to kill continues, they kill. Serial killers do sometimes stop — it is believed that the Zodiac killer stopped once he had “proven” his superiority to the police, but as he’s never been identified, that’s not certain. (He could have just died, or possibly he moved, and his subsequent murders were never connected to him.)

            And (side note to LTD) the definition has significant consequences — it’s not just nomenclature. Serial killers will continue to kill until they’re apprehended or killed themselves (with a few exceptions), making them much higher priorities for law enforcement. Serial killers will also almost always kill in exactly the same way (one of the hallmarks of a serial killer), so pattern recognition becomes a key feature of the investigation (and of efforts to prevent future murders).

            Hernandez is a thug who used a gun to settle his arguments. Serial killers are profoundly disturbed people with grotesquely altered world views, who are truly real-life monsters. There is a huuuuuge difference between the two.

            Like

      3. Not to be a nit-picker, but this guy is an effing moron and a complete troll, so I will anyway: they did not “give $40 million to AH.” That was, like all NFL contracts, the maximum possible compensation he could have received had he played all of the years under that deal (not allowing for restructurings down the road, of course). I would have normally let that one go, because, yeah, the Patriots screwed up on that signing, for sure, but this Hubbuch guy is a tool, so the hell with it. Nit has been picked.

        Like

    6. Yeah, bunch of former Jets investigating.. the Jets.. reminds me of when Congress investigates themselves.

      Like

      1. If this was the Patriots, this would be a 6 month investigation costing the NFL $10 million dollars, ending in a $5 million dollar fine for the Patriots, them losing their entire next draft and a 1 year suspension for Belichick, Smith and Enemkpali.

        Oh, its the Jets though? An email gets sent to Woody to tell his team to knock it off.

        Like

  14. “AHA! Proof that he orchestrated a scheme too! Suspend him four games, Rog. And take some more picks away from the Patriots. Integrity of the shield!”

    – Ted

    Like

    1. It is more probable than not that someone was generally aware of the multifactorial independence of integrity … something …

      SPYGATE

      DEFLATEGATE

      CHEATRIOTS!!!!!!!

      Dave, I find your commenting here shallow and pedantic!

      Like

    1. I hope Volin had the guts to respond back with examples of this explanation being BS. Not to mention their correction weren’t even correct, e.g. Schefter.

      Like

      1. He was only given one question and no follow up. He asked and sat down. As much as I don’t like Volin…he did do the best he could.

        Like

    2. Volin is an enigma wrapped in a riddle shrouded in a $20 poncho from the concessions at Gillette. For a guy who explicitly thinks the Patriots are guilty, he sure goes to a lot of trouble pointing out the idiocy of the NFL’s case against them.

      Like

    3. I give Volin credit for asking the question, but in his story today once again he took the opportunity to take shots at the Patriots for past statements in this case (i admit that the deflator explanation was dumb, but not needed here. But Brady should have surrendered his phone even though it would set a precedent for other players?) I’m sure he’ll say that he’s being balanced, but where was that balance for the past 6 months?

      Like

  16. Uhm.. has a point but, really?

    Thought he was available every day, as he told Rachel Nichols?

    Like

    2. What a freakin’ idiot. Brady is the accused in this case. Most of the time, in any legal proceeding, the accused individual lets the lawyers do the talking for him/her. The prosecutors, on the other hand, are always in front of the cameras. I always like to steal an expression from “A Fish Called Wanda” when describing mediots like this: irretrievably stupid.

      Like

  17. Had some time in the shop, so the radio is on. I had no interest in listening to the game, so I kept TSH on. Kinda funny, since I heard this exact segment:

    If you didn’t know the differences in their voices, you’d swear it was Felger. As it’s been said before, he’s the leader of the Felger Youth.

    Like

Comments are closed.