Pitch F/x data: For geeks or baseball fans?

So, I’ve really gotten into Pitch F/x data lately. If you don’t know what in the hell I’m talking about, then you should click here.

Ok.. So, obviously when you start checking that out or if you know what it is, you’re going to naturally think: “Yeah, I can watch baseball games & I know that Johan Santana has a nasty changeup”.. This is true. However, what you may not know is exactly what makes that changeup so nasty. You can’t tell me how many inches of movement he has on it both vertically & horizonally. The next thing you might say to me is: “Why do I need to know that? It’s obvious that he strikes out alot of batters with it, it’s a good pitch”. Again, you would be right. But, if the announcers didn’t tip you off, could you tell me if his changeup was working really well that game & also why it was/wasn’t working as well?

At this point, you’ve either clicked off of this page or you’re sitting there stroking your chin in thought & wanting to learn more about this & figure out all of these things. You may be heading off to analyze all sorts of pitchers right now, which you can with that Pitch F/x tool that I linked you to at the beginning of this post. Or maybe you’re going on & thinking: “Why should I worry about this stuff?”

I have the reason why: Whether you are a baseball fan or a geek, Pitch F/x data is for YOU. This is the future of baseball stats. You can look at all of the ERA, WHIP & baseball games that you want & you can’t get a better grip on how a pitcher is or what makes him good than checking this out. Not to mention that analyzing pitchers this way is fun & interesting! Whether you’re old school or you’re always up for something new, you should check out Pitch F/x data & check out the difference between a day where Zack Greinke throws a complete game, 1 ER gem & a day where Greinke gives up 6 ER.

Pitch F/x gives you insight like NEVER before, I just don’t see how that can be denied. Do you really HAVE to know this stuff? Ofcourse not. But, it’s the wave of the future. It’s what more than a few baseball fans & geeks alike will be talking about before too terribly long & I say jump on the bandwagon. Knowledge never hurt anyone. Hide from knowledge at the expense of your own fun.

Dou-blog: NCAA Basketball & The Grammys

I’ll start off with a couple of comments on the Grammys & then I’ll get down to the true meat of this blog.

So, I’m watching the Grammys, right? Yeah.. So, the award for Best Rock Album comes up & I hadn’t seen the nominees until the show. So, I’m listening.. We got.. Kid Rock – Rock N Roll Jesus.. Ok, that fits. Metallica – Death Magnetic.. They’re metal & it says on the Grammy website that this award includes hard rock & metal, so, fine. Then we have The Raconteurs – Cosolers Of The Lonely. Cool.. Next, we have Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night.. Weird, but acceptable. Now, we have the group & album that WON.. Coldplay – Viva La Vida….. NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!! I’m sorry, but, they’re not rock & even if they are, there should be a whole different category with them in it. Why don’t they? They do the same thing for Best Rock Song, but then.. They have another award for Best Metal Performance & even Best Hard Rock Performance, WHAT?!?!? Why no “Best Metal Album”? Why no “Best Alternative Rock Album” or whatever they call Coldplay? It’s just not right. There’s FAR more of a difference between the albums ”Death Magnetic” by Metallica & “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay than there is between the songs “Inside The Fire” by Disturbed & “My Apocalypse” by Metallica, they separated those two away from each other placing Disturbed’s song under “Hard Rock” & Metallica’s under “Metal”..  I’m just amazed that they’ll separate some things out like that, but won’t for others. Why should TRUE rock bands have to pay for Coldplay being virtually unidentifiable as to what they play.. What are they? Are they simply a rock band? We know what Metallica is, we know what Kid ROCK is, what is Coldplay? They might as well be put under anything if you aren’t going to separate them from Metallica, Kid Rock & even The Raconteurs & Kings Of Leon! Rant finished.

Now, time to talk College Basketball. What a crazy year this has already turned out to be! I’m not sure anybody wants to be #1. What I am sure of is who could end up being #1 after the March Madness tournament is over & all is said & done. Below are the teams that I believe have a shot at winning it all:

North Carolina - Obviously.. They have the best starting five in the country. I don’t think they will win it all, though.. I do believe they will make it to the Final Four.

UConn – This is a really good team. I really like Hasheem Thabeet, he will take them deep into the tournament.. This is also a Final Four team.

Duke – Don’t let their recent performances fool you, this team is still VERY good.. I doubt that they are Final Four quality, but, they will make the Elite Eight.

Louisville – They will go as far as their defense can carry them. I believe that is to the Elite Eight.

Missouri – They will be the dark horse of the NCAA tournament. Make no mistake, they will surely pull off some big wins in the tournament. I believe they are headed to the Elite Eight.

Clemson – I’ve been all about this team for a while now. It’s not just one thing with this team, it’s everything! I like them to make the Final Four.

UCLA – They’ve made a believer out of me. It’s weird to see them change so much & be more of an offensive team now when just last year they were all about defense. I like them now to make the Elite Eight.

Pittsburgh – I saved the best for last. Yes, this is the team I’m picking to win it ALL!!!! They’re so consistent. While everyone else trips up somewhere, these guys will be there & stand over them in victory on their way to cutting down the nets after they win the tournament.

So, there you have it.. I know it’s early & anything COULD happen, but.. I’m pretty confident about this, which is perfectly fitting for this year, as I didn’t pick any major underdogs to make the Elite Eight. The only thing that could be more shocking is for no shocking team to make the Elite Eight this year, that’s what I’m predicting!

The Oscars: Awarding Greatness or Keeping An Image?

I think it’s alittle of both, to be honest. I do believe that the films they choose are great movies & deserving of awards MOST of the time. However, every year there are movies that also deserve recognition that just simply don’t receive it because they aren’t the “Oscar” type. Two prime examples of this, this year are “Rambo” & “Vantage Point”,  both of which are in my Top 10 movies of 2008, I’ve seen them both.

I haven’t seen all of the movies nominated for Oscars &  that are on my Top 10 movies of 2008, some of it is based off of what I’ve heard from reliable sources & my own opinion where valid. I’ve read alot about all of the movies & heard so much that I wanted to do this blog before the Oscars, doing it afterward wouldn’t be as fun & kind of pointless.

For now, I want to talk a bit about some predictions for the Oscars. I believe “Slumdog Millionaire” will win best picture.  Kate Winslett will win best actress in a leading role. I’m going to go WAAAAAAAYY out on a limb & say that Heath Ledger will win best actor in a supporting role (how brave of me, right?). Heath definitely deserves it, though, I saw “The Dark Knight” & his performance was the best acting I’ve seen in a long time. Sean Penn will win best actor in a leading role. I’m not so sure about this one, I have not seen Milk, but I have seen trailers & such for the purpose of this blog, I watched trailers for all movies that I haven’t seen & made sure to get all the information needed to form somewhat of a decent opinion. I think maybe Mickey Rourke should win the Oscar here, he seemed to really put alot into his part in “The Wrestler”, I can’t wait to see the movie, being a huge wrestling fan myself.

But, ok.. Without any further adieu, I give you my opinion, based on everything I’ve heard & some of my own thought, the Top 10 movies of 2008;

1. Slumdog Millionaire (by far, from what I’ve heard & what I know myself)
2. Milk
3. The Wrestler
4. The Class
5. WALL-E (I’m not crazy about animation, but, I truly believe that this one would be watchable, even by me)
6. The Dark Knight (even though it wasn’t really my cup of tea, I realize how fans of the Batman movies to begin with would think it’s great. What can I say? I want my Top 10 to represent me & all of you, as well)
7. Iron Man (I saw this one too & I actually liked it better than “The Dark Knight”, it’s what everybody else said that made me put “The Dark Knight” just ahead of it, personally, I liked “Iron Man” better.. As I said, though, this isn’t just my list, it’s a consensus of everything I’ve seen & heard)
8. Vantage Point (Saw this one & it was really good. The way that it kept going over the same window of time from different perspectives was insane & awesome all at the same time.. This one kept me there with my eyes glued to the TV, if a movie can do that & keep me hanging around, it must be pretty great)
9. Rambo (This was action at it’s very finest.. Sylvester Stallone was amazing, it was RAMBO!!! Talk about keeping you watching, there is not a person on the face of the planet who could fall asleep on this movie, or at least I should hope not! If there is & you’re reading this, I’m no doctor, but.. You have a problem, seek this movie out & cure yourself!)
10. Miracle At St. Anna (This is definitely the oddball of my Top 10.. It was surprising to me how most people didn’t care for this movie. Then, I read reviews & studied up on it & I realized why.. Everywhere I looked I saw where the critics kept saying that it was full of subplots & had tons of characters & was just nuts as far as keeping up & staying with it. It definitely sounds like a winner to me, though.. I know that people have found that it’s not true to history & such, but.. Why would anyone watch a movie if they want a history lesson? Go grab a history book or find a history buff, but, don’t watch some movie that doesn’t even claim that it’s 100% true to history. Bottom line is, it’s a movie, not a history buff telling you “this is what’s true & what happened”.. I find that people either loved it or hated it. That’s a sign of only one thing.. It left you with a strong feeling whether you liked it or not. It makes my Top 10 for this reason)

So, there you have it! I think it’s pretty much what you’d expect at the top & then gets crazy towards the bottom. As you can see, I tried extremely hard to look past my own opinion prior to seeing or even after seeing the movies & I go into every movie with an open mind to it, it either holds me or not. For the ones that I  haven’t seen… Some of them, I will probably end up watching.. Others, I know would just bore me, but realize that they are probably extremely great films for people with that kind of taste, mine is probably all in my mouth, that’s why I like to throw in tons of other people’s to make me seem like I’m awesome, which, I am.. I mean.. Ok, this isn’t about me.

Anyway, up next in my blogging… I have no clue, really. Probably something to do with College Basketball, I’m thinking.. I will definitely get back to sports where I actually know more about what I’m saying. Yes.

Super Bowl Prediction: Upset in the Cards?

I don’t think so. It could definitely happen if the Steelers aren’t ready to get in Warner’s face & not allow him to use Fitzgerald at will. The Steelers defense doesn’t rely on blitzing this year, they don’t need to. They can get pressure with just sending their 3 down linemen & one linebacker, some would say: “That’s a blitz!!!”, but it’s not. It’s called a “red dog”..

I think the Steelers’ D will be ready for the Cards’ powerful O. Will the Steelers run away with it? No.. The Steelers offense isn’t good enough for them to blow the Cardinals out. But, they will put up enough to win, in my opinion.

FINAL SCORE

Pittsburgh: 20
Arizona: 14

Don’t let that score fool you though, this is going to be a great game, not at-all boring.. I see the Cardinals jumping out to an early lead 7-0 in the first quarter. Then in the 2nd quarter the Steelers D will dominate them & kick a field goal. 7-3 at the half. To start off the 3rd quarter the Steelers will get a huge run back on the kickoff for a TD.. 7-10 Steelers. Arizona will go on a long drive, resulting in a pickoff or fumble, Steelers recovering. Steelers will get a field goal out of it. 7-13 Steelers. 4th quarter, Roethlisberger will start to faulter.. He will throw a pick, Cardinals will storm down to the field only to get stopped & miss a field goal. 3 & out for the Steelers after that. Cardinals will once again drive down into Steelers’ territory only to finally be shut down & have to punt.. Steelers will use a trick play for a TD & then it’ll be revenge time for the Cardinals, using a trick play to their advantage, eventually getting a TD themselves. Then, the Steelers will drain the clock & get the win.

20-14 Steelers.

PS: Coming in my next blog, I do a special on… The Oscars. YES.. The Oscars.

CFB Top 25: Regular Season Final!

As I’ve mentioned previously, my true FINAL Top 25 will come after the bowls are completed. Between now & then, I’m going to look over the entire season & make sure that I am able to make any kinds of adjustments to my rankings that I should, so that I know that I have the best rankings possible! It’s easy to forget games & miss things that should be included in your rankings. But, until then, this is my final regular season rankings!

1. Oklahoma
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. Boise State
6. Utah
7. USC
8. Penn State
9. Texas Tech
10. Ohio State
11. Oklahoma State
12. Cincinnati
13. TCU
14. Oregon
15. Georgia
16. Virginia Tech
17. Georgia Tech
18. BYU
19. Mississippi
20. Michigan State
21. Ball State
22. Boston College
23. Nebraska
24. Arizona
25. Oregon State

Also considered: Missouri, Western Michigan, Northwestern.

 

Yes, Missouri fell out of my Top 25! You might think “but wait, they’re still a really good football team”! Then, why haven’t they played like it? They don’t have a single signature win. Even Oregon State, who is ranked 25th by me has a signature win over USC. Also, unlike Georgia, they really have no excuse for NOT winning a game against a ranked team.  Georgia has a couple: The SEC wasn’t at it’s best this year & injuries.

Ball State took a nose dive down to the 21st spot.. That game against Buffalo was a disaster! Ball State cracked under the pressure, or at least Nate Davis did.

Cincinnati nearly got stunned by Hawaii, I tell ya. But hey, the homefield advantage for Hawaii is probably the best homfield advantage in the nation, that’s something that you have to realize. Hawaii puts the voodoo on teams down there on the island!

CFB Top 25: Let me be the human tiebreaker!!!

Yeah.. If some of you are still confused as to who the Big 12 South champs should be, allow me to help you out.

I noticed in some of the human polls out there that Texas jumped Oklahoma & Florida.. Simply amazing!

Texas routes a non-ranked, not even close to ranked, losing team & Oklahoma defeats a Top 15 school & BAM! Texas jumps them! I think the voters who caused that to happen have lost their minds! If you ranked Oklahoma ahead of Texas last week, you should also rank Oklahoma ahead of Texas this week, which leads me to what you all are waiting for………. My Top 25, ofcourse:

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Boise State
6. Utah
7. USC
8. Penn State
9. Ball State
10. Texas Tech
11. Ohio State
12. Cincinnati
13. Oklahoma State
14. TCU
15. Boston College
16. Oregon
17. Georgia
18. Georgia Tech
19. BYU
20. Missouri
21. Mississippi
22. Michigan State
23. Virginia Tech
24. Nebraska
25. Oregon State

Didn’t consider anyone else.

Now, I’m going to address just a few other things here:

The first of which is about the spot in the BCS Bowl games that is now left open with Oregon State getting thumped by Oregon @ home, thus making USC an automatic bid into the Rose Bowl as PAC-10 Champs. The spot should go to the Boise State Broncos. It won’t happen, but, it should. In the Official BCS Standings, Boise State is ranked AHEAD of Ohio State, not to mention that Boise State is undefeated & Ohio State has 2 losses.

I understand that Boise State is only ONE spot ahead of Ohio State, but, isn’t #2 just one spot ahead of #3? This is the system that decides who plays for the National Title. There should NEVER be a time when they throw their own system aside & basically call it crap themselves. That’s what they’ll be doing if they do not choose Boise State to play in a BCS Bowl.

I know WHY they really won’t choose Boise State, too. It’s all about the money! You know what, though? I have a solution to their problem & I’ll explain it right here:

Let them play if their ranked high enough a good many times. If I’m not mistaking, Boise State gained a good many fans by beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. What if it happens again? They’ll pick up more fans & then if they got into another future BCS Bowl game, guess what? More people will watch on TV, more people will be excited to go to the game. It’s called developing a team.

Now, suppose it goes the other way & they let them play & Boise gets crushed consistently. I have a solution to that, as well. If that were to happen, their BCS Standings are INFACT crap & they need to adjust them so Boise State won’t be sitting at #9 for what they do. Either Boise State is the 9th best team in the nation this year or they’re not & they should be ranked much lower OR they’re better than #9 as I have them!

All I’m asking is that the BCS believe in their own rankings that they use to decide who goes to the National Championship game. How can anyone be comfortable with a system that the BCS themselves just throw out the window when they choose to? If they want to end talks of having a playoff, prove to us that YOU, YOURSELVES, THE BCS, believe your own standings that you produce. Otherwise, PLEASE revise them so that we don’t have a #9 team at the end of the season that has NO SHOT at even making a BCS Bowl & EVERYONE knows it.

Finally, when I say below my rankings that I did not consider anyone else, it doesn’t mean that I don’t think there are some teams to look at below those Top 25.. One team that I am really looking hard at is Western Michigan. I watched them play Ball State & this team is up & coming, guys. I really like what I see from them. What is it with me & these non-BCS teams??!?! Oddly enough, they’re Broncos too! Boy, I’d love to see them play Boise State! I’d also like to see Boise State vs. Ball State, they’re trying to actually make that one happen! What a game that would be! It really would be some kind of exciting! So yeah, don’t be surprised if you see Western Michigan climb into my Top 25 if they win their bowl game, I see some good things in this team.

It’s almost Bowl Time: It’s almost USC time!!!

Yeah, I was going to hold off until Monday when I post my usual rankings for my next blog.. But, I haven’t done anything special lately, it’s Thanksgiving & I had a discussion that made me realize a blog that I just couldn’t pass up..

The discussion was about some things that could happen this year & what has already happened in College Football & how teams should be ranked.. The guy I was having this discussion with was explaining how USC should be the team in the National Championship game over the likes of say, Florida.. I found this interesting & so here’s the blog..

So, I’m thinking about my response to him when he told me this.. I said something like “Well, I think that in a bowl game, USC would beat any team in the nation over 50% of the time out of 100 games”.. Earlier in the day, I had said that I thought that “when it’s bowl time, it’s USC time”.. So, it made me realize something.. He’s right, for the most part.

He explained to me that once you have abunch of teams with 1 loss, that it becomes the most important as to who the teams lost to.. USC, of the 1 loss teams, has the most respectable loss. However, when you have undefeated teams, like Utah, Boise State & Ball State, that’s when you look at who beat who & by how much & all of that stuff, but, it matters less when you’re talking about 1 loss teams.. That’s a very interesting way of thinking & you know, I think he’s right. I ALWAYS compare teams full seasons & count it against them when they have a close game against someone who I thought they should’ve beaten by more. He doesn’t see it that way, he said “a win is a win” & when you’re talking about 1 loss BCS teams, that’s true. He went on to say that even a win over say, Indiana, is a win over a big time program. That’s true.

What I see when I look at USC are some unimpressive wins against the likes of California & such. He sees a one loss team that lost early in the season that has proven that they win games against BCS opponents & even some quality ones, at that, such as Ohio State.. He admits that when you’re looking at two undefeated teams that you have to basically give more weight to close wins & blowouts & the like, but, when it’s USC & Florida & they both have 1 loss, you shouldn’t give as much weight to all of that & you should look at the losses & the impressive victories that they have to rank them.

I have to say.. I learned from both what he explained from his view to me & what I had said myself, that he has a strong point & he’s probably right.. USC belongs in the National Championship game. With that said, do I stick by my ranking of them? Ofcourse.. Still, to me, they’re the #8 team in the country & Florida is better than them.. What my main point of this blog is, is that both my opinion & his opinion are both very strong on the matter & that if you combine those two trains of thought, that makes for an even better overall opinion of things.

I guess that’s why the AP Poll is so interesting. It’s 65 different opinions all thrown into one! I think if you combine my rankings with the rankings of the guy that I had that discussion with, that my rankings would become even better (imagine that)!

So, after all the games have been played (including the bowl games), I would love to bring to all of you a combined two man poll, if you will, with my rankings combined with his. I think it would be a better overall view of College Football.. Also, if you’re lucky, maybe I can have my sister throw in her opinion as well! So, maybe it will be an end of the season 3 awesome people poll.. Yes, I think that will be the title for that, haha!

College Football Top 25: Boise State, Top 5?

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Boise State
6. Utah
7. Penn State
8. USC
9. Ball State
10. Texas Tech
11. Oklahoma State
12. Georgia
13. Missouri
14. Ohio State
15. Cincinnati
16. TCU
17. Oregon State
18. Boston College
19. BYU
20. Oregon
21. West Virginia
22. Mississippi
23. Georgia Tech
24. Michigan State
25. Florida State

Also considered: Who really cares at this point?

The answer is… YES!! Boise State is now a Top 5 team in my view.. They’re not like Hawaii of last year, no way. Hawaii needed every last gasp to beat Washington last year, who was the worst team in the PAC-10.. Boise State has defeated Oregon this year, that’s better than anything Hawaii did last year..

So, you may question.. Why Boise State ahead of Utah? It’s all in the results.. Sure, Utah has faced a few tougher in-conference tests than Boise State has had to, but, 2 of Utah’s closest 4 games came against teams with losing records. There’s really not much difference between the WAC & the Mountain West except at the top.. The Mountain West has Utah, BYU & TCU while the WAC has Boise State & well, that’s it. Although, don’t let Fresno State fool you, they’re much better than their record would suggest.

Alot of people get caught up in Utah’s conference schedule compared to the WAC & think, oh my, that means Utah is better than Boise State.. But, do they really take the time to look at the close calls Utah has had against losing teams? Some will ofcourse say that Utah had Michigan beat badly & then Michigan rallied back late to make it seem close, yet, they’re quick to point out now that Boise State had a close one with Nevada..  There’s a couple of problems with that.. The first is that Nevada isn’t a losing team, they’re bowl eligible. The second is that Boise State led that game 41-24 with less than 5 minutes to go in the game.. So, if you wanna talk about the Nevada game for Boise State.. I’m more than happy to talk about the Michigan game & yes.. If Toledo can beat Michigan, so can Nevada.

The bottom line is that just because Boise State plays in the WAC where you aren’t forced to play TCU & BYU, doesn’t mean they’re not as good as Utah.. A team’s quality really isn’t measured by it’s schedule, it’s measured by it’s performance on the field against the schedule that they have.. Boise State performs better than Utah, in my eyes. Utah scores points for being battle tested. So, it’s close between the two, I give the edge to Boise..

Top 25: James Madison = GONE?!!?!?

1. Texas Tech
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Boise State
7. USC
8. Penn State
9. Utah
10. Ball State
11. Oklahoma State
12. Georgia
13. Missouri
14. Ohio State
15. BYU
16. Cincinnati
17. TCU
18. Michigan State
19. LSU
20. Oregon State
21. Pittsburgh
22. Boston College
23. Oregon
24. Miami (FL)
25. West Virginia

Also considered: North Carolina, James Madison, Maryland

Yet Another College Football Top 25!

1. Texas Tech
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Boise State
7. USC
8. Penn State
9. Utah
10. Ball State
11. Oklahoma State
12. Georgia
13. Missouri 
14. Ohio State
15. Cincinnati
16. North Carolina
17. BYU
18. TCU
19. Michigan State
20. LSU
21. Pittsburgh
22. Air Force
23. Florida State
24. Oregon State
25. James Madison

Also considered: Tulsa, South Carolina, Arizona

 

Few things I’d like to explain here.. Utah only moved up a spot in my rankings for two reasons.. #1. They had to, there was nobody that could jump them that would be reasonable, seeing as teams ahead of them lost. #2. They did beat a ranked team of mine, that does count for something.

Next up, James Madison did hang on to their #25 ranking.. They were idle & nobody did anything to jump them.

Finally, I figured it’s time to stop goofing around with Ball State & give them the respect they deserve.. They’re playing every bit as good as Utah, if not better.. The only difference is the conference in which they play. Ball State is legit.