Reversion to the Mean

One of the great things about listening to sports radio is the amusement the dopey sportscasters bring me with their utter stupidity. When I tell this to MHW (who knows almost nothing about sports), she can't understand how sportscasters can know so little yet remain on the airwaves.

Two recent examples:

Susan Waldman made perhaps the dopiest comment I've ever heard when, after a batter moved a runner from second to third on a grounder to second base, she said "the Yankees thrive when they play 'small ball'". No, Susan, the Yankees actually thrive when they hit three run homers and crush the ball. They are in first place because they lead the league in OBP, slugging percentage, RBI and runs scored. They lead the league in total bases by 125 over the second ranked team. They are second in home runs and average. They are not in first place because they move runners from second to third with no one out. Nor because they execute sacrifice bunts or hit and runs. Or steal bases (they are 7th). Duh.

But even better is the reaction of virtually every talking head about the Mets "steal" of Jeff Francoeur from the Atlanta Braves. Because he started out on a hitting streak, these dopes made it sound like Francoeur was the next coming of Mickey Mantle. I laughed every time I heard that because I was more or less familiar with his career stats. His lifetime on-base-percentage? .309. Lifetime average? .267. Strikeouts to walks? 487/130. (And this after his first couple of years before the league totally figured him out).

Now that Francoeur has reverted to his mean, perhaps the dumbells will shut up and realize that the Braves aren't as stupid as they think.