Thanks, Captain Obvious

keredini · 8 days

The Post-Dispatch and gun crime: two of St. Louis' biggest embarrassments in one screencap.

adidas1882 · 12 days

http://localtvktvi.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/tony-la-russa-11.jpg?w=337

saletan · 2 months

1) I've noticed that Slate has perfected a brand of contrarianism and anti-conventional-wisdom that, while mostly refreshing, sometimes grates as pageview-grabbing cynicism. Is there some editorial philosophy at Slate that encourages this contrarianism (other than, you know, sound journalism)?

2) Slate was one of the first big online magazines. I know you weren't around in the early days, but what do you see as the key differences between online publishing between today and 1996? If Slate launched tomorrow, do you think it would stand a chance?

maxwellhill · 3 months

There are a lot of things about the Komen story to be upset about. This is not one of them. As a private citizen she can give her money to whomever she wants.

PrettyBoyFloyd · 4 months

most British name ever

dallashoosier · 5 months

No sane, post-adolescent Cardinals fan is burning jerseys. Literally no one I've talked to in the last few days has expressed genuine anger towards him. Even on the internet, where the assholes usually reign, everyone's been very realistic about the whole thing.

HANDSTAND69 · 6 months

This is roughly the same article that has been written a thousand times since the beginning of the World Series.

First of all, the idea that La Russa is a Joe Morgan-esque anti-Moneyball Philistine is absurd. He's said that he agrees with and in fact employs much of what's discussed in Moneyball. His problem was about the undue amount of credit given to Billy Beane as opposed to A's scouts and minor league coaches, which has been a pretty common gripe among people in baseball that's been overshadowed by morons like Morgan.

Second, where in the godforsaken world did people get the idea of La Russa actively courting his image as a revered genius? You can assail fans and sportswriters for resorting to hagiography, but you can't just say he's "hilariously churlish he has been about accepting...credit" or that "he took pains to make clear how deeply he believed that no one could possibly understand him [and] his majestic brain" without any evidence whatsoever. I've watched him for 16 years, and will be the first to admit that he can be a world-class dick, but calling him narcissistic is petty and baseless.

luckyfishface · 7 months

The Mang

Rearden_Steel · 7 months

Can we give it a rest already? If Joe Buck and/or Tim McCarver bother you to such a degree that they actually infringe on your ability to enjoy the game, do this. If they don't, shut the fuck up.

gem_city_brewing · 7 months

Are you or are you not aware that Bleacher Report is universally considered to be a festering cesspool of dogshit articles whose business model is to exploit thoughtless morons who can't find a legitimate source of journalism to back up their retarded tribalist opinions?

gem_city_brewing · 7 months

I have a better t-shirt for you

gem_city_brewing · 7 months

Seriously, people should at least be honest and admit the "hate" is just drummed up because the Cardinals are such a consistently successful ballclub. We are basically the Patriots of ~~baseball.~~ the NL Central

gem_city_brewing · 7 months

Do you know the guy, or do you watch him on fucking television?

illbite · 7 months

Well, clearly neither of us is going to convince the other. I generally agree with your point about using your best relief pitcher in the highest-leverage situations, and that Tony's style is best suited to the playoffs. But, one last time, his 30-year track record speaks for itself, and I think if you asked a random sample of 500 players/coaches/scouts who they'd want as the manager of a hypothetical ballclub, ceteris paribus, TLR would win going away.

illbite · 7 months

I agree that there are many criteria by which one could determine the "best" manager, and I think that a lot of this comes down to semantics. But by the most basic, instinctual definition of the word, he is the best in the game right now. And I don't have to handpick anything. He has the third most wins of any manager in history (and next June-ish he'll have the 2nd). He's gone to six World Series, and he's only the second manager to win it in both leagues. He's been managing for 30 years. He has originated countless practices that are now commonplace in baseball.

Finally--and I have not to this point wanted to use this as a crutch--with the pitcher's spot in play, managing matters far, far more in the NL than the AL. Perhaps I'm wrong, but you probably don't understand what makes this game such a brilliant managing performance (other than "he made a lot of pitching changes")

illbite · 7 months

He's got a long, long track record of success with payrolls that are about half of what he would have were he managing for a team like the Yankees or Red Sox. He's done a lot with a little, and he's done it consistently. If he had taken a team like the 2008 Rays or 2003 Marlins to the WS, and never again, it would be hard to call him "the best". But given that he's brought the Cards to three in seven years, I really don't know who could possibly be considered a better manager over the last 10 years--Leyland and Maddon are certainly candidates, but again, La Russa has been more consistent, and Francona/Torre/Girardi/C. Manuel have all had license to sign the best players in the game regardless of cost, which La Russa certainly hasn't. Making lots of pitching changes may be annoying, but it's within the rules and an integral part of NL baseball. So again, I don't really see how he isn't, on a purely rational basis, the best manager currently in the game.

illbite · 7 months

When you've managed for 30 years, your ability is your record.

illbite · 7 months

There's a reason why he's the longest-tenured head coach in pro sports. There's a reason why in the last seven years, he's taken the Cardinals to the World Series three times, more than the Yankees, Phillies, and Red Sox, all of whom have much bigger payrolls. You may not like the guy, and we can debate the semantics of the word "best" until the cows come home, but the idea that he's not the most successful manager currently in the game is pretty much indefensible.

dylan89 · 7 months

What's absurd is interpreting a comment of vague support on the AZ law (during a time when a lot of people in baseball were talking about it) as an endorsement of the Tea Party. Again, it's not a secret that La Russa is a conservative, but he's never made a statement that he's a "fan" of Beck or the Tea Party, and you know that, because you probably just googled it trying to look for a source and couldn't find anything of substance. I'm not defending him, and I don't really know what you're accusing him of, either. I think the Tea Party are a bunch of thoughtless, paranoid, tribalist dumbfucks, but the Beck rally actually was as (nominally) apolitical as it was advertised, and the entire La Russa/Pujols thing was way overblown.

joewashere · 7 months

Will Leitch wrote the perfect explanation of why in this book (which everyone should read) and I'll try and fail to paraphrase it here:

Take your favorite team. Who can be said to "be" that team? Certainly, the players. The coaches. The GM. The owner(s). The scouts, the announcers maybe, the technicians, the marketing department, the ushers, everyone who works for the organization. But none of those people are permanent. Most last a couple years, a lucky few last a decade or more. The only real constant is the fans. They are the team. Not all of them will remain lifelong devotees, but a lot of them will. They'll pass it on to their kids and those kids will pass it onto theirs. A fanbase, as a composite entity, "is" its team in a much more significant way than a bunch of transient millionaires and executives and scouts and beer vendors are.

So yeah, fuck this guy.

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illbite

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