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[Nabubrush]

I'm going to cover two minor things that bug me, and you folks can let me know what you think or not:

1) I don't follow baseball. Recently, I saw something on ESPN where they were talking baseball, and they said "over 9 games, (some pitcher) had a record of 7 and 1". I'm not looking for an explanation of this. I'm saying any sport in which you can have a record that which doesn't equal the actual number of games played is nonsensical.

2) I was reading Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine this time home, and there was an article about a chocolate exhibit at a museum in San Diego (off-topic: the wife and I saw this very same exhibit last year, here in PDX). So, in this article, they discussed how at one time, the cacao bean was so valuable, it was used as money. Sources also use this same phrase when talking about salt, and they bring up that the word salary has the same root as the word salt. So, all these things were so valuable they were used as money . . . well, little bits of copper are so valuable to us, they are used as money. For pity's sake, there's no reference to the unit! The phrase is meaningless!

Yes, sometimes I get a little too worked up. I'm not sure I have the dosage dialed in yet. I just had these two unrelated things that were bothering me, and I thought I would put them right here. Thank you.

[CortJstr]

I'm going to cover two minor things that bug me, and you folks can let me know what you think or not:

1) I don't follow baseball. Recently, I saw something on ESPN where they were talking baseball, and they said "over 9 games, (some pitcher) had a record of 7 and 1". I'm not looking for an explanation of this. I'm saying any sport in which you can have a record that which doesn't equal the actual number of games played is nonsensical.

I'm going to assume there was a game in the middle of that 9 in which the pitcher in question didn't play. So the team's record adds up to 9 but his personal record is one short because he's a huge pansy and sat out.

If you want to be pissed about sports records then let's talk about hockey's 4 digit system. How can a team be 7-6-1-1? The hell?

[edit: I'm aware the extra value is for "overtime losses" I'm just saying it's hella lame]

[Gimpson]

Even though Nabu said he didn't want an explanation for the baseball stat, I'll do my best.  When a pitcher pitches, he gets a win if he is ahead when he leaves the game and the rest of the team goes on to win the game without ever losing his lead.  He is credited with a loss if he leaves when his team is behind and the team goes on to lose the game without ever getting ahead.  

If he's ahead when he leaves the game, but the relief pitcher loses the starting pitcher's lead the starting pitcher is credited with a no decision.  So the pitcher you mentioned had 7 wins, 1 loss and 1 no decision.  

I don't really like baseball, mostly because the stats are so convoluted.  About the only bizarre, incomprehensible stat in American Football is the Quarterback Rating.

[Nabubrush]

Gimpson, I did basicaly know roughly what 7-1 over nine games meant. I just think it's goofy. The QB rating system is goofy, too, but it's like calling a person a ten (it doesn't really mean anything). Wins and losses ought to be more solid. You either won, lost, or tied.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Sometimes you will hear them say "the Zebra Bastards were 16-12 overall in games del Vaca started this season," which is probably a little more up your alley.  But the W-L record stat as it stands protects a starting pitcher from the bullpen screwing up his games, as well as denying him any credit when he pitches poorly but the rest of the team comes back to win.

[AugustWest]

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

[Va]

These berries taste like burning!

[Nabubrush]

I just think they should quantify it - like say "at one time, cacao pods were so valuable, three of them could purchase a lifetime of servitude."

[wombat]

Is that new avatar is making you cranky by association?

[Nabubrush]

Is that new avatar is making you cranky by association?

Gold, Jerry - pure gold!

Actually, I've thinking about the baseball thing for awhile, and the money thing for a few days.

[arkabee]

to clarify are you angry at currency or poor writing?

[Nabubrush]

Ark, you fuck*ng rule.


I'm angry at poor writing. I am fascinated by currency. And someone else can post that Eric Idle deal, if they really want to.

[Va]

I've got 90,000 pounds in my pajamas
I've got 40,000 French francs in my fridge
I've got lots of lovely lira
Now the deutschmark's getting dearer
And my dollar bills could buy the Brooklyn Bridge

There is nothing quite as wonderful as money
There is nothing quite as beautiful as cash
Some people say it's folly
But I'd rather have the lolly
With money you can make a splash!

There is nothing quite as wonderful as money
There is nothing like a newly minted pound
Oh everyone must hanker
For the butchness of a banker
It's accountancy that makes the world go 'round

You can keep your Marxist ways
For it's only just a phase
For it's money, money, money makes the world
Go
'Round!

[Nabubrush]

I can't believe it took half an hour.

[arkabee]

Ark, you fuck*ng rule.

thank you, i needed that.  i'm in a bit of a funk, a funk that i don't think that even Terry Funk, with a funkadelic soundtrack, could weak-punch/kick his way out of through sheer tenacity.

however, i think, perhaps, it's a tad bit of an exageration.

oldene dayes currencies rule, though.

my immediate reaction to that beenz thing was "how cute.  i don't want my money to be cute.  i don't trust cute money.  i hate bankers and accountants and chairpeople of The Fed because they are money grabbing greedy bastards.  but i trust them to keep money ugly and evil and not cute."

which may be why beenz failed?

i mean, there's nothing, really, cute about paypal.  i mean, isn't it the shortened version of "pay up pal, or we break your knees and sell the pictures on the internet"?


and i've never really _gotten_ baseball.  math shouldn't be trivialized by common man's usage.