50 thoughts on “Instant Brew: 11-16-2012”

  1. I'm taking in the NOLA Hornets v OKC Thunder tilt tonight with a friend. This is the first major sporting event I've been to in the last year and a half. I didn't make it to a single MLB baseball game this season, and it's likely that I won't be to one next year. My interest in baseball is beginning to wane in general, and living in a state that doesn't have a strong MLB affiliation doesn't help.

  2. Thanks for the post, meat. Late last night we had a daughter emergency before I got to this or the video.

    Sour Cream couldn't breathe and said she was afraid she was dying. I knew she was overreacting because fearing death is her new thing, but it still alarmed me enough to make sure her cold wasn't something worse.

  3. In light of what I'm doing today, my overreaction to Sour Cream's comment seems worse. I'm running an event at work where a Make-A-Wish child gets a shopping spree with her mom and siblings.

    I had thought it was going to be a tough morning, but it's actually going to be tougher. I found out yesterday that both of this girl's siblings are also Make-A-Wish children. I can't imagine.

    1. You're just making it harder and harder for me to find the right tone to make a joak about how non-parents just don't understand what it's like to be a parent. I'm trying, but I just can't find it right now.

    2. My brother recently found out he qualified for Make-A-Wish. I've been exposed to a fair number of folks with major health issues, but I cannot even begin to imagine how tough it would be for the family you'll be working with today. My best to you. And them.

      1. The one thing about it is that this will be a big day for them, I would imagine. Helping this kid enjoy that day will not be forgotten.

          1. The event is over and was a huge success. All three wheelchair-bound children were there, and quite a few of us were scheduled just to make it feel like a big event. We have a lot of big-hearted folks in my store who just hung out with the kids (aged 12-18) and befriended them. The mother gave a very moving speech beforehand talking about how Pierce (the boy who was getting his Wish today) was a straight-A student in school until 6th grade, when his muscular-skeletal problems took over and he had to leave school entirely. She said the illness robbed him of a graduation, but she felt that this celebration was making up for it. I rarely feel like I've impacted anyone at work, but today was much different.

            All three children have the same illness, and apparently it didn't manifest until they were each ten to twelve. So, mom just kept finding out that each child had it as the years marched on. She doesn't seem bitter and hopeless, like I think I would. Somehow, she's kept on keepin' on. Amazing.

  4. Winter baseball postings will be sporadic to non-existent through Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be putting in a lot of windshield time, and will mostly not have internet access. If all goes well, we'll be back to a regular posting schedule Monday, Nov. 26.

  5. I don't mind Cabrera winning the MVP. I don't really care about the award, and he did have an amazing season. I don't even mind the talking heads who aren't big fans of advanced sabermetrics. What I do mind is the pervasive anti-intellectualism I'm hearing today. The incredible amounts of snark and, "Things were this way in the past and we should never ever ever change anything ever gimme a beer," attitude makes me really sad. There's one thing not enjoying math or not being particularly good at it. There another thing actively bragging about hating math.

    Are there any radio stations besides NPR that don't push anti-intellectualism?

    1. Anti-intellectualism is the new market inefficiency. Joking aside, Dr. Chop is happy to report that her freshmen are more intellectually curious in NOLA than they were in W. Texas, but then again she's teaching at a small, private, liberal arts college.

      1. What? I thought the only thing that happened at small, librul arts colleges was epistemic closure??!!!

    2. Im in the camp of 'either player deserved the award'. But the name calling on both sides (the sportswriters are idiots, the statheads are punks) is a bit ugly

    3. "A lot of newspaper guys today are being as dismissive of "stat geeks" as they once were of bloggers. How'd that work out for ya?" Scott Van Pelt

        1. Nate Silver wrote an article on his 538 blog about how Trout should win the MVP and someone commented unironically (I think), "Stick to politics."

          Heh.

    4. "Things were this way in the past and we should never ever ever change anything ever gimme a beer,"

      The truly stupid part of this attitude is that of the 10 previous Triple Crown winners during the MVP era, four of them did not win the MVP, including Ted Williams twice.

      1. Fangraphs feeding the beast yesterday with this interesting piece trying to explain what kept a hitter with a top 10 WAR total from not getting single MVP vote.

        Is it too meta to use stats to explain MVP voting?

    5. Right, after Morneau's 2006 MVP, I pretty much stopped caring because it was apparent the voters were going to follow the story rather than the obvious.

        1. I think there is a narrative case to be made there. Twins and Morneau came out of the gates awful. Turnarounds coincided, etc. Selective endpoints and all, but from the time things bottomed out for the Twins, I believe Morneau had the highest OPS in the AL.

          More like how Trout showed up from the minors when his team was awful and went on such a tear as they almost caught up and made the playoffs.

          1. So Mauer gets voted lower than Morneau because Mauer was more consistent? Also, Mauer's OPS was better than Morneau's OPS.

        2. This would be an understandable position, except there were two Twins who deserved it more than he did (and either of whom would have actually deserved the award).

    1. 1. Yes dope.
      2. Still a bit saddened that another team falls from the "No Alts"
      Who's left? Just NYY, DET, LAD?

        1. An interesting LTE to the "Public Editor" follow-up piece.

          pageprod
          Minneapolis

          Flag

          As the original producer of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (my company did the first eleven seasons but no longer does the show so factor in any axe I may have to grind) I applaud Mr. Wells for focusing on the key point -- that everyday food can and should be good, home made, something a chef is proud to serve. Since Mr. Fieri is trading on his reputation for featuring such places and such cooking, Mr. Wells is certainly well within his scope as a critic to see where Mr. Fieri as a restaurateur lands on the hypocrisy scale.

          David Page
          Page Productions

          Nov. 14, 2012 at 12:24 p.m.
          Recommended19

    1. I lulz'd it when they started breaking out The Wisecrack on the Lennie re-runs. Those were some flat feet.

  6. Not bad, Pujara - 5th Indian evah to score a double century against the Brit. England has dropped three wickets in only 18 overs in their first innings.

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