And it's even worse when the person is someone you've come to respect for other reasons, ala Joe Morgan. I like it that Tommy does sort of dig at what's underneath Morgan's hatred, which is clearly what it is. Some people are genuinely threatened by the idea that you can quantify things. I'm not sure, but somehow, that just seems un-american in the little "a" cultural sort of way, and maybe that's part of what's going on, people see their whole world view being cast aside.

Well, blah, blah, blah, I'm just a blow-hard myself, I guess, I just wanted to comment and say thanks for pointing out the piece.

Mind pontificating a bit on global warming for the less informed?

Even as front offices scramble to hire just about anyone who can run a statistical regression, at least two books, one by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, have been written more or less as responses to Moneyball

...

"You know," Joe begins to say, as a makeup brush is dabbed along his forehead, "why don't you read the --" He catches himself. I'm pretty sure he's going to plug Tony La Russa's book.

The book the writer is referring to, Three Nights in August, was not written by Tony La Russa, but by Buzz Bissinger.

That's irony. Unintentional irony. I briefly wondered if it might have been intentional, but it isn't. Not from a writer who is capable of this sort of clumsy construction: Socratic exchange with Joe Morgan No. 1....

Does the SF Weekly have no editors?

That is good irony. I haven't read any of these books, but I understood that "moneyball" started as one thing and ended up another, while "3 nights" started out with an agenda and pursued it. Am I wrong on both those counts?

How exactly is it childish to try and get Morgan to answer some simple questions? To me it seemed like he went out of his way to include what might be Morgan's perspective, since Morgan himself was unwilling to provide it. While that's clearly entering fictional realm, it didn't seem untoward to me, but rather forgiving. I guess I can see the dogged pursuit as childish, but Morgan had ample opportunity to say something to make me think he is not blinded by his hatred of the "moneyball" concept.