Bill James

60 Minutes had a very pleasant story on Bill James tonight. It's not often I'll intentionally watch something other than the Simpsons or Sunday Night Baseball at 8pm. But this was an exception. They talked about his early yearly abstracts, which sold a few copies. They also showed his Historical Baseball Abstract, which I think is one of the most informative books I've ever read. I recommend it if you've got some time and don't mind things that run a thousand pages. His decade-by-decade breakdown of trends, players, innovations, and lists is outstanding. Supplemented with sections on the minor leagues, independent leagues, and the Negro Leagues, there's just a wealth of information that fans of baseball history will soak up.

The story said he invented Sabermetrics, but there's a good number of people who work in the field, so I don't know if I'd go that far. There's a lot of things about it that I do like, mostly because the explanations of them seem to make sense. It's also fun listening to baseball mystics go into fits over how number crunchers are ruining the game. And of course, without Sabermetrics there would be no FJM blog. And there might not be a Rob Neyer as we know him, and he's the whole reason I signed up for ESPN Insider in the first place. Favorite sabermetric stat: Secondary Average. There's something I like about the formula. I tend to think of it as an expectation for each time a player comes to bat. Rob Neyer answered one of my emails about it, saying he doesn't pay too much attention to the stat. At least that's how I remember it. Oh well.

NCAA Tournament

There's a few thoughts I've had about some of the matchups and results to this point:

All four number one seeds in the Final Four for the first time. In UNC, Kansas, and UCLA, you have three of the top programs of all time. UCLA is probably #1, UNC can make a strong claim to #2, though I don't know that you could put them ahead of Kentucky, which has three more titles than UNC. Despite having "only" two titles, Kansas has enough history and tradition to claim a place in the top five. That's a big threesome to start with, and Memphis is no joke. Their tradition is pretty good as well, and they came into the tournament with a single loss, to a Tennessee team that was angling for a #1 seed themselves.

Speaking of Tennessee, I like Bruce Pearl and I think they can be fun to watch, but sometimes I think they're a bit of a head case team as well. They do some really strange things at times.

I watched the UNC/Louisville game last night, and kept thinking that each team plays fast, but they're different kinds of fast. Carolina plays with a fast tempo, pushing the ball up the floor and trying to score on the fast break. They try to catch you off guard and tire you out. Louisville plays a hectic style, one that makes you uncomfortable and forces a lot of turnovers. They press full court and pressure in the half court. Pitino did some of the same things at Kentucky, but those teams seemed like they had players with a bit more basketball skill than his current squad. This team seems like it relies a bit more on athleticism than skill and execution. Not that they don't have the latter, of course.

Carolina pulled off the win with some big late shots from Tyler Hansborough. Deep 2-point jumpers that you wouldn't expect an inside player like him to take. His game is something else to watch. He takes and makes some of the most unorthodox shots I've ever seen. He initiates contact constantly, then sort of fling-heaves (technical term) the ball towards the goal. And it goes in like that! There just doesn't seem to be a way that shots like that go in.

UCLA note: On Kornheiser's show, Hoops Weiss noted that Kevin Love's middle name is Wesley, after Wes Unseld, with whom his father played in the pros.

I'll be pulling for the winner of the UNC/Kansas game in the finals.

No Country For Old Men

"Pretty good movie, though they could have cut off about a half hour or so and it would've been just as good." That's one of the comments I had for There Will Be Blood. Well, No Country For Old Men clocks in at about two hours, which works out well.

I'd heard that Javier Bardem's character was really spooky and terrifying, but I didn't find him to be that frightening. He's certainly an impressive villain, however. His face and voice reminds me of Raul Julia. His face is a little rounder and fleshier, but his voice has that same soft elegance to it.

I think the plot is pretty solid, if you ignore the missing motivation and background to the overall story. Certain things seem to be picked up in medias res. I really liked Llewelyn as a character.

How great is the Internet? It allows us to know that Llewelyn and its variations mean "oath of Belenus". Belenus is an old Celtic god associated with fire and healing.

Before seeing it I heard some people say they didn't like the ending. This would be the third movie I've seen this year that has an "ending without an ending", with Cloverfield and There Will Be Blood the others. Maybe saying they don't have an ending isn't the best way to put it. Let's just say they're abrupt, and some people find them unsatisfying.

The movie is still darn good, and I think probably deserving of Best Picture over There Will Be Blood. It's just a tighter movie, and that's something I don't see enough of.

Tightest movie I've seen: 12 Angry Men.