BTB's First Birthday

What do you do on birthdays?

Well, here at Beyond the BoxScore, we do a few things:

1. Make sure that everyone knows about it.
   
2. Remember at the last minute that its our birthday.
   
3. Make a shoddy column to commemorate our first year.
   
4. Post it as if nothing's wrong.

Best Sarcastic Prediction that Actually Came True: Marc Normandin, 9/6/2005 - After a five minute span of time where Sal B, Dan Lucero, Marc Normandin, and I bashed the White Sox and their chances at postseason success, Marc drops the sarcastic bomb on us all: "Cannot wait until they win the WS and make us all look like bumbling fools." Proving the inexactness of prognostication, and, in my case, my own thickheadedness, Marc was actually right on the ball with this one. Even though he hadn't intended to be.

Most Likely to be Attacked by a Horde of Angry Padres Fans for Repeating Flawed Material or Poorest Reference to Stephen A. Smith: Dan Scotto, based on these power rankings. On that date, I wrote, "Cruising to that division title. I think that if they get swept in the NLDS, they shouldn't even bother to fly the division title flag, because, quite frankly, that's all you need... I mean, quite frankly, they've scored 54 fewer runs than they've allowed, and there are at least 7 teams in the NL better than they are, and you could make a case for 8 or even 9." This set off a minor firestorm on a Padres blog, Ducksnorts, where I was condemned for being a bit of a jerk about it. I don't blame them; I was a little harsh and ended up getting into a bit of an email-joking type thing there. Few understood my poor reference to the terrible commercial for Tom Brady being "all you need," but that's OK.

Most Compulsive Reader: John Beamer, who has posted two book reviews in the very early going of his writing at BtB. Both very good reviews, I might add.

Most Satisfied with Years of Waiting Paying Off: Cyril Morong, our resident happy White Sox fan and writer with more math skills in his small finger than I have in my entire body. Morong wrote several articles about the White Sox over the course of the year and offseason, in addition to a very intriuging look into lineup construction and many timely entries when no one else posted.

Most Interesting Use of the Work of Waloddi Weibull: This one was a no-brainer: SalB. Because is there any doubt to the fact that there just weren't all that many interesting uses of the work of Weibull? The math-types at this site might take issue to this, but my mathematical experience is one year of AP Calc, so bear with me. In all honesty, I'm still wrapping my head around Sal's article, but I found the spreadsheet to be fascinating. And Excel and I get along pretty nicely.

Best Brief Crystallization of Stathead Sentiment: That goes to newcomer Mike Pindelski, who cogently summarized the problems with the mass media and its affectionate relationship with "smallball," which is somewhat similar to the girl who keeps going back to the guy who keeps lying to her because she's insecure.

Anyway. Pindelski wrote, "Overall Rosenthal is correct in saying that over the past four seasons, three of the four World Series winners have been referred too as 'smallball' teams, but in no way does that justify using "smallball" tactics, such as the stolen bases, and sacrifice hits, as two key parts to an efficient offense." Well said.

Best Resource for the Calculation of NRAA and Just About Everything Else: Richard B. Wade. Trust Me.

Sentence Most Likely to Make a 15-Year Old Say "Burn!" if He/She Followed Baseball: Joe Giovannetti: "Good thing the Giants didn't trade Jerome Williams." Ouch.

Well, it's been a fun year. I'm out of place with a group of such talented writers, and if I forgot anyone, it's because of personal hatreds and vendettas. No, not really; it's just b/c I'm running on too few hours of sleep. I hope you've enjoyed our first year, whether you've been here for a while or you're just getting into it now. We'll try to make Year 2 better than Year 1 and hope to continue to provide interesting stuff here.

Now, time to blow out the candles.