The War Room Lounge 158: In Ben Shapiro's Bed, No One Can Hear You Scream

[Jack V Savage]

Players may be in better shape but it's not a requirement , players like John Kruk, Fernando Valenzuela and even Babe Ruth could still play today

Kruk was a first baseman, and he wasn't that good. And Ruth was only fat at the end of his career. First basemen are generally big, strong dudes who don't have to be great athletes, though it doesn't hurt. Pitchers don't need to run or anything, but a certain physical grace is pretty important to having good command. The hand-eye coordination and grace requirements for baseball are really extreme. Running and throwing and agility kind of depend on the position.

 

[Fawlty]

Golf, curling, yachting/sailing, auto racing (except motorcycle), fishing, shooting (archery and firearms like trap excluding biathlon), bowling, sailing, then there’s darts, card games, chess, esports, pool, etc.

You're missing one.

 

[Steve Rogers]

When ya need a replacement key for your laptop's keyboard, what site do ya buy from? Need recommendations. Don't know which site to trust.

 

[Fawlty]

I think there are a number of analogies outside of sports, where certain "unwritten rules" exist for preventing mutual loss or ruinous competition (waiting your turn at four-way stops - since everyone doing that would make stops less efficient and more chaotic, not selling below cost to hurt a competitor - because the competitor doing the same would result in both of you going out of business, stuff like that).

Hell, you can even see it in politics. Before the AHCA, there were preexisting norms on public debate and solicitation of bipartisan advice on major bills. It wasn't legally required that you not force through bad bills in the dead of night, but it was appreciated as the right thing to do. The Republicans instead chose to ram through the AHCA with almost no public debate or scrutiny. If Democrats continue to try to observe these norms while Republicans don't, it's to their "competitive" disadvantage. So eventually they won't. And both parties and the country will be worse for it, as major bills become unchecked by the adversarial process. Of course, there are a loooooot of examples of this kind of thing with the McConnell Senate where destroying norms and institutions for short-term political gain is ordinary.

I think those examples are too far afield. The result is what angers people about swinging at a 3-0 fastball with a 7 run lead. Had he had fouled it off, nobody would be talking about it. Hilariously, it's completely fine to swing at a 3-1 pitch. It goes from a big sin or whatever, to being perfectly expected one strike later. It's more akin to religious superstition than important norms of sportsmanship imo. I'm sure there are plenty of examples from professional baseball where norms are helpful to the spirit of the game, but I can't see how this situation fits.

 

[Fawlty]

When ya need a replacement key for your laptop's keyboard, what site do ya buy from? Need recommendations. Don't know which site to trust.

I think we heard you the first time. Trust is an important thing, but trust involving a single keyboard key is probably the least important thing when it comes to trust. You could go with www.fuckyourkeyboardlulz.org and probably come out of the deal with your life intact.

 

[Prokofievian]

I think those examples are too far afield. The result is what angers people about swinging at a 3-0 fastball with a 7 run lead. Had he had fouled it off, nobody would be talking about it. Hilariously, it's completely fine to swing at a 3-1 pitch. It goes from a big sin or whatever, to being perfectly expected one strike later. It's more akin to religious superstition than important norms of sportsmanship imo. I'm sure there are plenty of examples from professional baseball where norms are helpful to the spirit of the game, but I can't see how this situation fits.

Why is the count significant here?

 

[Jesus H. Sherdog]

You're missing one.

Edited

 

[HereticBD]

Some people are mad because someone hit a home run?

It's one of the many stupid unwritten rules in Professional Baseball, that seems more in line with what little league would do, to not crush the other team's spirit too much.

If they don't like a guy teeing off on a big fat meatball, because they were already winning by so much, they need to instigate a mercy rule to protect their fragile egos like the babies they are.

Love baseball, but man, they can be some straight up whiny bitches.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Why is the count significant here?

3-1 is still very advantageous to the hitter, and it's almost always a better deal to take the sure walk over whatever is behind the mystery door when you swing. In all game situations, the batter usually takes automatically at 3-0 (usually top hitters have the green light to swing if they really think they can do something with the pitch), but when there's a big lead, it seems even less justifiable to take any risk. But I'm guessing Tatis really didn't see it as risky to take the swing, and the result suggested that he maybe knew what he was doing.

 

[Steve Rogers]

I think we heard you the first time. Trust is an important thing, but trust involving a single keyboard key is probably the least important thing when it comes to trust. You could go with www.fuckyourkeyboardlulz.org and probably come out of the deal with your life intact.

If ya think I'm clicking that, you're insane.

 

[Pseudo Sane]

I don't know if he will, but for sure it would be the best move to help assure a Liberal victory in the next election. Like Chretien, Trudeau has mostly been doing a good job but he can't keep his hand out of the cookie jar. A lot of people let it slide because they really wanted to like Chretien/Trudeau. Unlike Chretien, however, Trudeau appears to have a lot more people dead set on taking him down a peg due to their perception of him as smugly and hypocritically self-righteous. Lack of perspective about why people have an issue with black face meant a lot of immigrants voted for him in the last election with no fucks given and I think it's fair to say they were instrumental in his winning even a minority. I doubt they'll have the same reaction to this scandal.

By contrast, Freeland has been really successful and wholly without taint throughout the entire period Trudeau has been in power. Trudeau had huge amounts of good will coming in from how he was handling the COVID crisis until this scandal popped up. If he steps aside for Freeland, that goodwill will continue to accrue. Not so if he sticks around. I think the Liberals are likely to lose in a no-confidence vote and then in the general election if Trudeau insists on being a millstone around the neck of the party.

I honestly wonder if Freeland being made Finance Minister now is a poison pill on Trudeau's part.

As I said to @Prokofievian, Trudeau will never voluntarily resign. It's not in his nature.

 

[Jack V Savage]

It's one of the many stupid unwritten rules in Professional Baseball, that seems more in line with what little league would do, to not crush the other team's spirit too much.

If they don't like a guy teeing off on a big fat meatball, because they were already winning by so much, they need to instigate a mercy rule to protect their fragile egos like the babies they are.

Love baseball, but man, they can be some straight up whiny bitches.

In some ways, it's just about making life easier for everyone. Like how you never steal bases way up or way down. Both teams know that you're not running so they don't even protect it, and then you can take the base with no risk, but doing so will piss everyone off.

So you have a situation where taking a risk is a particularly bad idea, which means the other team doesn't worry about, which means it's no longer risky. It can feel like cheating if they then take advantage of that.

 

[Pseudo Sane]

I think those examples are too far afield. The result is what angers people about swinging at a 3-0 fastball with a 7 run lead. Had he had fouled it off, nobody would be talking about it. Hilariously, it's completely fine to swing at a 3-1 pitch. It goes from a big sin or whatever, to being perfectly expected one strike later. It's more akin to religious superstition than important norms of sportsmanship imo. I'm sure there are plenty of examples from professional baseball where norms are helpful to the spirit of the game, but I can't see how this situation fits.

not swinging on an easy pitch when it's 3-0 is a dumb convention, and if it disappeared, baseball would not be diminished in any way.

 

[tonni]

Golf, curling, yachting/sailing, auto racing (except motorcycle), fishing, shooting (archery and firearms like trap excluding biathlon), bowling, disc golf, then there’s darts, card games, chess, esports, pool, etc.

Lots of “sports” don’t require much athleticism. I’d say the least of which are the ones you can drink alcohol and smoke while competing.

If we’re going by just body type you could say sumo wrestling but they’re actually pretty athletic in their own way (not the endurance running way lmao).

Why in the world would you include card games and chess in the sports categories? I'm not talking about activities that make fat people feel better about themselves.

 

[Fawlty]

Why is the count significant here?

Because people want the pitcher to have a better chance in this situation. I think the idea is something like: with a 3-0 pitch and the bases loaded, the pitcher is obligated to throw a strike or a run scores for free, so the batter takes the pitch at a higher frequency. The flipside of that is the batter knows that, which is a big advantage allowing him to exploit the fact that the pitcher must throw a ball that is easier to hit. With a 3-1 pitch, the risk for the batter of taking the pitch is that the count will be 3-2, and the batter will swing at a higher frequency both because the pitch is likelier to be hittable and because he doesn't want to face a pitch with two strikes. And this dynamic gives the pitcher a little more room to get frisky on 3-1, whereas at 3-0 (with the bases loaded) he doesn't have much room to do anything.

Because the lead in the game is a huge 7 runs (not impossible to overcome, but very unlikely), people think the advantage created by the 3-0 situation is so big that taking advantage of it is poor sportsmanship. But giving the pitcher just that one token of sportsmanship, and letting him try to throw a strike to make the count 3-1, where he isn't as obligated to throw a hittable pitch, the situation is considered more fair.

 

[Steve Rogers]

I don't give a shit about sports but card games and chess aren't sports.

 

[tonni]

I feel like that stereotype is a leftover relic of the 90s and early 2000s. Modern baseball players are all pretty reasonably in shape nowadays. The Immortal Bartolo Colon being a real outlier but he still was a great pitcher in his prime.

I'm ignoring this and will continue to refer to baseball as the fat dad sport.

 

[Fawlty]

Edited

Thank you sir, this lowered my blood pressure by a medically measurable amount.

 

[HereticBD]

In some ways, it's just about making life easier for everyone. Like how you never steal bases way up or way down. Both teams know that you're not running so they don't even protect it, and then you can take the base with no risk, but doing so will piss everyone off.

Sure, but to me, it's like why bother playing the rest of the game if you're not gonna compete? May as well just end it. It's just one of many ego protecting rules they've got, that ultimately just seem childish. The punishment for such grand offence of playing the game to the best of your ability at all times, like throwing a 95mph at a guy's ribs, is equally as childish.

 

[kpt018]

I'm ignoring this and will continue to refer to baseball as the fat dad sport.

Every sport is a fat dad sport.