The SoapBoxers

Another baseball season is finally upon us! I follow baseball with a passion that borders on addiction. Well, perhaps it’s beyond the border. The internet is a great place to get information. I have compiled a list of some of my favorite baseball sites. I have focused on sites where most of the content is free (with the exception of mlb.com, just because of my addiction to MLB audio)

MLB.com, of course, is the official site of Major League Baseball. In addition to news, standings, etc, MLB.com is home to MLB.tv and MLB Audio. For $80 (or $110 for premium content) you can watch any game on your computer (subject to blackout restrictions) all season long. For $14.95, you can listen to the audio feed of any game (not subject to blackout). This works great for out of market teams. I live in Iowa and follow the Rockies, so this works great for me.

MLBTradeRumors is a nonstop source of rumors about trades and free agent signings. Updates occur multiple times during the day, hitting a frantic pace at the trade deadline. The guy who runs the site scours multitudes of other sources in an effort to compile every rumor.

SportsBlog Nation is a compilation of blogs from every major sport. The folks who run each blog keep up to date on every aspect of the team and pass the knowledge on to you. In addition to covering the major league team, they also keep you up to date on all of the minor league teams in your organization. The fan interaction is also a great feature. Game threads – in which fans are commenting on game action as it occurs – is pretty cool.

Renowned minor league analyst John Sickels runs Minorleagueball.com. John is one of the most knowledgeable minor league experts in the country. He publishes a book on prospects every year, but he also gives out an incredible amount of free information on his site.

There’s also the official Minor League site. MILB.com posts draftee profiles each spring.

You can find player salary information in several places, but COT’s Baseball Contracts keeps tracks of all the nitty gritty details – such as incentives and service time (helpful for determining when players will be eligible for arbitration or free agency).

baseball-reference.com is the best place I have found for baseball statistics. It tends to allow you to delve a bit more deeply into the numbers. In addition to tons of great content, BR’s premium “PI” service allows you to do some really deep searching. You can subscribe to PI for very short time periods (as low as $1.35 for 24 hours) so you don’t necessarily need to pay the $29 annual fee for a short research project.

Fangraphs goes into a lot of depth in their statistics. Considering the name, it should come as no surprise that they also have graphs on the site. The graphs show how player performance has differed from year to year, while also comparing the performance to the MLB average for those statistics.

The Lahman Database is a free (donations accepted) compilation of statistics for every player from 1871-present. MS Access, SQL, and CSV formats available.

From small ball to the long ball analyzes the types of pitches every pitcher has seen, as well as the types of pitches that every batter has seen.  Update: this blogger has decided to retire and has removed some of the content.

Summer Ball covers collegiate players, with a specific focus on the collegiate summer leagues. The summer leagues use wood bats instead of the aluminum bats used in NCAA games. If a player performs well in a summer league, it can often boost their stock in the draft, since the adjustment to wood can be a problem for some players.

Nippon Baseball Tracker covers Japanese leagues.

MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement can be downloaded in PDF format. I actually have a printed copy of the CBA which I keep in a binder. I wouldn’t say that it is a page turner, but it is great for settling arguments.

I don’t watch much mainstream (i.e. non-sports) TV, so you’re not going to see a lot of TV shows reviewed in this blog. Two of the few shows that rank as appointment viewing are Monk and Psych, detective shows on the USA Network. They are on cable, and they get stuck in a lousy time slot (Friday nights), so you might be overlooking them. I personally enjoy Monk a bit more, but my wife is more of a fan of Psych – but both are really good.

Tony Shalhoub – whom you may remember as cab driver Antonio Scarpacci on the 90s TV show Wings – stars as former detective Adrian Monk. Monk was formerly was the San Francisco police department, but had to leave the department because of medical reasons – obsessive compulsive disorder and a wide variety of phobias. His late wife Trudy was able to keep things in check, but after her death, he became a bit of a basket case.

Monk’s OCD creates many humorous moments on the show. One of my all time favorites was when he felt the need to pour some coffee from one pot into another – so that each pot would have an equal amount. Of course, one pot was regular and one was decaf …

Monk is aided by his trusty assistant. Without her, he would be unable to accomplish anything in life. In the course of the show, he has actually gone through two assistants – Sharona (Bitty Schramm) and his current assistant, Natalie (Traylor Howard – you may know her from “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place”).

In between aiding Monk with every aspect of his life – including providing a disinfectant wipe every time Monk is forced to touch something “icky” – Natalie (who never gets any credit, of course) helps Monk ride to the rescue of the SFPD, helping them crack the trickiest cases (mostly murders)

Suspects tend to treat Monk with the same lack of respect that Columbo received – until the very end, when Monk explains, “here’s what happened.”

The show has a strong cast. My favorite supporting character is Lt. Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Standford), a well meaning but essentially incompetent cop who is somehow the captain’s right hand man (sort of). Sadly, Stanley Kamel, who played Monk’s psychiatrist, died in 2008. Since Monk needs a psychiatrist, Hector Elizondo was brought on board to play Monk’s new shrink. He does a good job in the role, but Kamel was irreplaceable.

Monk also lines up a strong group of guest stars – including Sarah Silverman, Andy Richter, John Turturro, and Wings co-stars Tim Daly and Steven Weber, to name a few.

Shawn Spencer (played by James Roday) and his childhood pal Gus (Dule Hill) run a psychic business. Most of their revenue comes from working on cases for the Santa Barbara police department. Shawn uses his psychic abilities to solve the crimes.

The only problem is that Shawn is not actually psychic. He is simply blessed with exceptional observation and logic skills (thanks in large part to childhood lessons taught to him by his cop father, played by Corbin Bernsen). However, since the Santa Barbara PD would apparently prefer to consult with a psychic rather than someone who is just smart, Shawn and Gus con everyone into think that Shawn is indeed psychic.

A cool feature of the show occurs when Shawn has a psychic revelation – you get some quick close-ups (and a cool sound effect) of the clues Shawn is using for his “revelation”.

Shawn also has a tendency to make life difficult for himself by annoying the chief (and others). He ends up in a lot of crazy situations – almost always of his own doing.

This review comes to you just in time for the season finales on February 20, but you should be able to catch reruns on USA. These shows are definitely DVR worthy, if you’re not home on Friday nights.

Monk Season 1	Monk Season 2	Monk Season 3
Monk Season 4	Monk Season 5	Monk Season 6
Monk Season 7

Psych Seasons 1 & 2

Psych Season 3

In the expensive sport of NASCAR racing, team owners depend on sponsors. Sponsors pay millions of dollars to have their logos emblazoned on the side of cars. Many NASCAR fans are intensely loyal not only to their driver, but also to the brands he endorses.

I have been a fan of Tony Stewart for as long as I have been a fan of NASCAR. Unfortunately for Tony’s sponsors, I am anything but loyal to them.

Tony has driven three different makes of cars in Winston/Nextel/Sprint cup races – Pontiac, Chevy, and Toyota (winning championships in a Pontiac and Chevy). Every car I have ever owned has been a Ford.

Tony’s primary sponsor until this year was Home Depot. Home Depot is OK, but I live very close to a Menards and do most home improvement shopping there.

Tony is sponsored by Coke. Coke is my third favorite cola, behind Pepsi and RC.

This year, Tony’s primary sponsor will be Office Depot. Of course, I tend to shop at Staples …

I’m a fairly new subscriber to Archaeology, which is a pretty cool magazine. It cost $22 for a one year subscription (6 bi-monthly issues). Archaeology has stories various aspect of archaeological discoveries – the culture of the society that left the artifacts, the mechanics of the digs, and even stories about artifact trafficking. My interest in crime causes me to get sucked into the trafficking articles.

The March/April edition has a story about artifact thieves in the southwestern US. There is a lot of federal land in this part of the country. It is illegal to take artifacts from federal land, but much of this land is pretty remote, resulting in the agents from the Bureau of Land Management being stretched pretty thin in their efforts to catch thieves.

There is a new breed of artifact thieves who seem to enjoy the task of searching for artifacts – a process that involves digging holes, scanning the ground closely for artifacts, and repeating the process over and over. It is hard, tedious work.

These thieves are receiving some help, though. The are meth users, and the drug gives them a lot of energy (great when you need to dig a bunch of holes) and also the intense concentration to comb for the artifacts.

The users take the artifacts they find, and trade them to their dealer in exchange for more meth. The dealers then turn around and sell the artifacts for a nice profit. Essentially, the meth dealers in the southwest are financing (with meth) a massive theft of government property. Artifacts that could be in museums, educating everyone about the cultures of the past, end up in a private collection.

Subjects for upcoming blog articles will include:

Reviews of TV shows Monk and Psych

NASCAR brand disloyalty

The best baseball sites

Profile of author Lawrence Block

Note that this post contains statements that are allegations. Allegation should not be construed as proof of wrongdoing. The Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier and AM 1630 KCJJ radio (Iowa City) were sources of information for this post.

One of the big local stories this week is about the state of Iowa shutting down a group home where twenty one mentally challenged individuals lived. These men appear to have been productive workers and valued members of the community, but many concerns have been raised about their living and financial arrangements.

The facility was deemed a fire hazard by state fire inspectors. The facility has relied solely on space heaters for heat after a boiler broken down in 2002. Some bedrooms were more than 100 feet from an exit, there were blocked exits, boarded up windows, and overloaded circuits, to name a few of the problems. If a fire had broken out, the consequences could have been dire.

The state is also looking into the financial arrangement between the men and their employer (a turkey processing company). It appears that the company had control over not only the paychecks, but also social security checks. The company deducted room, board, and health care. The state has subpoenaed records in order to determine if the men had given authorization for these payroll deductions – and if they had the mental capacity required to give authorization. The company paid the men less than minimum wage, but this is allowable under state law. State law allows employees with diminished mental capacity to be paid less than minimum wage. This is an effort to have companies employ people who might not otherwise be employable. Additionally, the state is requesting that the county file criminal charges of operating an unlicensed health care facility.

If that was the end of the story, it would be bad enough.

However, this morning, AM 1630 KCJJ reported that former Governor Robert Ray was informed of this situation in the 1970s and told the Department of Human Services not to investigate. KCJJ also reported that Ray was receiving campaign contribution from the Louis Rich turkey company at the time. Louis Rich contracted some of their work to the employer of these men.

KCJJ also said that the subsequent governor, Terry Branstad, was also notified of the situation – and that he also told DHS not to investigate. Branstad was also receiving contributions from Louis Rich.

I sincerely hope that KCJJ has its facts wrong regarding the former governors. If these allegations are true, these people may have endured unsafe living conditions and illegal financial arrangements for decades because of the inaction of the governors. Certainly, there will be much more written about this case in Iowa papers during the coming months.

Many people choose their checkout line based on how many people are in line. This may give you a rough idea of how long it will take to check out, but if you want to be an expert line analyzer, use these handy tips:

1. Lucky 13: Your first glance should be to aisle 13. My wife thought I was crazy when I first mentioned this, but in my experience, the line is often shorter. Triskaidekaphobics (and there are more of them than you may think) will avoid the line.
2. Hang out with the guys: Single guys check out quickly. They tend to have fewer items, their items tend to be easier to scan (more frozen pizza and fewer produce items), and they don’t argue as much about price. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a 21 year old guy quibble about whether the price of an item was $1.49 or $1.09?
3. Houston, we have a problem: Avoid obvious problem situations. A mom (or dad) with 3 crying kids is probably not going to break the world record for checkout speed. An underage cashier combined with a beer purchase necessitates a call to a manager to OK the sale (in at least some states). It’s not just the number of items that slow things down.
4. Super Cashier: Cashiers are not carbon copies. Does the cashier appear to be easily distracted, or are they very efficient? Our local Target had a very efficient and knowledgeable cashier. Unfortunately, she was moved (promoted?) to the returns area.

Some people are going to think that I am trying to defend A-Rod. Let me be perfectly clear about this. A-Rod’s decision to use steroids was wrong, period.

At the same time, I am concerned about the actions of the MLBPA (the union) and whether they served the best interests of their members.

My concern isn’t even that someone within the union may be the source for the story. My concern was that the information was ever there in the first place.

The 2003 steroid tests were screening tests. The players were tested merely to see if 5% of players tested positive. If more than 5% tested positive (they did), then the union would agree to mandatory testing. There was never any intent to determine if any specific player was taking steroids.

With the nature of this testing, there would have been no reason to link a sample to a particular player at any point in the process. I guess you might say that this would allow a player’s “B” sample (essentially a backup to re-test to rule out a faulty test) to be tested in the case of a positive. However, even this wouldn’t necessitate identifying the player. I am no expert on drug testing, but this methodology would seem to satisfy everyone:

1. Collect a player’s “A” and “B” samples
2. Have the team’s union representative and a management representative secure the team. This could be done by having them sign their name on an adhesive strip and placing the strips across the sample’s seal.
3. Group each A and B sample together. (Perhaps by placing both samples in a small box.)
4. Have the union rep and management rep leave the room and be replaced by a second team. The new people would have no way of guessing which samples were from which player.
5. Take the samples out of the box and label them “1A”, “1B”, etc.
6. The end result is a situation where A and B are tied together, each side is confident that there will not be any tampering with the samples, and the samples are completely anonymous.

The union’s troubles don’t stop there, however. USA Today reported that the test results (from 2003) were later seized from union offices by the feds as part of the BALCO investigation (in 2004). Why on earth would the union keep these results? I struggle to think of any way the union could have used this information for the benefit of their clients. Really, the only important piece of data from the tests were the number (and percent) of positive tests. The specifics of which players tested positive were irrelevant – the only question was whether or not the number was higher than 5%.

I know a lot of people think that it is a good thing that this information came out, but a key point is that the purpose of the union is to represent the players and protect their interests (as defined in the collective bargaining agreement). The role of the union is NOT to decide when the actions of its members are right or wrong.

I would not be surprised if the union ends up with a lawsuit on its hands – especially if the names of the other 103 players who tested positive are leaked to the press.

(Once again, I state that what Alex Rodriguez did is wrong and I do not condone his actions).

The Casebook of Forensic Detection and Murder Two: The Second Casebook of Forensic Detection by Colin Evans

I have an interest in true crime (murder in particular, especially serial killers) and my bookshelf has a very interesting assortment of crime books. These two books by Evans are among the best.

The casebook of forensic detection set breaks cases, types of evidence, techniques, and famous criminalists (only in Murder 2) into bite sized sections of just a handful of pages.

The two books have a slightly different layout. The first book is broken down into the various types of forensic evidence (or foresenic techniques), such as ballistics, toxicology, trade evidence, serology (blood), and time of death. Evans introduces each section with a short introduction to the topic. The book spends a few pages on the subject, including how it has evolved through history.

At this point, the book really gets into the meat of the subject and discusses several cases dealing with this type of evidence (or technique). Some cases are famous (Ted Bundy, the Nightstalker, John Wayne Gacy, the Lindbergh kidnapping) while some are relatively obscure (including one old case that occurred in a state park that I used to visit frequently). Some have even inspired scenes in movies (that wood chipper murder in the movie Fargo? Not an original idea). Evans only takes a few pages to tell each story, and packs quite a punch, hitting all the high points in each case. It’s basically written in Bathroom Reader style – you can the book, flip it open to a random spot, read for ten minutes, and feel fulfilled.

Although Murder Two is really a continuation of the original, Evans altered the structure of the book Instead of organizing the book by topic, as with the original, it alphabetizes everything – the type of evidence, name of defendant, and criminalist. As a result, the pages for arson are followed by a case for a defendant with the last name Atwood, because his name is next alphabetically. I guess this allows Evans some flexibility in choosing cases (able to choose cases involving two sorts of evidence without having to choose which section is the best fit), but I really like the layout of the first book better. This is by far the biggest flaw in the book – which means that these books are extremely good.

Murder Two includes brief bios of famous (or less famous, but well respected) criminalists throughout history. While specific criminalists were mentioned in the first book, it did not include the bios.

Evans has chosen good cases, and tells the stories well. The original casebook has long since been a favored choice for my bedtime reading. The second book seems to come up just a wee bit short of the standard set by the first, but that’s largely because Evans did a good job picking the cases for the first book – essentially cherry picking the best ones, with the result that the cases in the second book are of a slightly lesser quality.

Colin Evans The Casebook of Forensic Detection

Colin Evans The Second Casebook of Forensic Detection

I got a phone call last night. Here is the gist:

Me: Hello?

TVG: Can I speak to Melonie?

Me: Who? [wanting to verify that I heard them correctly]

TVG: Melonie.

Me: Oh, you mean MeloDy. Is this a telemarketer?

TVG: No, I’m not a telemarketer. I’m with TV Guide.

Me: We’ll resubscribe when we feel like it.

TVG: Can you put her on the line?

Me: We will resubscribe when we get around to it.

TVG [in a demanding tone]: Just put her on the line.

Me [in an agitated tone]: No. You’re not going to tell me what to do.

TVG: OK, I’ll just call right back.

Me: If you do that, you’ll be in trouble.

TVG: Trouble? What kind of trouble?

Me: Yes. I’ll file a complaint with the state Attorney General’s office.

TVG: What sort of complaint?

Me: Harassment by means of repeated phone calls.

TVG [laughing]: How do you even know who I am?

Me: You already told me you were with TV Guide, moron.

[I hang up]

I’ll admit, the moron comment was unprofessional

However, let’s break this down the other side of the conversation.

1) Make an effort to get the customer’s name right.

2) This was the second call we have received in the last few weeks regarding our TV Guide subscription. It expires in August. When we got the first call, we told them not to call back – that we would just renew manually when it got close to renewal time. Yes, we understand that there may be a price increase in the future. We’ll take that risk.

3) Don’t demand to speak to someone in my household. You do not have the right to speak to them. If you’re a law enforcement professional, I will listen to your demands. If not, I’m going to decide who can or can’t talk to. That’s just the way it is – the person who answers the phone is a gatekeeper. (Note: I did know, for a fact, that my wife didn’t want to take this call. If this was the sort of call she would want to take, I would have given it to her, of course.)

4) Don’t lie about being a telemarketer. You’re trying to sell (market) a subscription renewal on a telephone. Tele + market = telemarket.

5) If you don’t think the FCC or AG’s office can track you down specifically, you’re wrong. Call logs (external as well as your employer’s internal logs) can be used to determine exactly which telemarketer made a specific call. Keep that in mind the next time you feel like getting nasty with a customer.

6) Oh, hey, guess what? In the course of this call, you managed to put a really bad taste in our mouth about TV Guide. Honestly, the product has gone downhill recently, anyway. The listings have gotten very generic (“NFL Game” instead of listing the teams, for example) and the new larger format of the magazine has been a change for the worse. The onscreen guide on our TV (free with our digital cable subscritpion) is considerably more accurate than TV Guide anyway. We plan to let our TV guide subscription lapse when it expires. My wife has been a subscriber for 10 years or more.

Golden rule of telemarketing: don’t annoy your existing customers.

My wife was not rude and didn’t provoke this, so it was very bizarre and unprofessional.  How do these people keep their jobs?

I wrote up a nice 300 word summary of the problem and submitted it through TV Guide’s “contact us” function.  I suggested that they retrieve the call logs for calls made to our number and listen to them (if they record the calls).  I also suggested that firing these people might enhance the customer experience.