Articles Worth Reading From Around the Web... and Some Articles Worth Wiping Your Ass With Too

Written by Xach on August 09, 2005

Having spent the past four days heading to the Newport Folk Festival and back, I returned to my computer this afternoon to find there was much reading to do. First I had to comb the week's injury updates. Then I embarked on a tour of my usual sports reading from around the Web. Before I knew it, I had lost hours of my day reading everything from the sewage that spews from Cris Carter's brain to the no-frills AP articles most of the major sports portals syndicate.

Needless to say, every fantasy sports junky spends a lot of time reading about sports each day. Having to catchup on nearly a week's worth of reading really got me thinking though: How much time do I spend reading this crap?! A few months ago I was sitting around in my underwear, thinking we could add a sports writing media watchdogs section to our Message Board. There, we could share with you, our adoring public, just how full of shit some sports writers are. Then, two weeks ago, our very own TiVo came to us with the idea of a weekly column that highlights articles worth reading from around the Web.

For today's article I thought I would combine my idea with TiVo's idea and discuss reading material -- some good, some bad, and some completely random -- from around Al Gore's Internet.

Shitty: Cris Carter's 2005 Preview: Wide Receivers

Back in November 2004, Father Time wrote an article about pet peeves in which he exposed Cris Carter as a retard, so I'm not the first Rotogod to climb aboard the Cris Carter for Village Idiot bandwagon. Nevertheless, his latest non-opus reminded me immediately to share with you how crappy his articles are.

Here's a gem of a quote:


But now teams are starting to throw the ball more when they get inside the 20-yard line.

The reason: Receivers are bigger.

Look at the two top receivers, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. Moss is 6-foot-4 and T.O is 6-3. And most of the receivers that have come into the league are fitting that mold. Last year, it was Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams and Reggie Williams. This year, it's Mike Williams and Troy Williamson. Receivers are bigger, and offensive coordinators are taking advantage of that edge over smaller cornerbacks.

First of all, Cris Carter himself was 6-foot-3 when he played. The ever ancient Jerry Rice is 6-foot-2. Off the top of my head, I decided to lookup the heights of some great retired receivers. Michael Irvin, as an example, is 6-foot-2. Art Monk is 6-foot-3. Meanwhile, Troy Williamson, who Carter Mentions as part of this new class of large receivers, is an unremarkable 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds. And if you look around the NFL, it seems to me you're just as likely to find a 6-foot-plus receiver in any given draft class as a 5-foot-10 receiver. In other words, Carter's analysis seems chock full o' diddly-poo to me. The best receivers from years past tend to be as tall as the ones he's mentioning. Some are, and some aren't, but nothing I've seen anyway suggests that today's receivers are significantly taller on average than yesterday's.

Here's another nice quote:


Most overrated: Santana Moss

You can include David Boston, Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn and Koren Robinson in the group of receivers who have yet to make the most of their talent. Moss, though, is the one most likely to fulfill his potential.

How can Moss be both the most overrated of the bunch and the most likely to fulfill his potential?

Good: Inside The Stadium

I'm not a Yankee lover, so I couldn't give two shits what this guy says most of the time. However, a useful blog is a useful blog, and this one comes from the heart of Yankee Stadium. The man who calls himself Commish has a press pass and locker room access to every Yankees home game. He seems to write an update after each game, and I'd wager the site will be interesting both to Yankees fans and Yankees fantasy owners alike.

Random: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)

I only mention this site because, well, where else will you read inane stories such as "Additional Stolen Base Found for Yankees Hall of Fame Catcher, Bill Dickey"? In fact, I'm not sure I will ever return to this site, but I'm always intrigued when I find out about something like this. It reminds me that I'm not nearly as big a sports nerd as I could be.

Good: BaseBallAnalysts.com

Not for the faint of statistical heart, this site never fails to go overboard on statistical analyses. The top two articles on their site today? A 1300-word analysis of Tampa's center field situation and a 1500-word analysis of Daniel Cabrera's mercurial pitching.

Craptastic: Dave Kindred's A Quick Descent

In the past 12 moths I've grown progressively more annoyed with the writers at SportingNews.com. I know, I know, Sporting News is the self-proclaimed "Experts' Choice," but Kindred's latest article is just one of many shining examples of melodrama while reporting the obvious.

The article is about Rafael Palmeiro. Here's an enlightening snippet:


No player ever has fallen more quickly from favor. Period.

Well, I'm glad Kindred's finally thought this debate through for all of us. I mean, we wouldn't want to have to consider people like Pete Rose or Shoeless Joe Jackson. Shoot, Raffy's only been suspended 10 games and probably lied to Congress. He's got plenty of time to prove himself. Heck, didn't Jason Giambi fall more quickly when he apologized to all of New York for lying? I'd say so. And yet, after one hot summer of hitting, most of Yankee Stadium now lines up after games to give him hand jobs.

Beyond all that, Kindred's writing in this article was awful. I mean what the hell is this?


In this Hitters vs. Pitchers scenario, a Mad magazine reader thinks of the "Spy vs. Spy" cartoon, in which everybody is out to get everybody by whatever means necessary.

Thanks for sharing, guy. In this Readers vs. Paid Shit Shovelers scenario, a Rotogods.com reader thinks of wiping his ass with Sporting News magazine.

Good: Matthew Pouliot's Strike Zone - Notes by Team

I read Pouliot's Team Notes column every week. It's easy to skim for information that might be helpful from a fantasy baseball perspective and almost always has at least a couple helpful reminders about players that deserve your attention -- even if just to remind you who to keep your eye on. He also does a pretty decent job of spotting upcoming trends.

Here's an interesting note on Houston center fielder Willy Taveras, for example:


Nearly half of Willy Taveras’ 123 hits have stayed in the infield. Even with all of those bunts working in his favor, he’s at .292/.326/.354 for the season. He’s a fine defensive center fielder, but he’s done nothing to cement his status as a long-term regular.

I don't know about you, but without reading Pouliot's notes I would not have realized that Taveras' percentage of infield hits was quite that staggering.

There's plenty more to find in this week's Team Notes article, but I'll leave you to do the reading on your own instead of belaboring the point here.

That's all I have for you today, folks. It's time for the Xachmeister to pop some Z's. Hopefully this article was a little better than Cris Carter's. If not, feel free to wipe your ass with it after reading it on the crapper.

That actually gives me a merchandising idea. Maybe we should sell Rotogods.com toilet paper. Meh. That's an idea for another time...

-- Written by Xach on August 09, 2005