A letter to SI’s Jon Heyman

Before I brush my teeth or eat breakfast in the morning, I always visit firejoemorgan.com to see what new buffoonery in the sports-writing world they have espoused.

This morning, when I checked, I was not disappointed. Maybe it was because I hadn’t eaten yet, or maybe it was because I was especially on edge today, but I got so wound up over what Jon Heyman had to say that I decided to write him a letter. For those of you unfamiliar with Jon Heyman, the link is a link to all of the times the fine folks at firejoemorgan have found it worth their time to write about Heyman. You will quickly understand how my bubble burst this morning.

AGHHH! I wanted to post my letter here, but since I sent it from SI’s website and forgot to copy what I sent, I don’t have it any more!

At any rate here is what Heyman said that had me so worked up:

“The Red Sox disproved the old “crapshoot” theory espoused by a lot of folks who keep losing in the playoffs. The best team won in 2007, and that is no fluke.”

Did Heyman forget that the freaking CARDINALS WON LAST YEAR!!!! The 83-win Cardinals!!! Has he forgotten that Wild Card teams won the World Series from 2002-2004! Is he willing to overlook many years of data that proves that yes, the playoffs are pretty much a crap-shoot. And I’ll be the first to say that the 2002 Angels were not the best team that season.

Because the best team (and yeah, the Red Sox were the best team this year) wins in one year, that doesn’t mean the best team always wins. Anyone can win a five or seven game series. Nothing makes me angrier than when writers like Heyman use one convenient example to “prove” their points. It happens all the time and it’s amazing how many people actually buy it.