Actually, my favorite <b>manager</b> is Willie Randolph. It's just too bad that he's managing the Mets, but he shoulda got a shot somewhere years ago imo. He is just one classy individual; he was my personal favorite player on those great Yankee teams of the late 70's. Just a clutch ballplayer that you could always depend on.

LaRussa is a legend in his own mind.

Alright, you say tomato, I say potato...or something like that.

Willie does seem to be a class guy from what I've seen. But then again, I'm not watching N.Y. sports teams that often.

So some person who's sunk literally billions of dollars into his professional sports franchise should just shrug and say "Oh well...nice try fellas"? If you own an majority stake in a multi-billion dollar business your goal should be *less* than the best you can do?

:confused: With all due respect this comparison is stupid. Your statistics assume random outcomes of a fair game. Obviously the outcome of a professional sporting event is neither random nor fair. Opinions...everybody's got one.

:shrug:

Maybe it's time to say, "Go M&M !"

And I'll pick the destination.

Pack light clothing, M. It'll be warm.:D

Yes I am. In fact, I root for the Cardinals, St. Louis Blues (yes, I know, who cares about hockey! ;)), Indiana Hoosiers, and (I got one right) Chicago Bears. How about that as an Illinois fan... :D

You a big Indiana Pacers fan too, Tanner? Big fan of Stephen Jackson? Jackson does need to work on his shooting though. He missed 5 shots in a row last week.

The Pacers are now officially the Portland Trail Blazers East.

JR,

Nope, I absolutely avoid the NBA at all costs. It's just not my cup of tea.

Good.

Now if we can just wean you away from the Cards.....:D

With all due respect. . . Nah, never mind ;)

The point of the comparison, which I perhaps didn't make very well, is that when a large number of people or organizations have the same goal and only one person or organization can achieve it, it's not unreasonable to be satisfied with a lesser accomplishment. Have a grand goal, by all means. But if that goal is not very likely (and even for the pre-season favorite, it's not all that likely), have a reasonable goal as a measure of success.

That was the point of my comparison. I have a grand goal, which is not very likely. So I also have other "reasonable" goals that, if achieved, will make my officiating career a success.

And while you question this as shooting for "less than the best you can do", you pointedly ignored my comments about the Devil Rays and Royals, who would love to win a World Series, but have almost no chance of doing so.

Yes, I know. I'm no good at all with probabilities. I was hoping that my numbers would give a decent picture. I should have known not to try to get them past you. :)

And why is that? Simply because the TB & Royals ownership are not willing to invest billions (yes BILLIONS) of dollars to make it more likely that their team will win the WS. To the NY ownership winning the WS equates directly in additional revenue, it's that simple. Obviously the Royal ownership has decided the investment needed to make a WS win more likely is not worth it. It's not their strategy. I doubt they would LOVE to win the WS because they don't INVEST in it. In fact, if they DID win the WS they would clean house within a couple of years because they could not support the salary structure to keep the winning team.

Let's face it, these people took a hell of a lot of money to come play in NY for this particular owner. I'm quite sure none of them have a line in their contract that says "Just do your best, it doesn't matter how we finish" in their contract. Their performance after mid-way thru game 2 was - in very real terms - a sad failure.

Good luck! :D

I knew that.
 

Ah ! ...A wean-ee and a wean-er.

Of course they would love to. You even admitted as much on the previous page when you said:

So they would love to win a World Series, but their chances are so slim (due in large part to their own choices, admittedly) that they gauge a successful season by a lesser standard.

I'm merely suggesting that King George recognize that his chances of winning a World Series are also slim (although greater than KC's, obviously) and so set a secondary -- more realistic -- goal, such as making the playoffs, by which to gauge the success of the season.

I'm just going there to visit you. :D