Recapping the RAB/FanGraphs Live Discussion
ByThis past Saturday, as we’ve advertised for weeks, the three of us joined the crew at FanGraphs for a Live Discussion at Florence Gould Hall on 59th Street in our very own New York City. From the reactions it didn’t seem like anyone had a bad time. And if they did, they forgot about it as we drank ourselves silly watching the Yanks topple the Red Sox.
Since the three of us participated in the event, I’m not sure it’s appropriate to review it ourselves. Thankfully a number of the participants took care of that. There will be pictures to follow for sure, and I heard something about video highlights, though that’s something I can’t confirm. For now we’ll turn to Amanda Rykoff, Carson Cistulli, and Brian Cartwright for the reviews.
Friend of RAB Amanda Rykoff, a/k/a OCD Chick, is one of the most prolific tweeters you’ll ever come across. I recommend you follow her on Twitter, @amandarykoff, for not only baseball stuff but also for her social media content. That, and, of course, her general humor. If you’ve ever read OCD Chick you understand Tale of the Tweets, a daily feature she posts that recounts the day 140 characters at a time. Unfortunately there was no Tale of the Tweets for the Live Discussion, mainly because there was no Wi-Fi or cellular reception at the hall. Oops. But she does run down the event in a similar fashion, starting with some bigger thoughts and then moving to the bullet pointed review. She focuses on the media and stats panels, which were really the main events.
At a site like FanGraphs, humor comes at a premium. That’s why Carson Cistulli is on board. The man can add a touch of lightness to any subject, including, apparently, baseball analysis. He served as moderator for the statistics and the New York baseball panels, and then recounted his experience on FanGraphs. I particularly appreciated this line: “Observation: saber-oriented Yankee fans, just like all other kinds of Yankee fans, are disgustingly confident.” Hell yes we are. Carson also brings to light some interesting conversation points from the after-party. His bullet pointed list complements Amanda’s well.
Brian Cartwright of The Hardball Times sat front row center for the event, and even got his wife to come along with him. He wrote a more traditional review on THT Live. There is more than one interesting anecdote in there, including ones that involves Brian “fumbling for [his] narcotics.” I think that’s an ample teaser.
I would like to thank everyone who came out to enjoy the morning with us, and then to those who came downtown and made the Yanks-Sox game that much more enjoyable. I’m certain we’ll do this again.
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The Mason Williams Watch
It was an awesome time. And I have a bright clean smells good Fangraphs t-shirt now!
Jealous!
Does it have a Win Probability graph in the back of it? That would be so cool.
nooo =( =(
Supposedly there is going to be a video of it at some point.
Joe after reading the THT Live review I have a question about your name. I assume most people pronounce it Paw-li-cow-ski. Isn’t Pav-li-kov-ski also correct? I assume your last name is Polish, so that would be the traditional way to say it, no?
That is the traditional way, yes. Only one person I’ve known, a former co-worker, has ever consistently pronounced it that way, though.
Huh. This whole time, I’d been pronouncing it “mah-TOOZ”.
I went with Melon-Cone
Hell yeah we are confident!!
Unfortunately there was no Tale of the Tweets for the Live Discussion, mainly because there was no Wi-Fi or cellular reception at the hall. Oops.
No Wi-Fi or cell service? Where the hell was this event, Cleveland?
They had hamsters on wheels powering the lights.
There were some alchemist booths in the pavilion where you could have a healing elixir drawn, or possibly have your straw turned into gold.
That part sucked.
Florence Gould Hall. I guess the French HATE the internet.
ha. It was in a basement auditorium.
Edited by RAB: This is off-topic and should be directed to the Off-topic thread.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
The best part was the free T-Shirt!!! I didn’t expect that.
Seriously though, that was the most enjoyable three hours I have ever spent just listening to a bunch of guys talk. All the panels had a slightly unique angle and all were entertaining.
I couldn’t make the after party, but maybe next time.
Great job guys!!!