No. 616 – Entangled

Performer: Genesis

Songwriters: Steve Hackett, Tony Banks

Original Release: Trick of the Tail

Year: 1976

Definitive Version: Genesis Archives No. 2: 1976-1992, 2000

Everyone knows how the Internet has transformed music, TV, shopping and porn, but one thing that has been overlooked is no less profound, at least from my perspective: The days of pompous, unscientific sportswriters are gone.

Sure, a few troglodytes, like Tracy Ringolsby, still lurk about, but for the most part, sports writing is more advanced. It has to be, because now there are any of a hundred sites doing insightful baseball writing that are one Google search away. And mainstream writers are reading those sites as part of their work. The fact that Miguel Cabrera might win the Triple Crown but not the American League MVP shows how far the discussion has moved.

Baseball writers used to drive me nuts. Twenty years ago, the smart people were those connected with organized baseball; the fans were unwashed, stupid masses who needed the expertise of the baseball writer to get them to see how things were.

And then there were the things that they wrote that were patently and demonstrably false. They’d write endlessly about how teams that won were the teams that won the one-run games even though it was more often the teams that won blowouts that were better. They’d write that pitching was 75 percent baseball even though hitters always got paid more. They’d write that the guy who drove in the most runs was the most valuable player, even if he used up twice as many outs as the guys getting on base in front of him so he could have people to drive in.

And they’d write that the players were greedy, that the owners weren’t in it for the money but merely trying to provide entertainment to the fans. And they’d write that of course Pete Rose bet on baseball. Look at the evidence. Have you read the Dowd Report? Neither have I, but let me tell you, pal. I know this guy, who once saw Pete Rose at a bar and …

It drove me nuts. After I found Bill James in 1983 and my view of baseball forever changed, I never took anything on faith anything I read in the papers or heard on radio or TV. You have to convince me, and they weren’t doing it.

The tipping point, as I mentioned, was the Jim Gray interview of Rose in the 1999 World Series. That interview triggered so much fallout, and almost all of the commentary was that of course Rose bet on baseball, but geez louise, did Gray have to be so darn nasty about it?

Well, pal, I read the Dowd Report, and it’s damning only if you accept it all on faith, as the baseball writers of the time were more than willing to do. I pointed out the bogus betting slip that seemed to indicate that Rose had no idea where his played on a given night. There were other problems (all of which, of course, have since been rendered moot, but go with me here).

I had had enough. Folks needed to hear the truth about this and other things—or at least a different viewpoint and one that was grounded in facts. Thanks to the Internet, some schlub with money and time to burn could create his own world in the online universe. And in February 2000, I began work to become that schlub.

The occasion was Laura’s 50th birthday. She held it upstairs at Lindey’s in German Village—the restaurant where I stopped when I was looking for an apartment after moving from Flint in 1994. Everyone was there, and by everyone, I mean EVERYONE—Debbie, too. It wasn’t the first family function to which Debbie had been invited since the rift was repaired, but it was the most significant.

I already had the idea for the Website and the name—BaseballTruth.com—now all I needed was a webmaster. Scott knew more about computers than anyone I knew, and I figured his rates—nothing—would fit my budget. As the party began to wind down, I pulled Scott aside. I had something serious to talk to him about. We stepped out on the second-floor balcony in the chilly winter night.

How hard would it be for you to learn HTML? Scott thought for a second. Not much, I bet. Good, here’s what I have in mind …

I laid the whole thing down, and he liked it. He wanted to get back into working with computers, and starting a website from scratch seemed like a perfect excuse to do so as well as be something of a working lab for him. He said he’d poke around and get back to me in the next week.

Debbie and I left soon after that, earlier than I wanted, but certainly after the main business of the evening had been concluded, as far as I was concerned. I wanted to launch on my birthday, and all systems were go. The truth would finally be heard.