Bill James determined to become a pariah
The godfather of sabermetrics appears to be the last person not named Paterno defending the late Penn State coach (excerpted from an interview with ESPN Radio’s Doug Gottlieb):
James: [Paterno] knew less about [Sandusky] than everyone else there … [the thought that] everything revolves around [Paterno at Penn State] is total nonsense. He had very few allies. He was isolated. He was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been. …
James: “they kept it quiet because they had no idea what was happening … they just thought they were dealing with a little misunderstanding …” …
James: “Paterno is one of the very few people who saw Sandusky and saw a coach who wasn’t doing a job anymore, rather than a hero … people who are responsible for it are the media. The media created this smokescreen behind which Sandusky operated, and then they’re trying to blame Paterno.”
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- Bill James doubles down on the Joe Paterno defense (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com)
Calcaterra has been all over him for this nonsense.
He reflects the same sensibilities of good Catholics who pretended nothing was amiss with regards to pedophilia in the priesthood. It wouldn’t surprise me if James were an unreconstructed Catholic. Paterno’s legacy will be forever wretched. Anyone who claims otherwise is morally and intellectually broken.
Everything is numbers to sabermetrics people. I imagine that to James and Sandusky, they were nothing but “12 year old boy No. 7″, or “10 year old boy No. 15″. Perhaps Sandusky graded them on his own mathematical scale, using various criteria then to rate them. Perhaps Bill James assisted him.
And Bill James has an insider’s informed opinion about the Penn State tragedy, more worthy of being aired on ESPN than Duane from Forest Park, because … ??
Exactly. It’s questionable whether James is even as much of an authority on this issue as John Rocker is on U.S. immigration policy.