Metaphysical Beliefs » Sports & Recreation http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com Everything Metaphysical and beyond Sun, 17 Apr 2011 20:40:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 Greatest baseball players of all time http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/greatest-baseball-players-of-all-time/ http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/greatest-baseball-players-of-all-time/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 07:24:24 +0000 admin http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/greatest-baseball-players-of-all-time/

I like sports. I like sports analysis and discussion. The grease that lubricates sports discussion has historically consisted of some variation of “Who’s Better: X or Y?”

I recall being 10-11 years old and just laboriously pouring over Maury Allen’s book where he listed the Top 100 players in MLB history; I’m a sucker for lists, be they films or books or rankings of Supreme Court justices, I want to play.

Performance analysis has advanced since 1981 (although you shouldn’t tell Murray Chass…hell, you can’t really tell Bob Costas; my guess is that we would agree far more often than not on the big issues of the day, perhaps even on more metaphysical matters – but when I watch he and Keith Olbermann talk about baseball as if the sabermetric insights of the past quarter-century haven’t happened, that they continue to deny the massive paradigm shift that has occurred during their professional careers and instead revert back to the same level of understanding they had as children, I get incredibly frustrated) and my views have evolved; first with Bill James, then with Pete Palmer, then Rob Neyer and Baseball Prospectus.

At my blog, http://theblogofrevelation.blo g.sponscore.com/ I will unveil my ranking of the 200 Best Major League Baseball Players of All Time; my reliance is not on anecdote, not on fitting into a particular childhood narrative that player X simply must be better than player y. My reliance is on facts and not faith, on statistics and not storyline. I happen to believe that baseball is more objectively quantifiable – the “truth” of what happens on a baseball diamond more knowable than in virtually any human endeavor.

With each player, ranked 200 down to 1, will be a comment of whatever length and nature that seems appropriate; I’ll also note his primary position, the teams with which he was most associated, the years he played, and a handful of statistics that I find to be most relevant and used to determine the composition of my list:

OPS+, AERA, Batter Fielder Wins, Pitcher Wins and, from baseballprospectus.com WARP3.

WARP3 is, in my view, the superior “universal theory of everything” number; I prefer it vastly to Win Shares (heresy to some, I recognize) as expressing actual career value. The list is skewed to career, as opposed to peak value – I’m attempting to express who had the greatest careers as opposed to “on any given day, who would you pick to win one baseball game for you.” That’s a reasonable list, I guess, but it’s not this one. I add the Pete Palmer numbers, which used to be expressed in the Total Player Rating from Total Baseball and are now BFW and PW in the Baseball Encyclopedia as they serve to express the value of peak, and give a different defensive perspective than the Davenport translations from WARP3. BP expresses peak itself with a JAWS number, taking the 7 best years and combining it with the WARP3, and at some point, all of those numbers will be sortable and, one assumes, they’ll put out their own list of this type; I might even prefer it to mine.

But right now – nope. Right now, I want to read a book that, using the statistics which I believe are most revelatory, lists the 200 best MLB players ever. A book that adjusts for era and ballpark; that doesn’t reflexively list the same top players at each position that the author decided upon when he was 12…

Spoiler alert…..

The greatest catcher of all time is no longer Johnny Bench.

…if there was a book like that, I’d buy it.

But there’s not. So – I’m writing this list.

200-1. The Best 200 Baseball Players Ever.

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]]> http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/greatest-baseball-players-of-all-time/feed/ 0 How the moon phase affects fishing http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/how-the-moon-phase-affects-fishing/ http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/how-the-moon-phase-affects-fishing/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:48:59 +0000 admin http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/how-the-moon-phase-affects-fishing/ Metaphysical Bench, Big Sur, CA

Moon phases have a strong impact on fishing, and this is something that the most successful fishermen use to their advantage repeatedly. It has little to do with metaphysical properties that might be attributed to the phase of the moon. But the effect is easy to understand by way of common knowledge observation and science.

Most people have observed that in the summer time, moths, millers, and other insects tend to gather around streetlights, sometimes in very large numbers. This is more than just being drawn to the light, inexplicably, and it has nothing to do to breeding, directly. When it is dark, most flying insects do not see well, and usually won’t even fly. However, the insects can see light, and will be drawn to it because they can see it.

Knowing this, consider what happens when there is a full moon on a summer night. Insects that would normally not be flying about will be drawn out because they can see, from the light of the full moon. Further, the moonlight reflects off of water in streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, and even off of vegetation that is near those bodies of water. Insects can see the light, but fly to it as if it was a source rather than a reflection. This brings them in close proximity to the water, where the fish lay in wait.

The result is that the fish, which normally prey on the insects during the daytime, are able to feed on them at night. This is extremely good for the fish, which get a boost in food and full bellies. But it isn’t that great for the fisherman.

Fish that are particularly well fed tend to be a little more difficult to coax to take a fly, lure, or bait, when you are fishing. Consider for a moment just how apt you are to eat a helping of even your most favorite food if you just had a large meal and your appetite is sated. It is little different for the fish you are fishing for.

For seasoned fisherman, nights with a full moon are considered a bane. It isn’t a fast passing one, either. Since it takes seven days to go from three quarters moon to a full moon, and another seven days to go to last quarter, fourteen days must pass before the amount of food available for the fish during the night will decline to the point where you can again have great early morning and evening fishing like you can if there is no full moon.

This all means that the wise fisherman will plan their fishing around the moon phase. The moon phase calendar has a huge effect on the success of fishing. That doesn’t at all mean that you can’t fish on days following a night with a full moon, but at the same time, you should understand that you may not do that well fishing, and may not catch as many. The reason is that the full moon allows the fish to gorge.

]]> http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/how-the-moon-phase-affects-fishing/feed/ 0 Introduction to aikido http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/introduction-to-aikido/ http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/introduction-to-aikido/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:39:53 +0000 admin http://metaphysicalbeliefs.com/introduction-to-aikido/

Aikido has often been referred to as “the art of doing nothing” because of the fact that use of little force, or physical strength, is needed to neutralize an opponent; a large attacker can be effectively neutralized by a smaller opponent. Note that I put strict emphasis on the term ‘neutralize’, not ‘defeat’. For the most part, aikido is a non-combative, non-competitive, non-destructive martial art. This is fundamental in aikido philosophy.

Aikido(”ai-” meaning ‘in harmony’, “-ki-” meaning ’spirit/energy’, “-do” meaning “the way/path”) was founded in Japan sometime between the late 1930’s and the early 1940’s by Master Morihei Ueshiba. Prior to the designation ‘aikido’, it was known by other names, such as “aikibudo”, and “aikinomichi”. This martial art was practiced through the martial arts ban in Japan that followed WWII.

Along with the physical training and philosophy, the metaphysical concept of ki(life energy) is developed and applied. This concept is present in many Eastern metaphysical philosophies. In China, it is known as “chi”. In India it is known as “prana”.

The bulk of aikido techniques are derived from jujitsu, particularly the daitoryu school, since that is where Master Ueshiba received most, if not all, of his jujitsu training. Aikido footwork is derived from Japanese sword and spear fighting styles, thus the basic L-shaped(hanmi) stance, which also resembles modern European fencing footwork. The aikido techniques, which consist of throws, joint locks, and submissions, are a system of fluid, circular, dance-like movements that when applied against a circular attack, they employ the use of a concept called “blending”. Blending can be described as continuing the path of your opponent’s attack, thus utilizing the circle created by the attack to neutralize the opponent. For linear attacks, blocks and parries are most often used. Method differs from school to school, but the concepts and basic non-destructive philosophy remains the same. Originally, strikes were not part of aikido training, though there are some modern aikido schools that teach atemi(striking the vital points of the body). Weapons training is included in most aikido methods, where it be weapons defenses, which are taught early on, to staff and boken kata, which are taught at the higher levels.

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