Lucky goes primetime

In a bit of bad news for those individuals who appreciate serious news programming, 60 minutes has announced that it will air a feature on the Red Sox and the success they've have had with sabremetric analysis.

We have mixed feelings on this here at SMF. On the one hand, Lucchino suggests that the Yankees are moving in the direction of statistical analysis, which, in light of Girardi's latest roster decisions, counts as news to us. But, even if we are to take Lucky's word for it, you can see the Steinbrenner's, in their capacious reserve of stubborn pride, move further away from statistical analysis to prove that they don't need to learn how to win from the Red Sox.

The baseball angle aside, how is the considered a story worthy of national attention in the first instance? Moneyball was published in 2003, the same year Bill James was hired by the Red Sox. Even the New Yorker, which is perpetually behind the curve in its sports coverage, ran a piece on this when it might have been considered newsworthy. And we can't fathom who CBS thinks its target audience will be. Baseball fans already aware of the Jamesian Revolution; and non-baseball fans will find the story tedious and unimportant.

If the promo is any indication, we can look forward to a bumbling Morley Safer reveal his complete ignorance about the sport, while Lucchino, Theo Epstein, and, lord help us, John Henry, try to forge a veneer of humility for a national audience.