Fun little chat with Paul DePodesta
July 12th, 2008 by 
Melvin
More Recenter Edit: After pulling the article I received confirmation that the contents of the speech were not to be published. Sorry to all involved. This sucks.
EDIT: Crap, I’m really nervous. It sounds like something was said before we arrived about not reporting the contents of Paul’s speech.
On one hand, I don’t particularly understand this since the event was announced to the public and anyone who wanted could buy a ticket. On the other hand, this isn’t a press conference. Paul would enjoy way less freedom to speak freely and honestly if he knew the entire interwebtubes were disseminating his every word.
I for one appreciate when a public figure has the desire and opportunity to speak openly. Because of this, the report may disappear soon.
Of course it has to happen for our one opportunity to pretend to be a real media outlet.
Baseball Prospectus hosted a fun little evening at PETCO on Friday, beach towel night. It featured a talk with San Diego Padres special assistant for baseball operations Paul DePodesta. Paul is famous as a central character in Michael Lewis’ renowned book “Moneyball”, in my opinion the Most Influencial Sports Book of all Time™. Paul is also the former GM of the Dodgers, run out of town by the myopic LA media, who (surprise!) aren’t as smart as they think they are.
The Sacrifice Bunt flagged him down after the event (may or may not involving a scared, girlish scream of “ahhh Paul!!” as he walked away) for a quick chat and photo. During the chat and speech, Paul came across as down to earth, pleasant, and spoke with the care and accuracy one would expect from a Harvard graduate.
Ray commented that Paul’s demeanor seemed opposite of Sandy Alderson’s guarded, defensive, and some might say arrogant attitude during appearances with Billy and Daren on the radio. I responded that if knuckleheads did no research and attacked me under the guise of balanced “journalism”, I’d probably act the same way Alderson does.
Snip
If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?
Posted in media, petco park, the funny | 
5 Comments »
PS – The cute capitalization and ™ about Moneyball might come across as sarcastic, but it wasn’t meant to. I honestly believe that book is the most influential sports book of all time. Think about it. What did the standard sports book of rousing tales of clubhouse hijinks change? Nothing. Moneyball started a league wide revolution. It’s big.
As someone that can’t stand Billy and Daren’s stunningly shallow baseball knowledge, I love Sandy’s attitude on the show
Someone needs to tell Billy that saying the same stupid thing three times in a row does not make it sound smarter.
Stunningly comprehensive ignorance.
So we’re all in agreement. This sounds like the beginning of a movement.
Not to disagree with Ray, as Paul does come off as more personable – but does he do any bit of commentary over 1090? I think he goes on once every couple of weeks for Coach Kentera. I’d expect his reaction to be no different talking to those clowns on “Too Much Show.”
Towers generally comes off a bit better because he doesn’t tax himself going on the “Scott & B.R. Show.” It’s mainly dick and fart jokes as opposed to real baseball talk.