Nate Silver blew it (and NBC calls it)

We always had a good feeling about Indiana when we saw it in our travels. This was a state where Obama had the ground game all to himself. With us predicting a slight win for McCain in the state, but no ground game taken into effect, and with a late minute canvassing push from FiveThirtyEight in Gary, Indiana looks like it'll go Obama.

UPDATE:

The Baseball Punditry Class: Brain-Dead

Rob Neyer was the only one anywhere i saw picking Philly...

Yahoo
Brown LA in 6
Passan LA in 6
Henson LA in 5
Edes LA in 7
Jose Mota LA in 4

ESPN
Stark LA in 7
Kurkjian LA in 7
Neyer PHI in 7
Phillips LA in 7
Caple LA in 5
Law LA in 5

Prediction by Keith Law
The Phillies had the better season and might be the better team, but this is a bad matchup for them unless their starters behind Hamels step it up -- or the Dodgers' bats are as cold in this series as they were hot against Chicago. A Maddux start in Game 4 might make this pick too aggressive, but assuming it's either Lowe on short rest or Kershaw on a short leash, I'll go with the Dodgers in five. (MORON--ed.)

The ALWAYS MAMMOTHLY BRAIN-DEAD Buck Showalter is already picking the AL team in the World Series...

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Reporting on replay seems to suck

I haven't seen anyone address what is the most obvious question to me -- if the umps signal a home run and a player slows to a trot, the outfielder throws the ball in and the player is tagged, is he out if the replay shows it is not a home run? In other words, are the players now in the position of having to disregard a home run call? And if they are not in that position, does this mean that replay will only serve to turn non-HRs into home runs, but not to turn home runs into base hits?

Baseball writers are the most myopic group of morons to ever walk to earth.

This is a constant. It is a fact which hasn't changed over time. This week they completely ignored Tim Raines and Alan Trammell (again). Bert Blyleven is still waiting. And, of course, there is Ron Santo. We all know about that injustice.

Was is it any better 30+ years ago? It took Eddie Mathews five years to get in. When he retired he was the greatest 3rd baseman of all time, and only Schmidt and Brett have passed him since (and i'm not sure Brett was better). But that wasn't good enough for many brainless baseball writers.

How about this one: in 1956 Hank Greenberg was elected after NINE YEARS* on the ballot. When he retired only 4 hitters had a higher career OPS: Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx. Only two hitters have passed him since: Bonds and Pujols. He missed about 4 seasons because of WWII. And while he retired when he was 36, it wasn't because of ineffectiveness. He had the 9th best OPS in the NL that year. He's a slam dunk, first ballot guy and it ain't even close.

In 1937, Cy Young only got 76% of the vote. Gee, isn't there a pitching award or something named after him?

Why are baseball writers so fucking stupid? The Veterans' Committee sucks, too. And if fans had their way, Steve Garvey or Don Mattingly would get in, or some shit.

Therefore, the four of us should decide (Fung can vote for cricket). Three votes gets you in.

*So says Jayson Stark. I'm not sure he's right though. If there was a 5-year waiting period then Greenberg spent 4 years on the ballot. Has there been a 5-year waiting period since the beginning? Corms?