Saturday, September 11, 2010
LIKE COBB, JOHNSON, MATHEWSON, RUTH AND WAGNER, ONLY WITH PASTIER SKIN AND LESS SOCIAL SKILLS: Greg Ambrosius, Matthew Berry, Scott Engel, Eric Karabell and Greg Kellogg are the inaugural inductees into the Fantasy Sports Writers Hall of Fame. I'd argue for Joe Bryant's induction solely on the basis of popularizing Value-Based Drafting, but can't think of who else belongs.
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I will accept my nomination next year.
ReplyDeleteFantasy Sports Writers? Really? I think we're setting our bar a little low here. You know, just handing out halls of fame willy-nilly to every loose collection of ... Oh wait, I just got tapped for the Cranky 40 Somethings With Internet Access Hall of Fame! Nevermind. Congratulations, guys! Congratulations, everyone!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, excellent post title. Buzz Bissinger approves.
ReplyDeleteIs it "less" or "fewer"?
ReplyDeleteFewer; less is for a reduction from an original amount, fewer for a comparatively smaller amount with no reduction involved, as I understand it.
ReplyDeleteNone of those guys are really great writers (if they have value, it is in analysis, not in writing). Karabell, for example, is a truly awful writer. Any hall of fame that has "writing" in its name ought to demand some amount of appreciation for the English language.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can get a joint nomination; we the Kurtzman and Orci of ALOTT5MA's fantasy coverage.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see someone compile statistics on the accuracy of their analysis, whether in weekly s/b questions or overall add/drop/draft predictions.
ReplyDeleteYou use fewer for things that can be counted (e.g. a reduction from a number) and less for a smaller amount of a singular noun. Fewer gallons, less milk. Fewer grass stains, less grit.
ReplyDeleteBut "social skills" in the title really refers to an abstract concept (roughly, social competence), not a countable number of distinct social skills. "Fewer social skills" would mean that somebody has a countable (or infinite) number of distinct social skills, and the Talented Mr. Roto doesn't have them all. Like Cobb has gregariousness, awareness of personal space, modulation of voice volume, and eye contact (that's four), but Berry only has ability to feign interest, not saying racist things, and not staring straight at a woman's chest while speaking to her (that's three). So Berry in that case would have fewer social skills. That's not what Adam means.
I imagine, though, that Adam was not referring to a number of social skills, but rather a singular concept that can't be counted -- "social skills," despite its plural formulation, as a singular concept. In fact, Berry and Cobb have the same number of "social skills"; Cobb just is better at them in the aggregate (a dubious factual assertion, given that Berry seems to have plenty of friends and Cobb was a universally despised racist asshole, but that's what the title implies). So less is correct, even if the plural noun makes it sound wrong.