As a writer I probably rely too heavily on commas and adverbs, but I do so to provide natural breaks and clarity. It seems that most writers, bloggers and commentators bludgeon readers with caps and !!.

The coverage of the recently completed WBC has been the perfect example of this carelessness in journalism. It’s not enough that everyone put the horses before the carts whenever possible, but their abuse of superlatives and exaggeration would make a first grader blush.

Case in point, the blowhards criticizing the managers for the US team and Venezuela for daring to start Eduardo Rodriguez and Nolan McLean in the Finals know nothing about the constraints placed on teams and pitchers. Egg on the face of those that believed they couldn’t possibly pitch their ways out of a bag.

Conversely, somebody on air (I forget who) said that if Paul Skenes shut out the Dominican Republic in five innings, it would be the greatest performance in baseball history. Talk about recency bias and not watching a game played before 2022. Because it would have meant not being the smartest guy in the room, he could have waited for the game to start before putting that much pressure on Skenes. As it turns out, he pitched very well, but not his greatest outing in his brief ML career.

Sometimes it’s best to take a deep breath and think before you speak (or type). At least when the media was saying great things about the magical starts to the careers of Mike Trout and Frank Thomas, they had the decency to reference Ted Williams and others that had produced. It’s okay to use qualifiers, and words like since. It’s much easier to not overuse absolutes as more often than not, you’ll look the fool.

Usually when I use superlatives without qualification it’s to poke fun at the yaboes making the claim. When one is accustomed to communication with K-4 students you realize you have to use outlandish language to make a point. Absurdity sells.

As we have learned from the tournament of 68, sometimes it’s equally rewarding to just let the games play out. Recently, I heard one of the new breed touts, proclaim Badger invincibility. Thankfully, I value their expertise as much as Dr. Bombay’s and have invested my savings in Friday fish frys.