Nobel Peace Prize injustice? How 'bout the Cy Young?
I was puzzled to hear that President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, but hardly -- as so many others found themselves yesterday -- upset.
Upset I save for truly important miscarriages of justice, like Fernando Valenzuela of the L.A. Dodgers winning the National League Cy Young Award in 1981 when the more deserving pitcher was clearly Tom Seaver of the Cincinnati Reds.
Valenzuela won 13 games and lost 7, with an earned run average of 2.48. Seaver was 14-2 and 2.54. How can that not gnaw at somebody?
Maybe if I'd ever collected Nobel Peace Prize trading cards, I'd have had a stronger reaction to the result in that race. Of course, since we never officially know who the nominees are, it's hard to feel outraged on behalf of the runner-up.
For a tidy overview of the day among Nobel Peace Prize fans, there's a nice piece in the Washington Post today from Eli Saslow.
Comments
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Valenzuela's Cy Young nod
You point out another glaring example of the big market coastal teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets getting all the media hype for their teams and players while ignoring the teams in-between, in fly over country. Let's see what happens this year with the AL MVP and Cy Young awards. I'm pulling for the Twins Joe Mauer and the Royals Zach Grienke but I suspect it will be the Yankees CC Sabathia and Mark Texeira or Derek Jeter. Let's see how it plays out.
Obama-Nobel
As per usual with Obama, all style, no substance.
I wouldn't call the reaction upset
Sure you probably could find a few people "upset." But the vast majority of folks were either bemused or outright laughing.
The right didn't have a rooting interest going in and the left seems to have lost its stomach for supporting dissidents in third world countries that have communist dictatorships.
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