Blogger Toddler has now made it as the quintessential journalistic device: He has become the basis for an anecdotal lede. (Funny, the baby books don't have a line for that milestone -- "First Appearance as the Subject of an Anecdotal Lede.")
The Toddler's way-out-there pick for the World Series -- he chose St. Louis, back when no one was picking St. Louis -- forms the lede of author Brian Gunn's piece How the Cardinals Shocked the World and Won the World Series (which ran recently on baseball-themed website The Hardball Times):
Mike and Maria Schneider are an L.A. couple who run a blog called Franklin Avenue, which is more or less a cultural guide for local Grups. Over the past year Mike and Maria have been asking their infant son Evan to pick the winners in various political races and sporting events. Their method is simple—they just lay out two paper plates before him, write the names of various choices on each plate, and ask him to choose one, seemingly at random.
Weirdly enough, Evan has proven to be some sorta pocket-sized Nostradamus. He picked the Steelers to win the Super Bowl, Crash to win Best Picture, Florida to win the NCAA hoops tournament, and overall went undefeated, at 9-0, before the start of the 2006 World Series. That’s when baby Evan pondered two paper plates laid before him and chose the St. Louis Cardinals to win their first world title in 24 years (you can see the video here). Considering the odds stacked against St. Louis, it was a risky move.
Turns out the kid knew more than all of us—more than me, more than Vegas, more than just about any pundit or analyst or expert you can name.
How did this happen?
Gunn goes on to explain how no one (well, with the exception of one Blogger Toddler) predicted St. Louis' victory.
Meanwhile, I like the "Pocket-Sized Nostradamus" -- although, as far as nicknames go, "Bomb-Ass Baby" is still my favorite.
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