Cool video on point differences in the NBA
At the end of regulation, tied scores are about twice as frequent as what you would expect from a strategy-free, i.i.d. scoring model. Using data from the last 13 years ...Economics of Sportsmanship
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski blasted LeBron James for his behavior after the Magic series and his "explanation" of it the next day: I’m a winner, King James proclaimed. So, there ...Two pieces worth noting
Both are from the newly sports-minded WSJ. First, in recent years, English teams have been getting the upper hand over their Italian counterparts, a reversal from prior decades. Why is ...The Sports Page Comes to the WSJ
The WSJ unveiled its sports page today. The lead article is an interesting one on incentives, or the lack of incentives in today's NBA: Beyond the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston ...If It's Broke, Why Not Fix It?
While spending the fall semester on the West Coast, I attended the MPSF Water Polo championships. (MPSF stands for Mountain Pacific Sports Federation -- a "cross-conference" conference of schools that ..."Someone created the box score, and he should be shot"***
Michael Lewis has a piece in this weekend's NY Times Magazine, "The No Stats All Star." The focus is on the Houston Rockets' Shane Battier, and to a lesser extent ...One more baller goes to Europe
Josh Childress, to Greece for $20 million over three years: "I get paid double, my role increases, I have no expenses and I move to a nice city?" Childress said. ...Sonics & Seattle settle for $45 - $70 million
From the Seattle Times: The city of Seattle will be paid $45 million in exchange for letting the Sonics move to Oklahoma City this year as part of last-minute settlement ...Two good reads
Gregg Bell on the Sonics trial. The Sonics are making the argument that Seattle pols have been playing dirty pool, which would not be surprising. As I've said before, there ...Is the NBA - NCAA market division in jeopardy?
Basketball is the one uniquely American game. (Our baseball and football were adaptations of English games). It would be ironic if increasing appreciation of basketball in Europe chips away at ...
