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Category Archives: Sports
Extra points
In today’s league, the specialization of NFL kickers means that missing an extra point is a formality gone terribly awry, like French-kissing the pope’s ring or holding the door open for someone to an empty elevator shaft. That remarkable sentence … Continue reading
Will LeBron win another NBA championship?
Put another way, if you had to wager your money on this question, would you bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers, or would you bet the field? (Yeah, that’s what we thought.) By the way, while we’re on the subject of #23, what’s … Continue reading
Should the NFL stop suspending players?
Harry Cheadle makes the case in this essay for ending the NFL Commissioner’s unilateral and arbitrary power to suspend players for “off-field behavior”: Announce that no one is going to be suspended or fined by the league for any off-field behavior and … Continue reading
Why can’t Tom Brady get a high-five?
hat tip: tim carmody
“No one can say in advance where a game will go.”
This wonderful sentence is from Brian Phillips’s beautiful essay on the role of chance in the World Cup. Here is an excerpt: I made a list of the moments during the past month that stood out the most to me. I … Continue reading
Skill or luck?
What fraction of this amazing play by Yoenis Cespedes would you attribute to skill versus luck? More importantly, how would you define such concepts as “skill” and “luck”?
Is LeBron a Bayesian?
Polymath Tyler Cowen speculates thus: In Cleveland [LeBron] is not actually expected to win, at least not right away. They can play the young guys a lot and rest his legs and extend his career, while developing the quality of the … Continue reading
B+ or A-?
How would you grade LeBron’s eloquent essay? More importantly, what criteria would you use in assigning your grade (e.g., style, substance, grammar, spelling, etc.), and what weights would you assign to each criterion? (Props to Clickhole.)
What are the unofficial rules of the Tour de France?
And, more importantly, who enforces them? Craig Fry and Dennis Hemphill discuss the unofficial rules of the Tour de France here. William Fotheringham, ditto, here. You can find a concise summary of the unwritten rules of cycling here. Does this book include the unwritten … Continue reading
Do free agents play game theory?
Who will sign first? Melo, Lebron, or Bosh? In game-theory terms, what type of “game” are these free agents playing: Prisoner’s Dilemma, Chicken, Stag Hunt, or Battle of the Sexes?
prior probability 