Most studies which model athlete behavior try to control for score differential as a mechanism for accounting for player aggressiveness.…
Hot hand theory, updated?
One spot where statistics and sports have commonly intersected is the so-called ‘hot-hand’ theory. Statisticians have argued that athletes –…
My take on the NHL’s points system
I penned a piece on the NHL’s points system, and how teams are taking advantage of the league’s incentives to…
My favorite academic papers on sports
Over the last few years, several friends and colleagues have asked me to send along papers on sports which have…
Inefficiencies in NCAA totals?
The NCAA March Madness tournament provides the opportunity for several testable hypothesis with regards to the best team rankings systems…
March Madness picks
March Madness brackets here. These are designed for large pools (appx 400 entries) with upset points on a 2-4-8-16-32-64 scoring…
Random college basketball notes
With a few NCAA Division 1 title contenders suffering embarrassing defeats today (Syracuse, Kansas), I decided to go back and look at…
NCAA basketball & the art of make-up calls
Ceclilia Noecker & Paul Roback penned an interesting piece on the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, which I summarize…
Quick thoughts on the effects of the shortened NHL season
Here are some brief thoughts roughly 3.5 weeks into the NHL’s season. 1) Thus far, 25.3% of all games have gone…
Do NFL refs swallow their whistles?
The decisive play of the 49ers-Ravens Super Bowl was a fourth-down pass to the end zone in which 49ers receiver…
