🏃 Sports - Sad State of US Sports

[jdsmith]

@BiggusDickus

What the lionesses did was great, but a degree of realism is needed.

I’m not a fan and have zero allegiances. I am a passerby fan. The chicks play a better game, imo.

[BiggusDickus]

@jdsmith

@BiggusDickus

What the lionesses did was great, but a degree of realism is needed.

I’m not a fan and have zero allegiances. I am a passerby fan. The chicks play a better game, imo.

It’s easier for fans to relate to.

[jdsmith]

@BiggusDickus

It’s easier for fans to relate to.

All of my students, well, all the Muslim boys, love the game. I think @superking told me once that if one guy wanted to run the field and score every time, he could, but then soccer would be like basketball. And I said, “What? More entertaining?” lol

[BiggusDickus]

@jdsmith

@BiggusDickus

It’s easier for fans to relate to.

All of my students, well, all the Muslim boys, love the game. I think @superking told me once that if one guy wanted to run the field and score every time, he could, but then soccer would be like basketball. And I said, “What? More entertaining?” lol

Sport is an acquired taste. If one is raised with regular scoring, such as in basketball, then that’s what one expects.

I recall a study where spectators were wired up to heart monitors when watching various sports and cricket was the most exciting. Supposedly the build up to a ‘score’ is more exciting than the score itself. Chateaubriand as opposed to cheap hamburger, one assumes.

[superking]

@BiggusDickus

What the lionesses did was great, but a degree of realism is needed.

Agreed on both fronts.

[superking]

@jdsmith

I think @superking told me once that if one guy wanted to run the field and score every time, he could, but then soccer would be like basketball.

I didn’t intend to imply that they could score if they wanted. The rest is I definitely meant. Football is basketball with far fewer points.

I got a fuzzy feeling that you remembered what I said.

[hannes]

Football is loved in basically every country in Europe South America, and Africa, plus many countries in Asia, Central America, and Mexico. That’s a lot of people loving a sport that many Americans find boring.

[tempogain]

@zender

If they had a rule that said each team had to have a girl in their batting order, people would tune out.

I think I might watch it then.

@hannes

That’s a lot of people loving a sport that many Americans find boring.

No doubt. Clearly something is going on there. I find it boring though. I prefer contact sports in general

[DKaoshuing]

Football, UFC and Sumo, haha

[DKaoshuing]

@TaipAmy

Definitely, but I’d consider it a worldwide sport.

Where did it start? Seems maybe from Thai boxing?

[OysterOmelet]

@hannes

Football is loved in basically every country in Europe South America, and Africa, plus many countries in Asia, Central America, and Mexico. That’s a lot of people loving a sport that many Americans find boring.

1. It’s random. No strategy.
2. It’s one continuous stream. Can’t build up a large sample size. Makes analytics close to impossible.
3. Everybody moves at the same time. See #2.
4. Nobody ever scores. How do you know what correlates with scoring when nobody ever scores? See #2.

[TaipAmy]

If they made the goal 50% bigger it could get exciting.

[DKaoshuing]

@JPMichaels1

Pretty sure this should be about the sad state of Taiwanese sports. I seriously thought there were enough people that understand the science these days.

In Taiwan now, i see less and less young people play baseball, a lot more play and watch basketball. The school near my home has two baseball playing areas and almost never used for baseball (We play kickball, and throw the ball at the runner ha, more exciting). The basketball courts are in full use, even in the dark (city has lots of lighted ones as well few indoor ones). As far as the pro game, Basketball New Pro games are popular, the pro baseball team in KHH was a failure and no more.
In Japan I guess with younger people more like Football , a few Japanese now play in the EU and Rugby too. Baseball is top sport now, but trend is Football will pass it in the future unless they get more young people interested.

[OysterOmelet]

@TaipAmy

If they made the goal 50% bigger it could get exciting.

I watch women’s college soccer because I’m attached to my alma mater, and they’re good.

[hansioux]

@OysterOmelet

Whoever wrote that article an idiot.

Exactly.

I love how he wrote this as if it’s complete nonsense

managers and front office geeks rely on analytic probabilities that suggest not only that various moments will unfold exactly as others, but that these repeated events happen by the dozens.

Uh, yes, you just described statistics. He sounds like the kind of person that would refuse putting on a seat belt because not every car trip will end up in an accident.

There’s also this:

The paucity of hitting caused by the analytical willingness to hit into shifts and to strike out in exchange for a few home runs, inspired foresight-bereft commissioner Rob Manfred to “add” offense through using the designated hitter in both leagues

Consider: Cleveland’s frequent DH, Franmil Reyes, until sent to the minors on Tuesday, was batting .213 with 104 strikeout in 263 at-bats. The team’s DH struck out 40 percent of the time!

Since most batters bat under .400, a great hitter would fail 70% of the time. What’s the different if those failures are strike outs or fly or ground outs? Reyes isn’t sent to the minors because he strikes out of 40% of his at bats. It’s because he didn’t get on base more than 40% in his plate appearances, and didn’t hit enough long ball to be in the DH position.

[Poundsand]

Sad state of sports commentary!

What a shitty article. Sano just came off the IL, so rusty, small sample size, and obviously nobody was happy with the .083 he had to start (he’s back on the IL), so lumping that in with the argument that analytics is ruining baseball is asinine. Same with Reyes - far from his numbers being acceptable due to analytics, he was hitting way below what he has in the past and was DFAd. Bobby Witt… he’s on the Royals - 'nuf said, everyone on the Royals sucks. nothing new there (they’ve had like 3 good years in the last 30). Kyle Lewis was rookie of the year in 2020, has been trying to battle back from a couple bad knee injuries,.and is a small sample size guy just called up from the minors (where he was hitting well) - the author want them to just cut bait on him after 50 at bats?

what a hack.

[RaoulDukeSilver]

The fact that there are 35 comments analyzing a Phil Mushnick article is the funniest part to me here. If you want to talk about sports and baseball seriously, never bring up anything that man has to say.

[projectmaximus]

@OysterOmelet

1. It’s random. No strategy.
2. It’s one continuous stream. Can’t build up a large sample size. Makes analytics close to impossible.
3. Everybody moves at the same time. See #2.
4. Nobody ever scores. How do you know what correlates with scoring when nobody ever scores? See #2.

Not sure if you’re being facetious, but I’ll bite. And I’m not an analytics maven by any stretch, and have zero interaction with analytics in football (soccer).

1. Totally disagree
2. Analytics is all about breaking out actions into small and consistent units. No reason this can’t be done with football as well.
3. Right, same with basketball (I get that it’s easier to digest), hockey and American football (probably most similar to football in terms of complexity and breaking down the actions of the most people away from the ball). Thank goodness advanced analytics isn’t performed in real time!
4. You can easily look at actions that create advantageous circumstances. Shots on goal->shots->completed passes->time of possession->winning possession…and so forth. You’re welcome.

(I’m actually much more of an American football fan)

[hansioux]

I’ve watched some recent interviews of Billy Beane and Michael Lewis talking about what has happened since the release of the book and movie. They say that people from all over the world, who play soccer (football), cricket, rugby, basketball, and more, came to talk to them about introducing analytics into their sports, and Beane and Lewis introduced them to the actual analysts.

At this point, I’d say it’s in every sport. Also, high speed cameras, and algorithms that tracks joint movements enabled wider applications of bio-mechanics that can give very accurate assessment of what’s going on and what is going wrong. To me at least, sports has never been so exciting.

[jdsmith]

@superking

I got a fuzzy feeling that you remembered what I said

Foggy feeling?