It can be hard to keep up with everything that goes on with analytics and sport. So here are 16 pieces I found over the last few weeks. I don’t go into too much detail on each one but encourage you to explore them. If you come across anything of interest let me know on twitter @thevideoanalyst
1. Nate Silver: it’s the numbers, stupid
The poker player and baseball nerd turned political forecaster won fame after predicting the result of the US election with uncanny accuracy. And as his star rises so too does that of a whole new generation of ‘quants’ leading the digital revolution. If you don’t know who Nate Silver is… well you really should. Good read plotting his rise and rise.
2. Why are the real ‘Moneybal’l Pioneers all but forgotten
From the always excellent @SimonGleave comes a 2 part look back at some forgotten managers. Often we attribute to much praise to one person when invariably there are many people who are ahead of the curve.
3. Our interview with Howard H. Hamilton, Founder of Soccermetrics
A short but decent interview with Howard H. Hamilton, found of Soccermetrics. You can find Howard on twitter @Soccermetrics.
4. Sports Medicine gives Brewers Edge
Over the past 10 seasons, the Milwaukee Brewers have logged the second-fewest days on the disabled list of the 30 major-league clubs. Pure chance or good fortune? Hardly. “We feel like we’re on the forefront of medicine in baseball,” said Brewers medical director Roger Caplinger. Shows that data and analytics plays a part on and off the field. For all you aspiring analysts – keep your mind and options open.
5. LMA Managers and Coaches Survey
Not strictly anything to do with analysis, but some interesting points in it. Thanks to @OmarChaudhuri for pointing that out.
6. How special was the special one?
Staying on the manager theme. Decision Technology @dectechsports take a look at the Chelsea Managers of the past few years. Really like this piece and it highlights how many factors need to be considered when comparing managers.
7. The Joy of Stats
I’ve mentioned Hans Rosling before on the site. If you’ve never heard of him take a trip over to ted.com (not the movie!!) and search for his name. This is a BBC programme (might be location restrictions on being able to view this, but if you can check it out).
8. More N.F.L. Teams Hire Statisticians but Their Use Remains Mostly Guarded
Good perspective from the US. NFL is a much more complex sport than Baseball so it has been slower to find the magic Moneyball numbers (even if they exist).
9. Fire The Manager! Really?
This article was written in October – before some of the sackings they discuss. Interesting read and even more pertinent that the there are new managers in place. It’s well known that sacking the manager has little/no long term benefits.
10. The Gain Line Blog – Tale of the Unexpected
There are numerous soccer analytical blogs on the interweb these days but so few rugby blogs. If you’re into Rugby well worth bookmarking this site. Hopefully the start of things to come.
11. Bill Simmons (ESPN) Interviews Nate Silver
This is a video or audio podcast so ITunes is your best bet. They talk a bit about US sports but is a good interview and well worth a watch.
12. IRB Science Network
Having said there is not much on the web for analytics and Rugby the ORB have launched their Science Network. ‘The IRB Rugby Science Network is a global network of researchers who are interested in the study of the Rugby Football codes. The aim is to provide a forum which brings together the expertise of academics and professionals working in the Game.’ Sounds really interesting and while it covers all aspects of Sports Science it does have a Match Analysis section.
13. Football Performance Analysis – Interview with Wade Benn, Senior Match Analyst at Aspire Sports Academy
Good Interview with an analyst here. Always good to read and learn something new.
14. The State of Analytics: What people think soccer analytics is for, and what it SHOULD be for
This is a somewhat controversial article. I will let you read the detail for yourself but I think it sets a low bar of analytics in football. Having said that there is a lot of truth about some of the quackery that is being passed of as analytics.
15. Do Referee’s favour the Home Team?
The really brilliant @jameswgrayson looks at refereeing in the English Leagues. Great piece but don’t stop at that article make sure you explore more of the site.
16. Move to ban unpaid internship adverts wins cross-party support
Always a hot topic on this site. Interns paid v unpaid???!!! There are many arguments back and forth about this, interesting that the British Government is looking to do something about this. What will be the implications for football? Is it as simple as this will force clubs to pay something to analysts or will it have the opposite effect and clubs simply won’t be able to take on interns?
