TPFFL: Where genius happens.
Sent from my iPhone
Matt Booher |
You are meant to play the ball as it lies - Grantland Rice |
Mom was fixing McKenna's walker last night. Here she is waiting patiently.
Sent from my iPhone
I'm absolutely shocked and devastated to learn Martin O'Neill has left
Aston Villa this morning. I began work on my season preview last night
and now don't know what to do. At first, I thought we'd press for
5th...now we might be barely a top half team if we're slated to lose
James Milner and Ashley Young in the same summer as speculated. Let
the guessing begin.
The mariachi band was at El Pueblo tonight. McKenna getting down.
Sent from my iPhone
I haven't updated my blog in almost three months and I'm not starting
now just because I'm pissed off about the whole LeBron to Miami saga.
Let's just consider it a matter of coincidence since nothing can be
said about LeBron that hasn't been said about 15 times from an expert,
an insider, an opinionaire, or a clown.
On the eve of the 2010 NBA Playoffs, I thought it would be fun to sit down and take a statistical look at the first round matchups. A few fellow Cavs fans have been asking me if we have anything to fear in Chicago, and of course being a Cleveland sports fan, its impossible to not be terrified at the prospect of suffering a stunning first round loss in a season were Cleveland look likely candidates for a NBA title. So I decided to play with some numbers to put the collective fears into context and also see if there are any other first round matchups worth tuning in. This is especially important in Ohio where the games in the intensely competitive Western Conference will be decided after midnight. Gotta see if the loss of sleep gets rewarded with some awesome basketball. Note: The two tools I've used to generate these predictions are not my own. First, Jeff Sagarin's NBA Ratings available at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0910.htm serve as the team power ratings. Second, I've repurposed Wayne Winston's spurscavs82.xls model from his book Mathletics. His website can be found at http://www.waynewinston.com. I've used these tools becuase both authors made them available, however, I want to be clear they are not mine nor is my intent to portray them as mine. So on to the analysis: Eastern Conference(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (8) Chicago Bulls - Cleveland 91% chance to win series
Started toying with Tableau Public this evening and conducted a small fantasy baseball analysis to get a feel for the software and service. It's a simple scatterplot with groupings by position ranked by total points scored last season. I hope to expand upon it as I learn how to do more with Tableau Public, but in the short term, it's a helpful visualization so you can quickly see the marginal value of certain positions and performers.
First basemen clearly lead the scoring thanks to Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Howard top scorers. Third base stands out as surprisingly weak with Mark Reynolds and Evan Longoria tops at the position. Check it out and let me know what you think. Sheet 1