Sports decision-making. Once dominated by coaching judgments, but now increasingly the captive of mathematicians. Teams of self-styled math gurus scrub data of every conceivable sort searching for heretofore obscured “insights”. Subjective decision-making replaced by rules-based decision making. The goal of analytics? Extract insights from prior events to guide future decisions and increase the probability of desired future outcomes. A tool that, where “insights” are generated, is assumed will enhance outcome-probabilities. Mathematical analysis will improve outcomes. But is this assumption in sports, particularly football, correct? How useful are football analytics? Continue reading “Football Analytics – Way Over-Hyped”
Tag: sports
Greatest Sports Records of All-Time
Sports Records: The Unbreakable and the Insurmountable
We start with our bakers dozen of the greatest sports records and sports accomplishments of all time, American version. Here’s a first cut of the records/accomplishments that we believe have, and will, stand the test of time:
Horse Racing
1. No thoroughbred will ever match Secretariat’s accomplishment of holding the fastest time in each of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Each of these three records still stand today. Secretariat’s combined time for the three races is six seconds faster than any other horse.
Major League Baseball
2. Consecutive Games With a Hit – Of the many sports records to consider, this consecutive games with a hit is held by the incomparable Joe DiMaggio, who hit in 56 consecutive games (need we say more). Willie Keeler, who at 5’4″ and all of 140 pounds was one of the smallest men to ever play in the major leagues (from 1892 until 1910) and who coined one of baseball’s greatest phrases, “hit ’em where they ain’t”, had his 45 consecutive game streak broken by DiMaggio in 1941. The modern-day consecutive games hit leader is Pete Rose with 44.
3. Career Wins – Cy Young won an astounding 512 games. The fabulous Walter “Big Train” Johnson is a distant second with 416 wins. The “modern” era leader is Greg Maddux, who checks in with 355 wins.
4. Consecutive Games Played – Sports record number four is the great accomplishment of Cal Ripken, Jr. who logged 2,632 consecutive games played (more than 16 full major league seasons), a total that will certainly never be overtaken. Hall-of-Famer Lou Gehrig’s prior record of 2,130 consecutive games lasted 59 years, but was then shattered by Ripken. Shortstop Everett Scott is an even more distant third, with 1,307 consecutive games.
NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball
5. Single Season Scoring Average — LSU’s Pete Maravich averaged an incredible 44.5 points per game for the 1969-1970 college basketball season, a sports record that it is difficult to imagine could be overcome, even in the era of the three point shot. Remarkably, Maravich also holds the marks for the second and third highest single season scoring averages, at 44.2 points and 43.8 points, respectively.
6. Career Scoring Average — Pete Maravich holds this record as well, with a 44.2 points per game career average. Notre Dame’s Austin Carr stands second at 34.6 points per game, almost eight points per game less. The advent of the three point shot for the 1986-87 season did not lead to higher career scoring averages, as none of the top ten all-time scoring leaders played during the three-point era. Maravich’s incomparable sports record seems very likely indeed to stand for generations to come.
National Basketball Association
7. Single Game Points Record – Surely no one will ever touch Wilt Chamberlain’s astounding 100 points in a single game. Kobe Bryant stands in second place, but with “only” 81 points.
8. Rebounds Per Game (Career) – Another Wilt Chamberlain mark at 22.9 rebounds per game (Bill Russell is second with 22.5 rebounds). Given today’s “modern” game, where the leader is Dennis Rodman at 13.1 rebounds per game (only 11th all-time), the probability of Chamberlain being surpassed seems infinitesimally small.
9. Assists Per Game (Career) – Magic Johnson’s career record stands at 11.2 assists per game, with John Stockton at 10.5 per game and Chris Paul at 9.9 per game, all significantly behind the Magic Man.
National Football League
9. Most Long Touchdown Passes Thrown (Career) – In the era before the west-coast offense innovation, quarterbacks threw farther down the field. Notwithstanding all of the great passing records achieved in the 2000’s, John Unitas holds these career touchdown records that neither Manning, Elway, nor Favre ever touched, and that Brady, Brees and the like will never break: Most 40+ yard touchdown passes (70), most 50+ yard touchdown passes (51), and most 60+ yard touchdown passes (29) — and all of this among his 290 total touchdown passes thrown. Almost 25% of Unitas’ touchdown passes were over 40 yards! Unitas was the master of the bomb. Unfortunately, the era of the deep ball is now long gone.
10. Most Seasons Leading the League in Rushing – The incomparable Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing in eight different seasons; no one else has led the league more than four times. Brown was a punishing yet explosive runner who retired after only nine years. He averaged 5.22 yards per carry over that entire career, also an NFL record for running backs. Brown later became an accomplished actor and important activist and leader.
11. Most Consecutive Games of 100 or More Yards Rushing – Barry Sanders rushed for more than 100 yards in 14 consecutive games. No other running back since 2000 has more than nine consecutive 100 yard games. In the modern game, Sanders’ record seems very safe indeed.
Olympics
12. Most Career Gold Medals – This is another easy choice for our pantheon of all-time sports records that will never be overcome. America’s Michael Phelps won an amazing 23 gold medals over four different Olympiads. No one else has more than nine career gold medals. Phelps also holds the all-time count for total Olympic medals won with 28. Second place finisher Larisa Latylina logged 18 over her gymnastics career.
National Hockey League
13. All-Time Scoring Leader – The last of our sports records is another one that seems obvious to us. Wayne Gretzky amassed 2,857 points scored over his remarkable career. Gretzky stands almost 1,000 points ahead of second place finisher Mark Messier, who accumulated 1,887 points over his illustrious career. Naturally, Gretzky holds the career goals scored record with 894 (Gordie Howe is second at 801), and the career assists record at 1,963 (more than 700 ahead of Ron Francis in second place).
What do you think? Suggestions welcomed!