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The Dance-Card Model Picked 35 Of 36 At-Large Bids This Year
The bracket-predicting model developed by Jay Coleman, Mike DuMond, and Allen Lynch had another strong performance in 2014, and has now predicted 108 of 110 at-larges over the last three seasons. The only miss was N.C. State, which the model put outside of the bubble, in favor of California....
No, The Odds Of Picking A Perfect Bracket Aren't 1 In 9.2 Quintillion
Thanks to the Warren Buffett-backed Billion Dollar Bracket, more than ever before, outlets are reporting that the odds of picking a perfect bracket are "1 in 9.2 quintillion." This figure has been cited by The New York Times, USA Today, Slate, Bleacher Report, CBS, and Rick Reilly, among others, and...
This Tool Will Match You With The Perfect Minnesotan Beer
If you liked Beervis's interactive chart—and if you live in or around Minnesota—you should go check out the excellent "Beer Me, Minnesota!" local beer matcher, released yesterday by the Star Tribune. Simply adjust your taste/color/smell preferences on the five sliding scales pictured above, and the ...
How Fast Has Your NFL Team Cycled Through Coaches?
Over at the TheSportsGeeks.com, Alex Chalupka has put together a pretty telling graphic on the tenure length of each NFL team's last three coaches. The Steelers have had an impressive run, with just three coaches in the last 44 years, and at least one Super Bowl for each. The unfortunate Browns are ...
Deadspin Up All Night: Do To Me
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Have a great night....
This Model Has Predicted 73 Of 74 NCAA Tournament At-Large Bids
Part of the fun of March Madness is obsessively guessing who'll fall on either side of the bubble, but a model known as the "dance card"—which has predicted 73 out of 74 at-large bids over the last two seasons—might be spoiling the surprise....
Beyond Bunnies: 14 Other Islands Packed With Your Favorite Animals
If you've spent time on the internet, you've probably heard of Snake Island, Rabbit Island, and Cat Island, all great examples of how the size and isolation of islands can occasionally cause some wacky/horrifying ecosystems to develop. (It helps if said island was home to a secret chemical weapons f...
Was 2013 Really The Golden Age Of The Black Quarterback?
Charts excerpted from The Big Book Of Black Quarterbacks, published Feb. 6th....
Who's Your State's Distinctive Musical Artist?
Over on his blog Music Machinery, Paul Lamere has taken an interesting look at the geography of American musical tastes, based on zip code data from a quarter million U.S. music listeners who use a variety of streaming services (online music listeners might not be a perfectly representative sample, ...
When Do Umpires Mess Up Balls And Strikes Calls?
Baseball umpires are not immune to psychological biases, and it's an old adage of baseball commentating that strike zones get smaller when there are two strikes, and larger when there are three balls. In their Sloan finalist paper "What Does it Take to Call a Strike? Three Biases in Umpire Decision ...
King Cake Baby Is Back
The Pelicans—who just redesigned their primary mascot to make it less terrifying—have brought back King Cake Baby for Mardi Gras. Here's he/she/it at the Clippers game last night:...
Deadspin Up All Night: Erase Me
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Welcome to the sports doldrums, see you tomorrow....
When Should Managers Pull Their Starting Pitchers?
"A Data-driven Method for In-game Decision Making in MLB" is easily the worst title of the eight Sloan paper finalists, which is a shame, given that it's actually an interesting application of machine learning that's directly related to one of the most important aspects of baseball game management. ...
So, Which Countries Had The Worst Olympics?
After the usual agonizing about who's winning the Olympics—Do you use medal count or gold count? What about something weighted? WHAT ABOUT GDP?—Russia made things relatively easy at the end of the day, seemingly establishing itself as the consensus winner....
Has Any Player Been Screwed On Deadline Day As Badly As Danny Granger?
When Danny Granger woke up yesterday, he played for the Pacers (41-13), one of the best teams in the NBA. By the end of the day, he played for the 76ers (15-40), one of the worst. That's a drop in winning percentage of nearly 50 points. Getting traded midseason is always, in the words of Marcin Gort...
Which Winter Olympic Sport Has The Biggest Athletes?
Originally published on Mode Analytics....
Which Olympians Are Getting The Dead-Relative Sob-Story Treatment?
On Sunday we saw NBC badger Bode Miller to the point of tears over his brother's death last year, a particularly brazen example of the network turning Olympic achievement into a story of overcoming personal loss. While no other athletes have been shoved and stuffed into a prefab storyline the way Mi...
What Olympic Sport Is Your Country Most Excited About?
The data people over at Facebook have put together the map above—based on Facebook mentions—showing which Olympic sports different countries are talking about the most. Data are through the 13th; click here for a much larger version. There are tons of interesting tidbits in here, with usual caveats ...