regressing Page 29 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
How The Eagles' "Predator" Defense Saved Philadelphia's Season
First Chip Kelly was going to outrun the NFL. Then, after a 1-3 start, Chip Kelly was overwhelmed by the NFL. Now, with the Eagles a win away from being in the playoffs in Kelly's first season as coach, Kelly is a genius again. Funny how that works. ...
Chart: The Average Weight Of NFL Rookies, By Position And Year
While football in the mid-80s could be pretty brutally violent, it's worth remembering that these players were, typically, a lot smaller than the NFL behemoths we're so used to today. The chart above—pulled from an interactive visualization created by Reddit user abresler—shows the average weight of...
NFL Betting Lines, Visualized: Week 17
Below is your betting info for the final week of the NFL regular season. Aaron Rodgers status was settled a bit early this week, so all 16 games are included....
Which Premier League Teams Score (And Concede) The Most Gift Goals?
Not all goals are created equally. In fact, some aren't created at all, but offered up by the defense like a teriyaki sample plate. Here's a quick look at who's benefited (and been harmed) most by this sort of goal. ...
A Decade After <em>Moneyball</em>, Have The A's Found A New Market Inefficiency?
Originally published on Baseball Prospectus....
The Amazing MLB Payroll Graphic Gets An Update
Now that the winter meetings are over, Phil Roth has updated his excellent interactive payroll tool, which lets you explore the salary commitments of every MLB team from 1998 through 2024. That purple block you see above is $240 million worth of Robinson Cano, yours for just 10 flat payments of $24 ...
Is Carmelo Secretly A Great Passer? (No.)
There was a stat making its way around basketball twitter yesterday afternoon that cited SportVU data showing that Carmelo Anthony actually racks up 6.8 assist opportunities per game. Compared with his 2.8 assists per game average, this seems like an encouraging number! Except, it isn't really. ...
Study: Live Animal Mascots Are Worth Millions To College Football
At its core, the mascot is about building a community around a team, or at least insofar as that community drives merchandise revenue. As we saw yesterday, some mascots do this better than others. And some of the most beloved also seem to be the most valuable. ...
How A Boxer Could Use PEDs Right In The Middle Of A Fight
When someone mentions performance-enhancing drugs, what comes to mind? For me, it's an image of two 'roided out home run hitters embracing on a baseball field. But as Adrien Broner might have discovered on Saturday night, the world of PEDs—which we traditionally associate with anabolic steroids and ...
NFL Betting Lines, Visualized: Week 16 (Late Edition)
Below is updated betting information for the Week 16 NFL games (you can see the early-week edition here). Spread movement and money lines are now included; major books still haven't opened yet for Steelers-Packers, awaiting a decision on Aaron Rodgers....
Do Native American Mascots Actually Cost Their Teams Money?
The "face of the franchise" debate in sports is always a curious one, because no matter how popular or talented a player might be, his face is not the one on the team's uniforms or merchandise. That is reserved for the mascot—the unnamed, disembodied heads adorning uniforms, as well as the Philly P...
Chart: Who Has The Hardest World Cup Draw?
With the world cup just six months away, The Guardian has put together a great set of charts comparing the relative schedules of each qualifying team, based on their opponents' FIFA rankings. As you can see above, by this measure the U.S. has the third-hardest schedule, just behind Ghana and Austral...
NFL Betting Lines, Visualized: Week 16 (Early Edition)
Here is your early betting info for Week 16 NFL; we'll update on Thursday with money lines and spread movements for these these game, and add info for Steelers-Packers, which hasn't opened yet....
Eli Manning Makes A Late Push For The Interception Record Books
When we last checked in on Eli Manning's quest for the single-season interception record, the Giants QB had thrown 17 interceptions through 10 games, but was tapering off and seemed in danger of losing the league lead to Geno Smith. We wrote at the time that they'd need a Tarkenton-level meltdown to...
Which NBA Coaches Are Best At Designing Plays During Timeouts?
There is something impossibly satisfying about watching a team come out of a timeout and run an ornately designed play that springs someone for a wide-open look or an easy layup. A gorgeous play there, a nonsense turnover here, the very best reputations might be well won over years, but overall, our...
The Rise Of Josh Gordon: The Browns' New Superstar Receiver
Buried, deep within the turd that is the 2013 Browns' offense, there is one bright, shining spot. (Do turds have bright spots? Whatever.) Josh Gordon, the only player taken in the second round of the 2012 supplemental draft, has become one of the best receivers in the NFL. ...
GSP Is Being Honest; It's The Best Thing That Could Happen To Fighting
So UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is disappearing from the fight game for an indefinite and unspecified period of time, relinquishing his title and taking time to rest from a career that's seen him spend more time fighting in the UFC than anyone else ever has. Whether or not he ever ret...
NFL Betting Lines, Visualized: Week 15 (Late Edition)
Below is updated betting information for the Week 15 NFL games (you can see the early-week edition here). Spread movement and money lines are now included; major books haven't opened yet on Packers-Cowboys, awaiting a decision on Aaron Rodgers....
Does More Ball Movement Help An NBA Offense, Or Just Waste Time?
What counts as good NBA ball movement? The "seven seconds or less" theory developed by Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns contends that teams are more efficient earlier in the shot clock (they are), and that the best strategy is, consequently, to get a shot off quickly with relatively few touches on the b...
Which Experts Predicted A Florida St.-Auburn BCS Title Game?
Originally published on Pundit Tracker....