si Page 620 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
But No, Seriously, What The Hell Are The Lakers Doing?
On Wednesday, we took a very brief look at how the Lakers are actively sabotaging themselves. Last night, they lost 119-86 to the Jazz, who suck, and furthered some of their deliberate bad tendencies. A couple new humiliating charts came across Twitter since our first post, so why not throw it in re...
The Jets Invented A Whole New Way To Lose Last Night
One of the new jack football axioms is that you run when you win, not win when you run. It's insulation against the backwards idea that successful offenses are built around a dominant running game, and more of a guideline than a hard truth. Leave it to the Jets to stretch even benign football wisdom...
Mike Matheny Manages The Cardinals Straight Out Of The Playoffs
According to possibly apocryphal lore, Tommy Lasorda described baseball thusly:...
Giants Win The Pennant On Travis Ishikawa Walk-Off Home Run
The National League pennant has been won on a walk-off home run—and, like the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" in 1951, it was claimed by the Giants....
How The Cowboys Have Made The Most Out Of Ex-Bust Rolando McClain
Remember Rolando McClain? The star Alabama linebacker the Raiders took with their first pick in 2010, hailed as a surprisingly wise move by then-owner Al Davis? The guy who was, naturally, a huge bust because the Raiders can’t have nice things? Well, he popped up on the Cowboys this season playing a...
How Deadspin Fucked Up The Cory Gardner Story
On Wednesday, Deadspin published a story questioning the football bona fides of U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican who's running for the Colorado Senate seat currently occupied by Democrat Mark Udall. We fucked up. After the story was published, the main source we'd relied on reversed himself on...
Why And How NBA Mock Drafts Are A Sham
This post originally ran at the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective. It is reprinted here with permission....
Damn, Millennials, Pizza Hut Thinks You're Super Boring
Much of the content of this Washington Post report on the diverging fortunes of delivery pizza giants Domino's and Pizza Hut—the former is thriving, the latter not s'much—passes harmlessly overhead, as remote and incomprehensible as solar wind washing harmlessly over the Earth's magnetic field. Dom...
The NFL Coaches And Quarterbacks Who Get The Most TV Screentime
Here's a simple question: In between the very little football played in an NFL game, who gets shown on TV the most? Usually, it's the coach and quarterback—but the Wall Street Journal went through two games for every team this year and ticked off which coaches and quarterbacks get the most screentim...
Chart: Relief Pitchers Earning The Most Postseason Decisions In 50 Years
This chart from yesterday by High Heat Stats MLB shows decisions are being earned by relievers in these playoffs at the highest rate since 1964. Since the playoff sample pool has grown over time (championship series started in 1969, division series started in 1995, and wild card started in 2012), th...
Ballin'-Ass Steve Ballmer And His Dead Eyes Are Here To Frighten You
New Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is the subject of Bloomberg Businessweek's latest cover story, and oh my God, what in the hell is going on with this cover?...
Important NBA Voices Begin Agitating For A Shorter Season
The book on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reads that he is an innovator, more open to radical change than expected from somebody whose most salient job responsibility is protecting a multibillion dollar industry. And now that Silver has kicked Donald Sterling to the curb and signed a new media rights...
NPR: Ebola Might Make Chocolate Expensive (While Killing Lots Of People)
Yeesh. Lotta scary Ebola news these days. Between the situation in Africa seemingly spiraling beyond anyone's control, a botched containment job at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, and exposed people breaking quarantine to go strolling around New Jersey, presumably barfing Ebola blood on school...
Chart: 145 Years Of College Football Championships By Conference
Here's a chart from 614 analytics that displays college football national championships grouped by conference over the last century and a half. Look at all those Ivy titles! ...
The Lakers Will Play Terrible Basketball, On Purpose
Byron Scott gave an interview last week following the Lakers' first preseason game; it went largely ignored, because preseason is stupid and no one cares. But with the Lakers looking like one of the more conspicuous disasters going so far—without any plans of tanking, bear in mind—let's take a quick...
Bill Simmons Is Back
As of midnight, Bill Simmons's three-week suspension for criticizing Roger Goodell and daring ESPN to punish him is over. He returned with his NBA season preview, and a whole lot of questions about his future....
Giants Ride Their First Big Inning of the NLCS To Extra-Innings Win
The Giants offense has struggled lately. In winning Game 1 of the NLCS, they scored three runs on a single, error, and sacrifice fly. In losing Game 2, they scored four runs on a ground out, single, single, and walk. Across the two games they left 19 men on base to the Cardinals 11, unable to turn...