Wednesday Links

A few interesting links that I was perusing today...

Move Over, Moneyball: Stat nerds are out! Biomechanics nerds are in! Interesting article on Slate.com that talks about the increasing availability of information, in this case video, that is creating a new avenue for fans and analysts alike. Two examples include the articles by Chris Gomez on The Hardball Times and of course Will Carroll's work as found on MLB.com on Dice-K. While there is subjective evaluation here, this is a good example of the power of the "wisdom of crowds" enabled by the forces described in the book Wikinomics - a convergence of the general trends of increasing information technology and an ever-widening communications infrastructure.

No Excuse: Why did NBC air so much evil now? An excellent short argument for why NBC's actions in airing the videos of a madman were without excuse. It seems to me that their obligation was to hand over the material to the authorities, period. But beyond that, as powerful shapers of the public environment in which we all are immersed, they are obligated to take into consideration the effect of airing such material. One would hope their ethics would lead them to decide that the material does not serve the public good and in fact is likely to have deleterious effects by glorifying the act. Sorry so heavy but the post referred to hit a nerve.

Lies, Damned Lies: The Cruelest Month. A great look at the effect of the early season weather on run scoring by Nate Silver. April is indicative but this season there are special considerations.

Going the Other Way. John Walsh at THT wrote one of those articles that leads me to say "why haven't I done this?" Anyway, some mixed results but interesting nonetheless.

Taking a Bat to Prejudice. Great tribute to Jackie Robinson by George Will. Amidst the 60th anniversary celebration there was much made of the fact that the percentage of blacks in the major leagues has fallen steadily to where it is now 8.5% (it was 30% in the mid 1970s). While I agree that this is a problem from the perspective of baseball which should be competing for the best athletes with basketball and football it doesn't seem to be the larger societal problem that some make it out to be. Yes there are issues with economic disparity that may help to bar entry related to the breakdown of the African American family, but the rise of Latin and Asian players and the lure of other sports is probably the more effective cause. As a side note the fact that players from outside the country are not exposed to a shared draft also provides incentives for teams to devote increasing resources to international scouting and player development.