Archive for July 23rd, 2008

This guy has it figured out. Great numbers, insightful commentary–great, great name.  Dude is smart.

This is a former baseball stats guy who has moved to politics. And by baseball stats, I mean Baseball Prospectus, the guys who with the help of Lawrence’s own Bill James and Billy Beane (and by help I mean it was all James idea and Beane was the first to implement it.) have completely changed the way people think about baseball, at least those of us who think about baseball.

fivethirtyeight.com

I thought this was an interesting example of the further weakening US economy.

Deadspin reports that many NBA players are returning to Europe. It has long been assumed that the best talent will continue to come to the US based on the NBA being the premiere league in the world. Of course, economics could change that.

Europe has always been a viable option for marginal NBA players, many college stars have had great careers there, and the locals can play some serious ball.  Could this economic downturn be some sort of tipping point which allows some European leagues to close the gap?

Also, high school senior Brandon Jennings, a consensus top five senior in the 2008 class will being playing in Rome next year. There was a new rule put in place by the NBA last year that dictates a player must wait one year after his class graduates before he can enter the NBA draft. Hear we see the market doing what it does. Instead of playing at the University of Arizona, kid heads to Rome. Maybe he can buy some fat glasses and lose them at the bottom of the Lake of the Ozarks.

For fun, check this out.