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      Who is the most productive NHL player?

      December 7, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with the fine folks at On Goal Analysis to provide our readers with some good NHL content this season. Here’s the intro to a recent post by Michael Pryor:

      What is the measure of a hockey skater’s contribution to his team? Plenty of statistics define goaltenders and their contributions. But what about the players who skate in front of them? While highly knowledgeable Hockey fans will say such enlightened comments as ‘it depends on their position and how they play it,’ many others will tell you it’s how many points they rack up.

      At On Goal Analysis, we have a tradition of looking at things with a different twist. While we like to key on points, sometimes they are misleading because theoretically speaking the leading point scorer in the NHL still might play on a team that does not even make the Playoffs. And yet, maybe points themselves just need a slightly different emphasis to make their true significance understood.

      That’s why we are recommending for your consideration Points Per Shift – PPS – as a new statistic to use when analyzing who is the most productive player on the ice. PPS analyzes how many Points Per Game (PPG) each player provides divided by the average number of shifts he takes in order to tell you what he brings to the Great Game each and every time he goes over the boards. It also makes Shifts Per Game (SPG) more relevant to the average fan of the game.

      Read the rest after the jump…


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NHL

      SNL taking heat over Tiger Woods skit

      December 7, 2009 /

      SNL is taking a bit of heat this week for its sketch of Tiger Woods (impersonated by Kenan Thompson) and his wife Elin (played by host Blake Lively) at a press conference in which he keeps getting beat up (presumably) by his wife.

      Here’s the skit:

      The problem that some are having with the skit is that the underlying theme is about domestic violence and the musical guest that night was Rihanna, who has been a victim of domestic violence herself.

      And apparently, some didn’t even find the skit funny in general. From Popwatch.com:

      It wasn’t just unfunny, though: It was also incredibly tone-deaf. Intimate partner violence isn’t a ripe source of material in the first place, but with Rihanna as the musical star the sketch seemed even more poorly thought out. The whole joke was that Tiger Woods was lying about his wife assaulting him, with every imaginable cliché and crummy lie we’ve seen in a hundred Lifetime movies about domestic violence. It was lazy.

      Could there have been a funny bit here? Definitely. But this hypothetical funny take would need to present an actual point of view, a unique thought, or some sharp commentary. This bit suffered from both an ill-conceived problem (Tiger Woods covering up his wife assaulting him) and a total lack of transformation or change. It was a padded stand-up bit, not a fully realized sketch, which makes it really hard to forgive the poor taste of the subject matter.

      Not to sound insensitive, but I laughed several times throughout the skit. That doesn’t mean I think domestic violence is funny, because I don’t. But Woods’ incident and Rihanna’s situation are two different things and while the timing was bad, there are some comedic elements to Tiger’s ordeal, which SNL portrayed.

      Is it a double standard? Yeah. But I don’t think SNL went over the line, which some are suggesting.

      Golf, Humor, Video

      What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Version 5.0)

      December 7, 2009 /

      Near the end of the Texas/Nebraska game, when it looked like the Cornhuskers might pull the upset, Brent Musbuger said repeatedly that a Texas loss would result in “BCS chaos.” But don’t we already have chaos? We have five undefeated teams — Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, TCU and Boise State — and only two get to play for a national title. Of course, BCS apologists think that the system got it right. They dismiss TCU and Boise State because they aren’t from power conferences, and they’re hoping that Cincy loses to Florida in the Sugar Bowl so that they can dismiss the Big East champs as well.

      Based on the various polls that are out there, 90% of the public want to see some sort of a playoff in college football. Over the last few weeks, I have been outlining my proposed eight-team playoff. Here are my assumptions:

      1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS. I’d rather do a straight #1-#8 seeding based on the rankings, but in order for a playoff to get implemented the big conferences would need some preferential treatment. That’s just the way it is and we all know it.

      2. If a conference champ is ranked lower than #15 in the rankings, they give up their automatic bid and it becomes an at-large bid. (This rule is to ensure that the regular season keeps its meaning and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

      3. If a conference champ is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

      4. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, but they are fine for now. If an at-large team has a better BCS ranking than a conference champion, they will get a higher seed.

      5. There will be three rounds of playoffs. The first round will be held at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and the final will rotate amongst the four BCS cities (Miami, Pasadena, Tempe and New Orleans), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

      Now that the regular season and conference championship games are over, how would a playoff shake out this year?

      Continue reading »

      College Football

      Charles Pierce skewers The Book of Basketball

      December 7, 2009 /

      I read Charles Pierce’s rant review last week, raised my eyebrows, read a little more of The Book of Basketball [see my review here] and I now have something to say about Pierce’s take on Simmons’ book.

      Here is the crux of Pierce’s problem with the 700-page opus:

      2.) I Am The Cosmos: Not my line. The late Molly Ivins used it in her epochal takedown of the egregious Camille Paglia. But it applies just as well here. Skip any passage having to do with Bill’s gambling, Bill’s taste in movies, Bill’s friends, and Bill’s ongoing wonderment that there are bars in this great land in which women take off their clothes for money. Also, lose most of the footnotes. You’re not the cosmos, and you’re not David Foster Wallace, either.

      In the interest of full disclosure, I occasionally post about Simmons and it’s not always flattering. Is he self-absorbed? Of course, but that’s the way his readers like it. They want to hear the stories about his friends, and their trips to Vegas, or strip clubs, or strip clubs in Vegas. These anecdotes make up a solid 20% of his columns at the Worldwide Leader. If he wrote a book and didn’t talk about “House” or his theory about how an exotic dancer picks her stage name, then he’d piss off his loyal following and his book wouldn’t be a New York Times bestseller. The bottom line is that just because Pierce doesn’t think that Simmons is the cosmos, it doesn’t mean that no one else does.

      Pierce continues…

      Continue reading »

      NBA

      Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen to turn pro

      December 7, 2009 /

      ESPN.com reports that Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen has decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

      “After the season, in talking to my parents and obviously Coach Weis, I just feel it’s the right time,” Clausen told ESPN.com on Monday before a scheduled 2 p.m. ET news conference in South Bend. “Coach Weis told me whether he was going to be here or not be here, it was time for me to go. He thought I’ve improved so much since I came to Notre Dame. So, I’m taking his advice, and I’m going to head out.”

      “It’ll probably be just like going from high school to college, but a lot faster than college is. Obviously, being under Coach Weis, being in a pro-style offense, knowing the terminologies, will help me. But the biggest thing will probably be just getting in the playbook and mentally preparing myself to do everything I can to get on the field as quick as I can and help whichever team I go to win.”

      Mel Kiper has Clausen rated as the top quarterback on his big board and the fourth best prospect overall.

      He’ll unfairly be compared to Brady Quinn because they played in the same offense at Notre Dame, but at least in my opinion, Clausen is a more polished prospect now than Quinn was when he entered the draft. In terms of raw talent and upside, Clausen beats Quinn but that obviously doesn’t mean that he’ll be a better pro.

      With Sam Bradford, Jake Locker, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow set to join Clausen in April, the 2010 NFL Draft will have plenty of intrigue surrounding the quarterback class.

      College Football, NFL, NFL Draft

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