A quiet week around here, and a quiet week in the world of sports technology. Still, I’ve highlighted the least uninteresting sports technology news stories from the past seven days in my latest post at TechGraphs, including updates on hoverboards and the World Cup.
The full post is available here.
What do the College World Series, the U.S Open golf tournament, marijuana, and Derek Jeter have in common? All of them appear in my latest post at TechGraphs, a roundup of the week’s top sports technology stories.
The full post is available here.
Back in February, before the 2015 MLB season started, I wrote that the projected-to-be-terrible Philadelphia Phillies should just give up and put themselves out to pasture. They did not immediately heed my advice. Nearly four months later, the team found itself with a 22-44 record, the worst in all of baseball. Cue the terminal sequence: Continue reading
According to press reports, front-office personnel of the St. Louis Cardinals used a guessed password to gain access to a private database of player information held by the Houston Astros. Over at ESPN, legal analyst Lester Munson makes the startling claim that this may not be a crime . . . . This is just wrong. … Read More
(via The Volokh Conspiracy)
In my latest post at Banished to the Pen, I attempt to visualize in graphic fashion the effectiveness of all thirty Major League Baseball teams at converting baserunners into runs and, having done so, speculate only a little bit wildly about the reasons why two of those thirty teams– the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants– are not scoring as many runs as they probably should be given their large number of opportunities to do so (i.e., baserunners).
The full post is available here.
Last night might have been the second-best night in Vanderbilt baseball history, surpassed only by the evening nearly one year ago when they won their first national championship. On the fourth birthday of Grantland.com, a sporting internet website named for VU’s second baseball coach, the Commodores completed their super regional sweep of Illinois and secured a spot in the 2015 College World Series.
Soon after the game ended, three Vandy starters– Dansby Swanson, Carson Fulmer, and Walker Buehler– were selected in the first round of the MLB amateur draft, with Swanson as the first overall pick.
As they make their way to Omaha, here’s hoping this team has a few more good nights left in the tank.
________________________________________________________________
Previously
Vanderbilt wins the College World Series
Our horse racing coverage has been derelict this year, which is inexcusable, particularly in light of American Pharoah’s chance to score a historic Triple Crown win tomorrow night at Belmont Park. To make it up to you, the very least I could do is tell you when and how you can watch (or listen to!) the Belmont Stakes, which runs Saturday night at about 6:50 pm, and the very least is what I have done.
For only the barest of bones Belmont Stakes preview, gallop, don’t trot, over to my post at TechGraphs.
Chicago Blackhawks fans who are lucky enough to snag tickets for the Stanley Cup Finals at the Amalie Arena in Tampa will be barred from wearing team apparel if their seats are in exclusive club seating areas.
The policy, along with another restricting ticket purchases to credit cards associated with Florida zip codes, is raising hackles among Blackhawks fans. The ban on team apparel is also raising First Amendment issues, according to Florida International University law professor Howard Wasserman, who spoke with the Chicago Tribune.
Amalie Stadium is publicly owned and the First Amendment would apply to its actions, Wasserman said. He sees a potential problem if the ban on Blackhawks gear applied throughout the stadium.
He notes that the ban only applies to certain sections, however. “While troubling (and stupid),” he told the Tribune in an email, “if that involves only a relatively small portion of the arena and only a relatively small part of the seats, it may be permissible. Certainly more so than a blanket ban on anyone wearing Blackhawks gear.”
(via ABA Journal)
The Detroit Tigers shot out to a hot start in 2015, but things have not been too good for Detroit since then. They’ve won just five of their last thirteen series. The team’s active six-game losing streak is its longest in four seasons.
The title of this year’s serial Tigers feature at this site, Window Shopping, comes from the common theme of Detroit season previews that, with respect to a World Series championship, the team was trying to keep open its “window of opportunity,” assuming that proverbial window had not already slammed shut under the weight of expensive long-term contracts, aging players, and perceived defensive burdens.
After the last month and a half, though, it is as if these window shoppers, gazing upon the Commissioner’s Trophy in a fancy Harrod’s storefront display (did we fight the Revolution for nothing??), reached into their back pockets in consideration of making the eventual purchase, only to find they suddenly had no money, no credit cards, no traveler’s checks, nothing. They’ve been robbed.
The Tigers are in a tailspin, and it isn’t exactly anyone else’s fault. Their recent struggles have come in games against teams largely regarded as mediocre or worse, including the Athletics, Angels, and Brewers. What’s happening?
After starting the season with an 11-2 record, the Tigers have gone 17-24, and their performance somehow has felt even worse. By my count, since April 21, the date they entered with that 11-2 mark, Detroit has a -19 run differential. Only two other American League teams– the White Sox and Red Sox– have worse run differentials during that period, and only one AL team, Toronto (187), has allowed more runs over that span than Detroit’s 185. Of course, the Blue Jays also scored 213 runs in those games, a number that dwarfs the Tigers’ 166 and is the most in the league. On the other hand, just seven AL teams have scored fewer than 166 runs since April 21, and two of them, Kansas City and Tampa Bay, still maintained positive run differentials. (Both Sox teams, along with Seattle, Baltimore, and Oakland round out this low-scoring group.) In terms of offense and defense (the fundamental terms of competitive team sports), it’s hard to be worse than Detroit right now.
Offense fueled the Tigers’ strong start, and its disappearance has triggered their decline. They averaged 5.38 runs per game through April 20. Since then, though, they’ve scored just 4.05 runs per game, a drop of more than a run and a third. Omit a blowout 13-1 win against the Twins on May 14, and that per-game scoring average falls to 3.83. No bueno. Continue reading
Summer wedding season is right around the corner, if it isn’t here already, and to kick it off, our own bdoyk has an article in Elle this week entitled “A Single Girl’s Guide to Surviving Wedding Season in 9 Easy Steps.” Note step five: “Commit to having a great time on the dance floor.” By way of saluting bdoyk on her article and assisting everyone in carrying out step five this summer, wherever and however attached you may be, this week’s Jam is offered, and it’s sure to have you making the right moves:
ALDLAND 