My latest post for TechGraphs outlines your options for watching and listening to the “New Year’s Six” bowls– the Peach, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, Rose, and Sugar Bowls– taking place today and tomorrow. The Peach Bowl kicks off momentarily, with the two playoff semifinal games following this evening.
Go Green!
The full post is available here.
My latest post at TechGraphs asks a simple question: why does ESPN still exist? (To find out, wait a little while and then read the comment section, wherein all the smarties will give the real answer in sure-to-be-friendly tones.)
The full post is available here.
Want to skip the silly personal story and get to the details? Click here.
Back in April, I deposited $10 into a new DraftKings account. I already knew I wasn’t good at sports gambling, as my record on free wagering games like ESPN’s Streak for the Cash attests, but I gave the money to DraftKings because it got me a year’s subscription to BaseballProspectus.com, something that ordinarily costs $30. I’d already won!
Having secured the benefit of my bargain, I decided to try to win my money back (in reality, a windfall) by playing some DraftKings baseball contests. I needed to turn my $10 into at least $20, that being the site’s minimum cash-out amount. (So risk-adverse am I, I didn’t want to try depositing an additional $10 to see if that would do the trick.)
Early results, like my undisciplined “strategy,” were mixed, but mostly negative, as you know because I did not appear on any commercials this fall holding a Publishers Clearing House check.
In August, FanGraphs began hosting something called SaberSim, a daily analysis of all baseball players driven by matchups and sabermetrics, all stated in terms of projected value based on the way DraftKings and FanDuel each award fantasy points. I decided to use the remainder of the MLB season to put SaberSim to the test. I’d strictly adhere to its optimized lineup, even if its counsel conflicted with my (demonstrably feeble) intuition.
Early results under the SaberSim test remained mixed but were far more positive than before. I soon climbed close– so close!– to that $20 mark. DraftKings’ transaction history log makes it difficult to track these things with precision, but at one point in late August I hit $19.40 (or so). I had one month of regular-season MLB games left to earn less than $1. I did not achieve my revised goal.
After reaching that high-water mark, results, while still mixed, turned decidedly negative, and I finished the season with $0.80, too little to enter another contest without depositing more money, something I have no intention of doing.
When I discovered SaberSim, I had visions of writing a fun post here on how best to use the new tool to make a little money in daily fantasy sports. Instead, all you get is this piddling tale.
Something you also get is a link to my latest post at TechGraphs, an overview of two new lawsuits filed against DraftKings and FanDuel by a person who lost money on both sites.
The full post is available here.
Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland. After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.
Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun. We are grateful to those who made it so. Bill Simmons was passionately committed to the site and proved to be an outstanding editor with a real eye for talent. Thanks to all the other writers, editors and staff who worked very hard to create content with an identifiable sensibility and consistent intelligence and quality. We also extend our thanks to Chris Connelly who stepped in to help us maintain the site these past five months as he returns to his prior role.
Despite this change, the legacy of smart long-form sports story-telling and innovative short form video content will continue, finding a home on many of our other ESPN platforms.
Certainly not the Halloween surprise anyone who has enjoyed the talented collection of writing, podcasting, and video production that site has produced since it launched in 2011 wanted to see.
The latest on Payne v. MLB, about which I previously wrote, is the subject of my most recent post at TechGraphs. The league has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, which seeks increased safety netting at ballparks. Separately, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has made public comments on the subject that suggest that changes may be coming next season.
The full post is available here.
The NFLPA is fighting back against wearable technology creep. That and more in my latest post for TechGraphs, an assemblage of the week’s top sports technology stories.
The full post is available here.
The MLB postseason begins tomorrow night, and my latest post for TechGraphs is the single-best source of information I know for details on how you can follow along using your television, computer, smartphone, or radio.
The full post is available here.
Today, Banished to the Pen hosted a remembrance of the 1988 baseball season, to which I contributed a review of the movie Bull Durham, which was released that year. The ’88 season was a big one for baseball: lights at Wrigley Field, Kirk Gibson’s famous World Series home run, and Jose Canseco becoming the first player ever to hit forty homers and steal forty bases in the same season.
The full post is available here.
iPads in baseball dugouts. Drones at football games. Gambling on gambling. All that and more in my latest post for TechGraphs, a roundup of the week’s top sports technology stories.
The full post is available here.
Hey, football is a thing that’s happening, and my latest post for TechGraphs reflects that, highlighting news stories about the NFL, tennis, baseball, and even a hint of hockey.
The full post is available here.
ALDLAND 