The Boxscore Geeks Show (Sports)

It's been a while since Dave Berri has been in studio, so we catch up on:

The National Pro Fastpitch draft.

The NFL draft.

NCAA "cheating" by paying its athletes.

The NBA playoffs.

Tune in!

Direct download: qa_db7.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 3:05pm EDT

Jessica Luther returns to talk her book, Larry Nassar, coverage of women's sports, and more! Tune in!

Direct download: bsg-184.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 10:55am EDT

Welcome to a hopefully weekly segment! We'll talk with Dave Berri(@wagesofwins) about his weekly article at Forbes. This week's topic: WNBA and how they underpay their players.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidberri/2017/09/20/there-is-a-growing-gender-wage-gap-in-professional-basketball

Direct download: db_qa_1.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 10:00am EDT

Special Guest Jessica Luther discusses her upcoming book: "Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape", Greg Hardy, and womens sports.

Full notes at boxscoregeeks.com

Direct download: bsg-111.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 12:03pm EDT

Special guests:
Molly Cosby - Chief Editor and Writer, http://www.theladiesleague.org/ (https://twitter.com/Molly_TX)

Full notes at boxscoregeeks.com

Direct download: bsg-105.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 8:48pm EDT

We talk another poorly formed "advanced stat", some loopholes in the NBA CBA, why the NFL doesn't get marketing, and why shooting efficiency is hard to get.


Show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-meaningless-charts

Direct download: bsg-88.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 1:51pm EDT

Dre and Brian have a free-for-all show that's mostly about the recently concluded TwitchCon 2015, Daily Fantasy, and speculation about the direction of sports in online media, but it also includes an exciting tease for upcoming boxscoregeeks.com site upgrades.

Full show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-filler

Direct download: bsg-86.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 7:49am EDT

As the NBA off-season continues, American billionaires and elected officials continue to misbehave.

Direct download: bsg-85.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 5:50am EDT

Dre, Patrick, and Brian explore alternate universe scenarios for NBA history, what if things happened differently for Shaq, Kobe, Sabonis, and Schmidt?

Full show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-what-if

 

Watch us live Mondays at 9:30pm EST at http://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Direct download: bsg-82.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:23am EDT

Dre and Brian go over the past week's NBA transactions (much to Dre's chagrin), and also the recently concluded The International 5 and why ESPN has pivoted so quickly on competitive gaming.

Watch us live every Monday at 9:30pm EST at twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Full show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-we-ignore-the-obvious-at-our-peril/

Direct download: bsg-80.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 8:29am EDT

Dre, Patrick, and Brian are back for more on racism and sexism in pro sports, and the ongoing NBA off-season. Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Rhonda Rousey, and more.

Find full show notes at http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-rowdy-racism


Watch us live every Monday at 9:30pm EST at http://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Direct download: bsg-79.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 6:41am EDT

Dre, Patrick, and Brian return for more on the inner workings of NBA stadium construction, Ty Lawson going to Houston, and Lebron James' acting talent!

Full notes here

Watch our live shows 9:30pm EST on Mondays at http://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Direct download: bsg-77.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:28am EDT

Professor Jonathan Weiler, Director of Undergraduate Studies of Global Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, joins Dre and Patrick to discuss the Deandre Jordan free agency saga and women's sports.

Full show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-no-you-couldn-t-hit-serena-william-s-130-mile-an-hour-serve

Watch our show live Monday's at 9:30pm EST at - http://www.twitch.tv/nerdnumbers

Direct download: bsg-76.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 9:53pm EDT

The geeks are back to talk the NBA playoffs. The Clippers collapsed, the Bulls got buried, and no, MJ couldn't take LeBron in a game of one on one. Tune in!

Full show notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-the-amazing-josh-smith

Direct download: bsg-69.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:36am EDT

Brian and Dre are back to talk the playoffs, Steph Curry's MVP, and Blake Griffin's assists.


See http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-curry-griffin-and-amazing-seasons for complete notes.

Direct download: bsg-67.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:10am EDT

The Playoffs, the MVPs, preseason bets, and a ton of tangents!

Join Dre, Patrick, and Brian on another #BSGShow

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-the-worst-preseason-bet

Direct download: bsg-64.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 7:08am EDT

We talk Dikembe Mutombo getting his much deserved first ballot, Wisconsin's heartbreaking loss, and rebounding biases.

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-mutombo-and-rebounds

Direct download: bsg-63.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:45am EDT

Jonathan Weiler of the ESPN Watch returns to talk the NCAA, paying players to play, and the cognitive dissonance of being a fan.

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-special-guest-jonathan-weiler

Direct download: bsg-62.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

Special guest Layne Vashro hops on the show to talk about how to model draft prospects for the NBA.

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-special-guest-layne-vashro

Direct download: bsg-60.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 2:56am EDT

Westbrook is a star? DeAndre Jordan is an MVP? Phoenix is done? Find out our thoughts on the Boxscore Geeks show!

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-nailed-it-or-not-mvp-edition

Direct download: bsg-59.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:29am EDT

Some brief thoughts on the future of analytics. How do teams build contenders, and do you really need draft picks? Derrick Rose is out again, and what it means for the Bulls. Tune in for another action packed Boxscore Geeks show!

Full notes here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-testing-your-team

Direct download: bsg-58.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 2:06am EDT

During the All-Star break, we're baffled by a lot of things. Kevin Durant hates the media, Charles Barkley hates analytics, and Melo hates efficiency. Tune in!

See http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-what-the-f for complete show notes.

Direct download: bsg-56.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 4:01am EDT

This week's show is all about that All-Star game!

Checkout http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-all-the-stars for full show notes.

Direct download: bsg-53.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 1:42pm EDT

We talk implicit racism, why Jimmy Butler is a Bull actually worthy of the MVP, and who "won" the Dion Waiters trade.

Full notes available here - http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-implicit-biases-and-dion-waiters

Direct download: bsg-50.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 5:18am EDT

We give our thoughts on the Rajon Rondo trade. We get to follow up on Josh Smith's progress in Houston. Finally, Patrick checks in on his NBA bets.

See complete show notes here: http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-the-jack-eight-of-the-nba

Direct download: bsg-49.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 1:37am EDT

This Week's Show

Kobe vs. MJ, Superman vs. Batman, and how is this year's rookie crop looking?

Hosts

This Week's Poll

Show Notes

Last Week's Show

On last week's show, we discussed some issues with race in the United States. I find, in general, that simple statements such as "the U.S still has racial problems." or "Videogames are sexist." are not that controversial. But, they're often met with a lot of pushback. As with any large-scale issue, the specifics and possible solutions are complex. The history and policies (I mention drug policies at one point) have lots of minutiae. However, the second does not invalidate the first. And, unfortunately, I see all too frequently that people assume it does.

Following up on my Ferguson comments last week, Kristi Harrison at Cracked had a fantastic post that reminds us: they rioted when Joe Paterno was fired!

Also, for more depressing posts related to racism, Cracked had just posted one titled: "Five Studies that Prove Racism is Still Way Worse than we Think."

New Show

I'll be migrating back to "Nerd Numbers", so I can focus more on audio/visual development. I'm excited about podcasting/videocasting and decided that this was the best direction for that. I'll still be collaborating with the Boxscore Geeks, but I also have some other plans in the pipe.

Also, for what it's worth, it's hard to remove the overlap at times between sports and social issues.

Kobe vs. Michael

Kobe Bryant will soon pass Michael Jordan as third on the all-time NBA scoring list.

This is, of course, weeks after he became the all-time leader in missed shots.

The graphic we discussed on the show, you can find the jSFiddle here.

 

At some point, I may start handing out the "Kevin Garnett Award", which goes to the strongest player with the weakest cast. Anthony Davis seems like a lock this season.

Batman vs. Superman

I wrote about Batman vs. Superman this week. To anyone on Batman's side, I bet you're Wesley Crusher fans aren't you?

I do feel this fight does fit the sports narrative perfectly. People want to believe in heart, wanting it more, etc. They'll ignore things like the fact that Carmelo Anthony is just not anywhere near as good as LeBron.

This year's Rookie Crop

Patrick examined this year's rookie crop. It's worth noting this year's "best" rookie is Jabari Parker. It's also worth noting we didn't like him in our draft previews.

It's hard to find rookies that play lots of minutes and star level quickly. Essentially, it's highly unlikely a rookie will make an immediate impact.

Shout Outs

Our first shoutout is a rerun because Brian's mic was muted last week!

Dan Stryker (dan-stryker.com) is a talented illustrator and designer. He's also a fan of the show that demands more shout outs from Brian! Ironically, Brian's mic cuts out for most of it...

@shanley gets my shoutout. She gave a fantastic interview for the MIT Tech Review. Luckily, she is hosting this herself now. Please use the Model-View-Culture link, not the MIT one. You can also purchase a collection MVC's essays called "Your Startup is broken: Inside the toxic heart of tech culture. Collected essays by Shanley"

Also, reminder, the "rude or arrogant" argument people often use does little for me. Especially in fields like tech and sports where we lionize jerks regularly.

Direct download: bsg-46.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

This Week's Show

All of the Geeks are back to talk NBA previews and the GM survey. Apologies but Dre is in a room that echos a bit. To top it off, his internet connection is rough!

Hosts

This Week's Poll

Show Notes

Predictions

Check out Arturo's regular season predictions. Of course, injuries and roster changes have already impacted some. Still, fun to see just what we were thinking. My caveat as always is minutes are hard to predict.

The Lakers

It's fair to say our Lakers' projection is already shot, thanks to the loss of Nash. It's worth noting that Byron Scott's hate of threes is opposite of his style when he was winning as a player with the Lakers.

Taking threes has been a key part of our two most recent title runs. The Lakers are taking another route.

Henry Abbott had a story on Kobe hurting the Lakers' rebuilding efforts. I do think the story is a bit misleading. The Lakers had been doing well getting top free agents, but health and vetoes have gotten in the way.

Reminder, Abbott has been bashing the myth of "Kobe Clutch" for years.

It's also worth noting recent CBA changes have hurt the Lakers' edge in negotiating for big names as they can't offer as much money.

Bad news for the NBA, despite their new TV deal, their ratings have declined as small markets have improved.

The Spurs

The Spurs could win 60 wins in their sleep. Of course, Popovich doesn't care about convention, so who knows?

The Cavaliers

We think the win total for them might be low. Of course, it's hard to know about injuries to Love, Irving, and Varejao. Also, the Cavs may rest their stars to ensure a long playoff run.

The Warriors

Can Kerr cure Klay Thompson's love of the midrange shot? Will Curry be able to play 2800 minutes again? Will the Warriors stop putting Barnes in the post? We'll have to see!

The Bulls

History doesn't side with Rose coming back full strength. Noah is amazing, but his history doesn't suggest he'll be full strength. Jimmy Butler's already out too. Health will be huge for this team.

The Wolves

Patrick says they'll walk to thirty wins if Flip the GM doesn't trade away all their good pieces.

The NBA GM Survey

The NBA GM survey is back!

Some great questions including how Anthony Davis is a franchise player but not the best PF in the league! Tune in to hear our thoughts.

Here is a great graphic of Anthony Davis' blocks in his first game this season.

Also, Anthony Davis is the frontrunner for our "Kevin Garnett Award", which goes to the top player stuck on a bad team.

Also, the famous "Lanky White Guy" question was absent this year.

Shout Outs

Thanks to Ben Gulker(@brgulker) and E.J. Fischer(@glorioushubris) for helping us finish our previews.

Thanks to Dave Berri(@wagesofwins) for general help this preseason.

Thanks to Bill James for a great article being skeptical of some advanced models.

I'll leave you with this:

"There is absolutely zero chance that Cleveland loses that game tomorrow" - Arturo on the Cleveland home opener.
Direct download: bsg-41.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 11:41am EDT

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