Darren Rovell & the Analytic Hot Take

This past Monday Aroldis Chapman hurled a heater at 105.1 mph, tied for the fastest pitch ever recorded by Statcast. To help you contextualize just how mind-blowing and un-hitable a heater that is, analytics savant Darren Rovell offers this hot take:

Oh man! I get it now. As usual I couldn't say it any better than Curt Schilling:

True numbers indeed! The speed limit around Yankee Stadium is 25 MPH, meaning that a driver racing through at 105 MPH would certainly be in the range of the maximum $600 fine, reckless driving penalties and possible jail time.  Although Chapman would probably take that any day compared to the 30 day suspension he served for domestic abuse which cost him $1,856,557. 

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Fundamentally Sound Athletic Professional Moves on to Real Career as Actuary

Happy trails to the Big Fundamental and his all-time great NBA career. As much as us sporting nerds like to make fun of him for having the least flava of any NBA star (see top 10 highlight reel which features only 2 different types of plays), its hard not to respect a man that made all NBA and all defensive team honors in each of his first 13 seasons (only player ever). No one seemed to nail Duncan quite as well as the satire pros @ The Onion...some of their best titles below:

"Tim Duncan Calls Out Geometric Angle Needed To Make Bank Shot" 
"Tim Duncan Hams It Up For Crowd By Arching Left Eyebrow Slightly" 
"Tim Duncan Announces Shoe Deal With Florsheim" 
"Tim Duncan Urges Teammates To Be Patient With Frequent Flyer Miles" 
"Tim Duncan Forwards Story About Particle Accelerator To Spurs Teammates" 
"Tim Duncan Argues Theory Of Infinite Divisibility Prevents Any Team From Winning Championship" 
"Citing Battle Of Agincourt, Tim Duncan Urges Lakers Not To Get Too Discouraged By Game 1 Loss" 
"Tim Duncan Urges All-Stars To Use Inside Voice During Game" 
"Tim Duncan Busy At San Antonio Zoning Office Planning Spurs Championship Parade Route" 
"Tim Duncan Reports 5th Straight Successful New Year's Resolution" 
"Tim Duncan: An NBA Legend Rides Into The Sunset At A Safe And Prudent Speed"

Maybe my pipe dream of the Spurs finally being garbage is on the horizon after TD's locker room presence evaporates. Maybe Popovic will be exposed as nothing more than Mike Brown's puppet. Of course, even if San Antonio implodes Pop will always have his looks to fall back on.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

The Ballooning Cap & the Advent of the Crabbe Ratio

With the suddenly capacious salary cap sporting nerds everywhere are scrambling to recalibrate their meaning of "value." This is our new world: Mathew Dellavedova (owner of the sharpest finger nails since Rip Hamilton) gets a $38 million deal, and Harrison Barnes (who just shot his team out of a championship) gets a $94 million maximum deal. If John Wall was salty about getting the same money as Reggie Jackson, how do you think he feels about pulling down Mozgov-level cheddar (MLC)? Perhaps admist the noise and haste you didn't notice that Allen Crabbe (seen above guarding Ashton Kutcher) was able lock down a 4-year $75 million offer sheet. Which naturally prompts the question: who the hell is Allen Crabbe ? If you are wondering the same thing, you are not alone: a review of the google trends data suggests that people have been googling Allen Crabbe at a peak rate over the last 24 hours (with a 3-year high interest score). In light of this phenomenon we here at the sporting nerd are rolling out a new analytics metric: (total dollars of contract)/(number of google searches for "who is person x") = the Crabbe Ratio. With this robust statistical tool at your disposal the current contract market is far more palatable. For example, one might wonder why competent veteran Mike Conley is making $30 million a year in a max $150 million deal, however when normalized by the Crabbe Ratio you will see that the annual salary is something closer to $35,000.

Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless.