Lakers Win...Super Bowl?!?

Tucked in behind game 2 of the worlds series was last night's impressive start by the young guns of the Lakeshow. Timothy Mozgov seems worthy of that Mozgov Level Cheddar (MLC), D'Angelo Russel appears to be recovering from that incident where he injected ice into his veins and Nick Young seems surprisingly OK with the fact that D'Angelo Russel ruined his life. Who would have thought that a team coached by Mike D'Antoni that features James harden for 40 minutes/game would have put up such a soft defensive effort.

With a young nucleus of talent, a sought-after coach and a strong opening game Lakers fans are scrambling to figure out what it all means. Are we legit? Started from the bottom now we here? DID WE JUST WIN THE SUPER BOWL?!?!?! That's right Los Angelinos, I too went to bed last night thinking that the Lakers may have just won the epic confrontation between AFC and NFC champions only to be hit up side the head by Julius Randle's sobering commentary.

"It's just one game. It's not the dang Super Bowl." -J. Randle

Wow. Thank you Julius for bringing us back down to Earth. The second-year player is certainly showing patience and maturity beyond his years. It must be the steadying influence of Meta World Peace. 

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

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.

#mambaout

Do You Believe in Minor Technicalities?

USA vs Russia in olympic hockey! Remember how that was a crazy important match-up 34 years ago? Tight. Well it happened again. Russia appeared to take a 3-2 lead when this goal was disallowed due to Jonathan Quick knocking the goal slightly off the PEG.  America went on to win in a shootout. In Soviet Russia goal scores you!  (proud of that one).

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

Return of the Mac?

The pseudo-tragic tale of Tracy McGrady continues! The 7-time all-star and 2-time scoring champ is undoubtedly one of the best scorers in a generation. Unfortunately his rightful place in the NBA pantheon was stolen by a litany of back and knee injuries. Perhaps the most tragic moment for Mac fans came when he was seconds away from coat-tailing it onto a Spurs championship only to have it poached by a Ray Allen trey. Well the legions Mac fans (looking at you china) can rejoice! He is making a bid as a pitcher! Mac tried out for a minor league bid and apparently was able to clock in around the mid 80s with a fastball. Reasonably decent. If he makes it on the mound his 6'8" frame would definitely be intimidating, you can also tell from the video that he is well on his way to adding all that weight that CC Sabathia lost.

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

Olympics why not?

That's right Ashley Wagner...it is bull shit. Thus far the US skating team has not been crushing it in Sochi. Apparently this is the first time in years that the US team is not expected to score any medals on the ice. Our best hope seems to lie in this ice dancing duo:

They seem up to the task. No follow up questions. At least we still got snowboarding on lock right? In Soviet Russia ice skates you.

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

Have you heard about this?

Sherminator: "I'm the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that is the result you are going to get. Don't you ever talk about me."

Andrews:  "Who was talking about you?"

Sherminator: "Crabtree. Don't you open your mouth about the best, or I'm going to shut it for you really quick. L...O...B*." 

Please note that Sherman is saying "LOB" an abbreviation for "legion of boom" a nickname for the Seattle defense. He is not saying LL Bean as commonly thought on the f-book. 

Sherman's epic manic diatribe has been the subject of endless commentary, twitter battling and punditry. If we are really want to add something meaningful from the sporting nerd side we have to break it down into two aspects:

PART 1: The Fact Check

Anytime someone comes in talking all that noise...ya gonna get a fact check. Fact in question: Richard Sherman is the best corner in the league. Quite a claim! Sherman is a fairly young, third year player. However in each of the past three seasons Sherman has intercepted the ball 4, 8 and 8 times respectively. Good for the most in the league this year, second most last year and also the most total interceptions in the NFL over the span of his career. This is also the first time that any player has had 20 picks in the first three years of their career since Ed Reed did it over a decade ago. Snap! 

Now naysayers will appropriately point out that interceptions only tell part of the story. Perhaps a better stat is passes defended, defined by the NFL as each time a defender successfully deflects a pass thrown to a player he is defending. Well Sherman has amassed 61 passes defended over his career, ranking him...you guessed it....number 1 among players over his career. 

Prior to Sherman bursting onto the scene Darrelle Revis was unequivocably considered the best corner in football, with his 2009 season one of the best statistical seasons ever. Though Revis also had an outstanding 2013, this is his first year back from ACL repair. Directly comparing the two corners this year is tough as Sherman had more talent around him and Revis is likely still regaining function in his knee. Perhaps the better comparison is a head-to-head look at their sophmore seasons:

Revis Vs. Sherman — Sophomore Seasons

	TA	REC	%CT	YDS	YAC	INT	RAT
D. Revis	84	49	58.3	510	204	5	59.1
R. Sherman	87	41	47.1	634	135	8	41.1

 TA= targets — REC= receptions allowed — %CT=percentage caught — YDS= yards allowed — YAC= yards after catch allowed — INT= interceptions — RAT= opposing QB rating when passing into his coverage

Comparing and analyzing corners is notoriously difficult as the better corners get thrown to the least. Many years the highest INTtotals are collected by players that QBs like to go after. Both players were targeted equally, Sherman picked the ball more, allowed a lower completion percentage and held QBs to lower rating. In the argument of Revis Island versus Optimus Prime (Sherman's self-nominated nickname after shutting down Megatron) it would be hard to argue against Sherman. 

Best corner in the league. Fact Check. 

Part 2: Is this tight?

Most critics of Sherman's rant cite a lack of class and an unwillingness to win with grace. Tom Brady commented that "we win with graciousness." Justin Verlander even said that Sherman would get a fastball "high and tight." (YAY Detroit matters!). And its hard to argue with that sentiment. Any time a player is brash and arrogant in victory it definitely does not look classy. (Maybe brady is still mad though.)

But "is it classy?" is a different question from "is it tight?" Sherman's rant though decidedly not classy is mos def tight. Its tight in the way that this is tight and this is tight. 99.9/100 post game are completely uninteresting: We gave 110%, we had a good game plan, gotta thank my teammates, much respect to [opponents]. DONT CARE! If this is anything it is definitely interesting. It is the best corner in the game (see above) throwing it in your face like an aggressive WWF-style hype man and it is awesome. The major caveat here is that if you are a Niner's fan then you had to suffer through a game with rough officiating, where your probowl linebacker has a career threatening injury...only to have Sherman take away your trip to the Superbowl and then throw it in your face. So yah you probably hate him then. Sucks.

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