DOCSLIB.ORG

The Dilemma of Choosing Talent: Michael Jordans Are Hard to Find Peter A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Dilemma of Choosing Talent: Michael Jordans Are Hard to Find Peter A This article was downloaded by: [Central Michigan University] On: 23 October 2009 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 910282858] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Applied Economics Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713684000 The dilemma of choosing talent: Michael Jordans are hard to find Peter A. Groothuis a; James Richard Hill b; Timothy Perri c a 3093 Raley Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA b 317 Sloan Hall, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859, USA c 3092 Raley Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA First Published:November2009 To cite this Article Groothuis, Peter A., Hill, James Richard and Perri, Timothy(2009)'The dilemma of choosing talent: Michael Jordans are hard to find',Applied Economics,41:25,3193 — 3198 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/00036840701564459 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00036840701564459 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Applied Economics, 2009, 41, 3193–3198 The dilemma of choosing talent: Michael Jordans are hard to find Peter A. Groothuisa, James Richard Hillb,* and Timothy Perric a3093 Raley Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA b317 Sloan Hall, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859, USA c3092 Raley Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA This article explores the dilemma of choosing talent using NBA data from 1987 to 2003. We find there is much uncertainty in selecting talent. If superstars are found, they are usually identified early. However, more false positives exist than correct decisions with high draft picks. Our results suggest the dilemma of choosing talent is not so much a winner’s curse but more like a purchase of a lottery ticket. Most times you lose, but, if you are going to win, you must buy a ticket. I. Introduction movie studios pursue the next Titanic and music producers seek the next Beatles. Yet player after Economics has a long history of situations where player, movie after movie and singer after singer fail agents have ex post regrets from decisions made to meet expectations. In the pursuit of superstars, under uncertainty. In the now classic case of the there are many false positives. We identify this winner’s curse, agents who have differing beliefs problem as the dilemma of choosing talent. about an amenity value will find, in an auction, the In Section I, we model the dilemma of choosing Downloaded By: [Central Michigan University] At: 14:01 23 October 2009 winner of the auction will be the bidder who talent when the distribution of talent is known to be overvalued that amenity. Capen et al. (1971) and from the upper portion of a talent distribution. In Pepall and Richards (2001) suggest a winner’s curse Section II, we test the theory using a panel study of emerges in competitive bidding environments; players in the NBA from 1987 to 2003. We conclude Cassing and Douglas (1980) provide an example with a discussion of the dilemma of choosing talent of the winner’s curse in baseball free agency. and how it relates to the economics of superstars. More recently, Lazear (2004) identifies the Peter Sports in general provide a virtual laboratory to Principle as a situation where individuals who are test implications of labour markets theories (Kahn, promoted may have been lucky in a stochastic sense 2000). For instance, Burdekin and Idson (1991) test and been promoted above their performance level. customer discrimination using NBA fan data, while Nowhere is the problem more pronounced than in Stone and Warren (1999) use NBA player cards to the pursuit of superstar talent. Rosen (1981) outlined test for customer discrimination. Hamilton (1997) the theoretical constructs of the market for superstars and Gius and Johnson (1998) test for wage discrimi- and recognized the pervasiveness of the search. Sports nation in the NBA; Jones et al. (1999) perform similar teams are in pursuit of the next Michael Jordan, analysis for the NHL. Eshker et al. (2004) use NBA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Applied Economics ISSN 0003–6846 print/ISSN 1466–4283 online ß 2009 Taylor & Francis 3193 http://www.informaworld.com DOI: 10.1080/00036840701564459 3194 P. A. Groothuis et al. data to study the winner’s curse in hiring interna- for high talent (x*). Also @P/@X is negative: the more tional basketball players. Other studies have analysed talented the population, on average, the smaller the the draft mechanism in choosing talent. Hendricks probability someone with a favourable signal exceeds et al. (2003) analyse uncertainty, option value and the cut-off for high talent. statistical discrimination in the NFL draft. Groothuis Note: these results do not depend on a ‘thin tail’ et al. (2007) analyse early entry in the NBA draft, at the upper end of the ability distribution; all we while Lavoie (2003) focuses on discrimination in the have specified is that the distribution is continuous. NHL draft. Our study, following the same structure, For further insight, suppose x uniformly on provides insights into the NBA as well as to the [X-Á,X þ Á]. We have: labour market in general. ðÞX 2ÀðÞxà 2 P ¼ H ð100Þ 4ÁX Suppose X ¼ 6 and Á ¼ 5. A firm that desired an II. The Model above-average worker (x* ¼ 6) would, choosing at random, obtain such a worker with a 50% To formally model the problem of choosing talent, probability. Using (100), the signal would correctly consider what happens to the probability of finding identify such an individual 71% of the time. If the high quality talent when the lower bound for high firm desired someone with x > 10, choosing at quality increases. Assume: random, it would obtain such an individual 10% of the time. Using the signal, it would obtain such an . x ¼ talent, xL x xH; . x continuously with a p.d.f of f(x) and a c.d.f individual 17.5% of the time. of F(x); . x* is the minimum level for high quality talent; . A potential employer observes a binary signal which is either favourable or unfavourable and III. Empirical Results . P ¼ prob(x > x*j’favourable). To empirically test the model of the dilemma of Thus, from Bayes theorem we have: choosing talent, we focus on NBA data for perfor- probð favourablejx 4 xÞprobðx 4 xÞ mance from the 1987–1988 season to the 2003–2004 P ¼ season. We use a measure of player performance probð favourablejx 4 xÞprobðx 4 xÞ called the efficiency formula to develop a distribution þprobð favourablejx 5 xÞprobðx 5 xÞ of talent. As reported by NBA.com, this index is calculated per game as: (points þ rebounds þ assists þ ð1Þ steals þ blocks) – [(field goals attempted – field goals made) þ (free throws attempted À free throws Note prob(x > x*) ¼ 1ÀF(x*) and prob(x < x*) ¼ made) þ turnovers)]. This formula provides a mea- F(x*). sure of quality that is based upon performance in all Downloaded By: [Central Michigan University] At: 14:01 23 October 2009 Now suppose the probability of a favourable aspects of the game. In Table 1, we report the mean, signals increases linearly in x: prob(favourable) ¼ median, SD and highest level of the efficiency rating. x/xH. This means those with x ¼ xH have a prob- We find in all cases the mean is higher than the ability of one of receiving a favourable signal; others median, suggesting a right-skewed distribution of have a smaller probability of a favourableR signal. talent. We also find that the highest value is always Now prob(favourable > x*) ¼ xH x fðxÞdx= xà xHR over 3 SDs from the mean. In Fig. 1, we plot a ½1 À FðxÞ, and prob(favourable < x*) ¼ xà x  xL xH distribution of efficiency ratios for the 2001–2002 fðxÞdx=FðxÞ. We can then simplify Equation 1: Z season. The distribution is skewed right with only a xH few players in the top tail of the distribution. xfðxÞdx In Table 2, we focus on players whose efficiency P ¼ Zxà ð 0Þ xH 1 rating is 2 SDs from the mean. We find from 12 to 22 xfðxÞdx players a season have efficiency ratings over 2 SDs xL from the mean. During this time period, we find only The denominator of (10) is the population mean of two players, who were in this elite category, x, X.Clearly @P/@x* is negative: the higher the level of undrafted, Ben Wallace in 2001–2002 season and talent desired (dx* > 0), the smaller the probability Brad Miller in the 2003–2004 season. Many were on someone with a favourable signal exceeds the cut-off the list a multiple of times, some as many as 9 years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Interview with John Thompson: Community Activist and Community Conversation Participant
    An Interview with John Thompson: Community Activist and Community Conversation Participant Interview conducted by Sharon Press1 SHARON: Thanks for letting me interview you. Let’s start with a little bit of background on John Thompson. Tell me about where you grew up. JOHN: I grew up on the south side of Chicago in a predominantly black neighborhood. I at- tended Henry O Tanner Elementary School in Chicago. I know throughout my time in Chicago, I always wanted to be a basketball player, so it went from wanting to be Dr. J to Michael Jordan, from Michael Jordan to Dennis Rodman, and from Dennis Rodman to Charles Barkley. I actu- ally thought that was the path I was gonna go, ‘cause I started getting so tall so fast at a young age. But Chicago was pretty rough and the public-school system in Chicago was pretty rough, so I come here to Minnesota, it’s like a culture shock. Different things, just different, like I don’t think there was one white person in my school in Chicago. SHARON: …and then you moved to Minnesota JOHN: I moved to Duluth Minnesota. I have five other siblings — two sisters, three brothers and I’m the baby of the family. Just recently I took on a program called Safe, and it’s a mentor- ship program for children, and I was asked, “Why would you wanna be a mentor to some of these mentees?” I said, “’Cause I was the little brother all the time.” So when I see some of the youth it was a no brainer, I’d be hypocritical not to help, ‘cause that’s how I was raised… from the butcher on the corner or my next-door neighbor, “You want me to call your mother on you?” If we got out of school early, or we had an early release, my mom would always give us instructions “You go to the neighbor’s house”, which was Miss Hollandsworth, “You go to Miss Hollandsworth’s house, and you better not give her no problems.
    [Show full text]
  • Vipers' Head Coach Resigns Meet
    Vipers’ Head Coach Resigns Larry Brown resigns from his position due to medical issues Florence, SC – February 12, 2014 – The Pee Dee Vipers’ Head Coach, Larry Brown, has resigned from his position as a consequence of medical concerns and precautions. Brown and the Vipers took into consideration the long-term health of Brown and productivity of the team when making this decision. Brown does not feel that he can adequately provide the Vipers with the standard of coaching he is accustom to contributing and focus on improving his health at the same time. The entire Vipers Organization backs Brown in his decision and will continue to support him during his journey to good health. Andre Bovain has been named Head Coach. Bovain served as the Vipers’ Assistant Coach under Brown. NBA legend and Columbia, SC native, Xavier McDaniel will be one of the Vipers’ assistant coaches. Bryan Hergenroether will also join the Vipers’ coaching staff. The Vipers’ new coaching staff will leave much of what Brown has developed in place; plays and structure will be similar. Brown and Bovain worked closely to ensure that the coaching transition will be smooth and not dramatically impact the team’s winning style of play. Xavier McDaniel: • Played in college at Wichita State (1981-1985) • 4th overall in the 1985 NBA draft to the Seattle SuperSonics • Played 14 seasons in the NBA (1985-1998) • NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1986 • NBA All-Star in 1988 • Career Stats (NBA): Points – 13,606; Rebounds – 5,313; Assists – 1,775 • Played against names such as Magic Johnson,
    [Show full text]
  • Set Info - Player - National Treasures Basketball
    Set Info - Player - National Treasures Basketball Player Total # Total # Total # Total # Total # Autos + Cards Base Autos Memorabilia Memorabilia Luka Doncic 1112 0 145 630 337 Joe Dumars 1101 0 460 441 200 Grant Hill 1030 0 560 220 250 Nikola Jokic 998 154 420 236 188 Elie Okobo 982 0 140 630 212 Karl-Anthony Towns 980 154 0 752 74 Marvin Bagley III 977 0 10 630 337 Kevin Knox 977 0 10 630 337 Deandre Ayton 977 0 10 630 337 Trae Young 977 0 10 630 337 Collin Sexton 967 0 0 630 337 Anthony Davis 892 154 112 626 0 Damian Lillard 885 154 186 471 74 Dominique Wilkins 856 0 230 550 76 Jaren Jackson Jr. 847 0 5 630 212 Toni Kukoc 847 0 420 235 192 Kyrie Irving 846 154 146 472 74 Jalen Brunson 842 0 0 630 212 Landry Shamet 842 0 0 630 212 Shai Gilgeous- 842 0 0 630 212 Alexander Mikal Bridges 842 0 0 630 212 Wendell Carter Jr. 842 0 0 630 212 Hamidou Diallo 842 0 0 630 212 Kevin Huerter 842 0 0 630 212 Omari Spellman 842 0 0 630 212 Donte DiVincenzo 842 0 0 630 212 Lonnie Walker IV 842 0 0 630 212 Josh Okogie 842 0 0 630 212 Mo Bamba 842 0 0 630 212 Chandler Hutchison 842 0 0 630 212 Jerome Robinson 842 0 0 630 212 Michael Porter Jr. 842 0 0 630 212 Troy Brown Jr. 842 0 0 630 212 Joel Embiid 826 154 0 596 76 Grayson Allen 826 0 0 614 212 LaMarcus Aldridge 825 154 0 471 200 LeBron James 816 154 0 662 0 Andrew Wiggins 795 154 140 376 125 Giannis 789 154 90 472 73 Antetokounmpo Kevin Durant 784 154 122 478 30 Ben Simmons 781 154 0 627 0 Jason Kidd 776 0 370 330 76 Robert Parish 767 0 140 552 75 Player Total # Total # Total # Total # Total # Autos
    [Show full text]
  • Jedi of the Jumper Could Teach Lebron Scott Ostler San Francisco Chronicle
    3/31/2021 `Awakening' leads to shooting clinics The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20140529055010/http://www.swish22.com:80… Close Window Jedi of the jumper could teach LeBron Scott Ostler San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 The Johnny Appleseed of jump shots is on the road as we speak, spreading his simple gift to the world, even if the world isn't always ready to receive. Take LeBron James, for instance. A recent discovery has been made about James, the NBA's teen wonder who recently graduated high school. He can't shoot. On mid-range jump shots, James has the deft touch of a grizzly bear trained to repair watches with a mallet. Man, would the Johnny Appleseed of jump shots -- his name is Tom Nordland -- love to get his hands on LeBron. Explain to him why he shouldn't be cranking the ball so far back, waiting until the top of his jump to release the ball. Show him how he is greatly complicating one of nature's simplest movements. It pains Nordland to watch most NBA guys shoot. The pure jump shot is a lost art, like cave painting. It's been pushed aside by the power game, lack of good shot coaching, apathy. Baseball pitchers and hitters continually tinker with their form. Most NBA guys work on their facial hair more than they work on improving their jumper. A few NBA players have a pure stroke, Nordland says. Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash. Doug Christie and Mike Bibby, at times. But to watch what Chris Webber tries to pass off as a jumper, or to ponder Erick Dampier's release point, is horrifying.
    [Show full text]
  • Hawks' Trio Headlines Reserves for 2015 Nba All
    HAWKS’ TRIO HEADLINES RESERVES FOR 2015 NBA ALL-STAR GAME -- Duncan Earns 15 th Selection, Tied for Third Most in All-Star History -- NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2015 – Three members of the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks -- Al Horford , Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague -- headline the list of 14 players selected by the coaches as reserves for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, the NBA announced today. Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors earned his first All-Star selection, joining teammate and starter Stephen Curry to give the Western Conference-leading Warriors two All-Stars for the first time since Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway in 1993. The 64 th NBA All-Star Game will tip off Sunday, Feb. 15, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will be seen by fans in 215 countries and territories and will be heard in 47 languages. TNT will televise the All-Star Game for the 13th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports' 30 th year of NBA All- Star coverage. The Hawks’ trio is joined in the East by Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving . This is the 11 th consecutive All-Star selection for Wade and the 10 th straight nod for Bosh, who becomes only the third player in NBA history to earn five trips to the All-Star Game with two different teams (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Garnett). Butler, who leads the NBA in minutes (39.5 per game) and has raised his scoring average from 13.1 points in 2013-14 to 20.1 points this season, makes his first All-Star appearance.
    [Show full text]
  • For Release, December 16, 1998 Contact
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Julie Mason (412-496-3196) GATORADE® NATIONAL BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR: BRANDON KNIGHT Former Miami Heat Center and Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year Alonzo Mourning Surprises Standout with Elite Honor FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (March 23, 2010) – In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Brandon Knight of Pine Crest School (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) as its 2009-10 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Knight was surprised with the news during his second period class at Pine Crest School by former Miami Heat Center Alonzo Mourning, who earned Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors in 1987-88. “When I received this award in 1988, it was a really significant moment for me, so it felt great to surprise Brandon with the news and invite him into one of the most prestigious legacy programs in high school sports,” said Mourning, a Gold Medalist, seven-time NBA All-Star, and two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. “Gatorade has been on the sidelines fueling athletic performance for years, so to be recognized by a brand that understands the game and truly helps athletes perform is a huge honor for these kids.” Knight becomes the first-ever student athlete from the state of Florida to repeat as Gatorade National Player of the Year in any sport. He joins 2009 NBA MVP LeBron James (2002-03 & 2001-02, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Akron, Ohio) and 2007 NBA Draft Number One Overall Pick Greg Oden (2005-06 & 2004-05, Lawrence North, Indianapolis, Ind.) as the only student-athletes to win Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors in consecutive seasons.
    [Show full text]
  • 2017-18 COLORADO BASKETBALL Colorado Buffaloes
    colorado buffaloes All-America Selections Jack Harvey Robert Doll 1939 & 1940 1942 In his back-to-back All- Bob Doll was the big-play man for America campaigns, Jack coach Frosty Cox’s 1941-42 Big Seven Harvey led the Buffs to two Championship squad. Doll, along with conference championships fellow All-American Leason McCloud and a trip to the NCAA helped lead CU to a 16-2 record and Tournament in his senior the NCAA Western Tournament finals season. During those as a senior. He scored 168 points (9.4 two years, CU posted an ppg.) and was known as an outstanding amazing 31-8 mark and rebounder and controlled the paint in received recognition as many CU wins. He was also renowned the No. 1 team in the for his shooting prowess, finishing second land. Known for his tough to McCloud in scoring. An unanimous All- defense, Harvey proved to Big Seven selection, Doll was selected to be key in numerous Buff All-America teams by Look, Pic and Time victories. He was also an magazines. He was also tabbed as MVP of outstanding ball-handler for New York’s Metropolitan Tournament as a a big man and was a key sophomore and was a huge factor in CU’s component in the CU fast three conference titles in a four-year span. break. A solid All-Conference After graduation, Doll went on to play for performer, Harvey is the the Boston Celtics. only CU cager to be selected twice as an All-American Leason McCloud 1942 Jim Willcoxon The leading scorer for the 1939 1942 Big Seven Champion Buffs, Known for his defense, Leason McCloud was Coach Frosty Jim Willcoxon continued Cox’s “go-to guy.” Known for his Coach Frosty Cox’s tradition silky-smooth shot, McCloud was of talented cagers.
    [Show full text]
  • G Men-Cnc'h' 1I'nyatmu'
    «'4 1i‘nyAtmu'. men-Cnc‘h‘g A iflflnlfpark Eflahle nce upon a time along Tobacco Road there The Pack rolled along and appeared to be getting its lived a kingdom of people called the forces aligned for many consecutive massacres, when Wolfpack. They resided on the west side of tragedy struck the team of roundballers. As the Pack faced ‘ Raleigh at a place called North Carolina State one of its stiffest conference foes, State’s main long-range University, or State for short. weapon fell victim to the blow of a Cavalier. Dereck Whit- Now these people had maintained this community for tenburg, who had led the troops in long-range hits (three- four score and a few more years. During that time they had point goals) was felled with a broken foot. acquired a great love for a game that was played during the Shock rocked the Kingdom. Many of the scribes wintertime. The State people took great pride in their abili- throughout the territory, with the stroke of a pen, wrote of ty to play this game called basketball or hoops by some of the Wolfpack’s demise. Sure enough, the Pack fell into a its most avid followers. slump and much of the Kingdom was losing confidence in The Wolfpack had accumulated one National Champion- their heralded hoopsters. ’1' ‘kl ship a few years before and yearned for another, although Had it not been for surprise efforts by some of the war- the years had been lean for almost a decade. After hiring a riors, indeed the doom of State might once again have new leader for their hoop squad, the people of State took a disappointed the Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Through the Decades
    New ’50s ’60s ’70s ’80s 1990s ’00s ’10s Era THROUGH ACC Basketball THE DECADES Visit JournalNow.com for more content on the history of ACC men’s basketball. — Compiled by Dan Collins GREATEST HITS Duke 104, Kentucky 103 (OT): March 28, 1992, Wake Philadelphia Forest’s Christian Laettner snagged Grant Hill’s 70-foot pass, Tim Duncan turned and hit the shot heard around the sporting world. The victory in the championship game of the East Re- gional kept Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils marching ALL- inexorably to their second consecutive national title. Wake Forest 82, UNC 80 (OT): March 12, DECADE 1995, Greensboro With one floating 10-foot jumper, Randolph Chil- TEAM dress lifted the Deacons to their first ACC title in 33 G Randolph Childress, seasons and broke the record for points in an ACC Wake Forest Tournament that had stood since 1957. Childress Second-team consensus made 12 of 22 shots from the floor and 9 of 17 from All-America 1995; first-team 3-point range, including one infamous basket over All-ACC 1994, 1995 and sec- Jeff McInnis after his crossover dribble left McInnis ond-team 1993; first-team sprawled on the Greensboro Coliseum floor. All-ACC Tournament 1994, AP PHOTO 1995; Everett Case Award PHOTO AP 1995 Christian Laettner’s Randolph Childress’ winning shot winning shot G Grant Hill, Duke against Kentucky against UNC First-team consensus All- America 1994 and second- team 1993; ACC player of the year 1994; first-team All-ACC 1993, 1994 and second-team 1992; second-team All-ACC COACH Tournament 1991, 1992, 1994 QUOTES OF THE DECADE OF THE F Antawn Jamison, UNC “When the press asked me over the years about my “It seems like every team wants to beat Carolina for National player of the retirement plans, I told them the truth, which was that I some reason.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role Identity Plays in B-Ball Players' and Gangsta Rappers
    Vassar College Digital Window @ Vassar Senior Capstone Projects 2016 Playin’ tha game: the role identity plays in b-ball players’ and gangsta rappers’ public stances on black sociopolitical issues Kelsey Cox Vassar College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone Recommended Citation Cox, Kelsey, "Playin’ tha game: the role identity plays in b-ball players’ and gangsta rappers’ public stances on black sociopolitical issues" (2016). Senior Capstone Projects. 527. https://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/senior_capstone/527 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Window @ Vassar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Window @ Vassar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cox playin’ tha Game: The role identity plays in b-ball players’ and gangsta rappers’ public stances on black sociopolitical issues A Senior thesis by kelsey cox Advised by bill hoynes and Justin patch Vassar College Media Studies April 22, 2016 !1 Cox acknowledgments I would first like to thank my family for helping me through this process. I know it wasn’t easy hearing me complain over school breaks about the amount of work I had to do. Mom – thank you for all of the help and guidance you have provided. There aren’t enough words to express how grateful I am to you for helping me navigate this thesis. Dad – thank you for helping me find my love of basketball, without you I would have never found my passion. Jon – although your constant reminders about my thesis over winter break were annoying you really helped me keep on track, so thank you for that.
    [Show full text]
  • Numbers Game -- the Washington Times the Washington Times
    Numbers game -- The Washington Times The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Numbers game By Patrick Hruby THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published April 13, 2004 Everyone else has it wrong. The fans. The press. Even the league. They're blinded by box scores. Hamstrung by hype. Of this and more, Wayne Winston is certain. A single mouse click tells him so. "Nobody should be talking about LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony," he says. "They should be talking about Dwyane Wade. It's a crime." For Winston, Wade's superiority is not a matter of opinion. It's a fact, cold and hard, like an icicle. You can argue politics, and you can argue the best "Godfather" flick (well, excluding part III). But when it comes to the NBA Rookie of the Year race, you can't argue the data. At least not with Winston, a former "Jeopardy" champ who's good with math the way Eric Clapton is good with chords. "James rates as an average NBA player," says Winston, a professor of decision sciences at Indiana University. "That's good since very few rookies rate that high. But Wade's a real impact player for Miami. He ranks 21st best in the league in terms of changing the chances of your team winning a game." Like any MIT graduate worth his sodium chloride, Winston has the numbers to prove his point. More than 5,000 pages' worth, to be exact. Only you won't find his statistics in a newspaper. Together with fellow sports math guru Jeff Sagarin -- the brain behind USA Today's computer rankings -- Winston has created Winval, a sophisticated program that rates and ranks the value of every NBA player from Tariq Abdul-Wahad to Lorenzen Wright.
    [Show full text]
  • Renormalizing Individual Performance Metrics for Cultural Heritage Management of Sports Records
    Renormalizing individual performance metrics for cultural heritage management of sports records Alexander M. Petersen1 and Orion Penner2 1Management of Complex Systems Department, Ernest and Julio Gallo Management Program, School of Engineering, University of California, Merced, CA 95343 2Chair of Innovation and Intellectual Property Policy, College of Management of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. (Dated: April 21, 2020) Individual performance metrics are commonly used to compare players from different eras. However, such cross-era comparison is often biased due to significant changes in success factors underlying player achievement rates (e.g. performance enhancing drugs and modern training regimens). Such historical comparison is more than fodder for casual discussion among sports fans, as it is also an issue of critical importance to the multi- billion dollar professional sport industry and the institutions (e.g. Hall of Fame) charged with preserving sports history and the legacy of outstanding players and achievements. To address this cultural heritage management issue, we report an objective statistical method for renormalizing career achievement metrics, one that is par- ticularly tailored for common seasonal performance metrics, which are often aggregated into summary career metrics – despite the fact that many player careers span different eras. Remarkably, we find that the method applied to comprehensive Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association player data preserves the overall functional form of the distribution of career achievement, both at the season and career level. As such, subsequent re-ranking of the top-50 all-time records in MLB and the NBA using renormalized metrics indicates reordering at the local rank level, as opposed to bulk reordering by era.
    [Show full text]