On a related note, actual NBA teams continue to hire statisticians: http://nbateamjobs.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/jobs/… Read more

Ah, I see what you're saying. Fair points. Read more

Well, it's definitely possible that there's a systematic difference between the calls made by umpires who get to see lots of pitches (>7,500) and umpires who don't, but in general I agree with you. Given that MLB only has a little over 100 umps on roster, I'm pretty comfortable concluding from the study that these… Read more

I added a note at the bottom. All 75 umpires they looked at made at least 7,500 calls across the three seasons in question, so they're not claiming to have to have shown that these biases exist in every single umpire, league-wide. Read more

Not in 2-1 counts where the previous call was a strike, plus you're ignoring what these results say about even/full counts. Read more

Incorrect wording on my part. The model projected whether or not there would be at least one run scored in the following inning, as a binary. Read more

NOPE TIME FOR BASEBALL Read more

41 athletes, 24 medals, and I did mention them, in passing: Read more

Nordic combined participants first compete in a ski jump, which is scored on a point system. That score determines how the start of the cross-country race is staggered, so whoever crosses the finish line first wins. Thanks to Pittin's mediocre ski jump, he started the cross-country race one minute and twelve seconds… Read more

I've added an updated table to the bottom of the post, which counts each hockey team as one athlete. Read more

Very fair point. I wanted to keep it as a simple "bring X people, leave with Y medals" calculation, but this is definitely skewing against countries that sent hockey teams. It's tricky to adjust for teams in other sports, as participants in team events often compete in individual events as well. Read more

Missed partial edit: Our data originally ran from 1987 onwards, and the Jazz and Pacers were tied at ten. It's corrected. Read more

I had to open it up in Photoshop, but... it is!

I'm curious to see how this shakes out if they do another map. Men's hockey just got started on the 12th, but the medal event for men's single skating was today (Canada got silver), and women's singles—the most popular figure skating event—doesn't start until the 19th. Read more

We had a piece on something similar last year: Read more

Sorry should have clarified: There's not a lot of 18-year old Republican voters, and, as the chart shows, 18-year olds have terrible turnout. Read more

There's not a lot of 18-year old Republican voters (relatively speaking):

It's actually referring to the Boston designated market area, which is slightly larger than the Boston MSA (it includes Cape Cod, more Western Mass, more Southern NH, and one county of Vermont). Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island are not included. Read more

Yeah I always forget about that thing. Read more