This is(not) the end
I'm reading a fantastic article on Joe Morgan, the great baseball player, and his extreme dislike/hatred of sabermetrics or "Moneyball."
Let me back up a bit.
I have a strong dislike of math in general, but I love stats. I'm not a stats fanatic, but I love what they say. I read box scores more than I read recaps of games. I check out the stats section of the sports page, and I can look at years and years of stats.
Reading the book, "Moneyball," didn't change my life, but it did offer me a way to hone a thought that I'd had. It offered me a direction to go, and since then, I have been heading down this path. I don't know if this path will lead to some promised land - I'm betting it won't - but I do believe that this path, combined with my desire to learn, and improve as a coach, will eventually lead me to a land somewhere between promised, and really good.
"Moneyball," in my opinion, offers the reader a way to look at baseball in a different light. To take an outside, and I would argue, objective, approach to the game, and view it differently. It suggests that there are more important stats than batting average, and that runs, and getting on base count for more than previously thought.
That is a very poor, very rough sum up of this book.
Joe Morgan is not a "Moneyball" person. Charles Barkley is not a analytics or sabermetrics, or "Moneyball" person.
I am.
But I am with a less focused, more worldly opinion.
I am a "Moneyball" person because I believe that sports evolve, and change with the times. I believe that this is driven for many different reasons - fans, interest, new training, rule changes, etc. but regardless of the reason, the games do change.
I look at Joe Morgan and Sir Charles as people who refuse to believe the game has changed, or will change. They look at the game as it was when they played as if that is the only way the game should be played, never mind the years the game existed prior to their arrival.
The game itself will not necessarily change. Baseball will still be baseball. Basketball will still be basketball. What will change is the nuances of the game. Coaching tactics will change. Training will change. Player evaluation will change - slowly, very slowly, but possibly.
Stepping further back, and looking more at the title, changes are not the end of something. They are the beginning. There are those who say that this Big 5 conferences breaking with the NCAA spells the end of the NCAA. There are those who say that "pay for play," will break the NCAA.
I will tell you that if you look back at the history of the NCAA, "pay for play" is nothing new. In fact, it was one of the first issues the NCAA had to take on - Hello Ivy league (yes that Ivy league). The NCAA will still be here in 10 years. I'm fairly certain of that. Certain enough to make that prediction. The NCAA will not look like what it does currently. Of that I am also certain. But it will go on. It will change or evolve.
Back to Morgan, Sir Charles, and "Moneyball," and this idea of change. The games will change. I am thoroughly enjoying this renewed push for looking at stats differently - renewed because again, like "pay for play," this isn't an entirely new concept. It's influencing the way I coach, and the way I look at athletes.
Like it or not, change is coming. And as is a common saying around this internship, "The train is leaving the station. You can either get on board, or stay where you are, but the train is leaving."
Let me back up a bit.
I have a strong dislike of math in general, but I love stats. I'm not a stats fanatic, but I love what they say. I read box scores more than I read recaps of games. I check out the stats section of the sports page, and I can look at years and years of stats.
Reading the book, "Moneyball," didn't change my life, but it did offer me a way to hone a thought that I'd had. It offered me a direction to go, and since then, I have been heading down this path. I don't know if this path will lead to some promised land - I'm betting it won't - but I do believe that this path, combined with my desire to learn, and improve as a coach, will eventually lead me to a land somewhere between promised, and really good.
"Moneyball," in my opinion, offers the reader a way to look at baseball in a different light. To take an outside, and I would argue, objective, approach to the game, and view it differently. It suggests that there are more important stats than batting average, and that runs, and getting on base count for more than previously thought.
That is a very poor, very rough sum up of this book.
Joe Morgan is not a "Moneyball" person. Charles Barkley is not a analytics or sabermetrics, or "Moneyball" person.
I am.
But I am with a less focused, more worldly opinion.
I am a "Moneyball" person because I believe that sports evolve, and change with the times. I believe that this is driven for many different reasons - fans, interest, new training, rule changes, etc. but regardless of the reason, the games do change.
I look at Joe Morgan and Sir Charles as people who refuse to believe the game has changed, or will change. They look at the game as it was when they played as if that is the only way the game should be played, never mind the years the game existed prior to their arrival.
The game itself will not necessarily change. Baseball will still be baseball. Basketball will still be basketball. What will change is the nuances of the game. Coaching tactics will change. Training will change. Player evaluation will change - slowly, very slowly, but possibly.
Stepping further back, and looking more at the title, changes are not the end of something. They are the beginning. There are those who say that this Big 5 conferences breaking with the NCAA spells the end of the NCAA. There are those who say that "pay for play," will break the NCAA.
I will tell you that if you look back at the history of the NCAA, "pay for play" is nothing new. In fact, it was one of the first issues the NCAA had to take on - Hello Ivy league (yes that Ivy league). The NCAA will still be here in 10 years. I'm fairly certain of that. Certain enough to make that prediction. The NCAA will not look like what it does currently. Of that I am also certain. But it will go on. It will change or evolve.
Back to Morgan, Sir Charles, and "Moneyball," and this idea of change. The games will change. I am thoroughly enjoying this renewed push for looking at stats differently - renewed because again, like "pay for play," this isn't an entirely new concept. It's influencing the way I coach, and the way I look at athletes.
Like it or not, change is coming. And as is a common saying around this internship, "The train is leaving the station. You can either get on board, or stay where you are, but the train is leaving."
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