Category: Sports
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The Big One
I have a habit of remembering unimportant dates, but I’m pretty sure if I say “October 17, 1989 at 5:04 pm,” most Bay Area residents would know exactly what I am talking about. Because 30 years ago today is a date that everyone in the Bay Area remembers. The biggest earthquake of most of our…
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#44. Basketball with your Advisor: A Case Study
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#41. Sports Talk!
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“Losing is Good” says the Washington Post
Losing ain’t so bad. This is from an article I read last year, and I’m thinking about it now as I prepare to coach my children’s baseball teams this spring. From the Washington Post: So is losing all the time really good for children? And their parents? It can be. Experts agree that losing at sports,…
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The Stadium Souvenir Cup Part 2
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”] Yesterday I wrote a little about my frustration with Levi’s. I wish there was more focus on the simple aspects of the fan experience: First, can I get to the game easily, meaning…
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The Stadium Souvenir Cup
I took my daughter to Levi’s Stadium yesterday to watch the 49ers for her Christmas gift. She had been impressed by Levi’s on TV and she thought it would be fun to see a game in person. So I took her to watch the 2-13 49ers, whose head coach and GM had been unofficially fired…
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Field Trip to Avaya Stadium
Yesterday, I took my Communication and Sport class to Avaya Stadium, home of the San Jose Earthquakes where we were taken on a tour of the stadium courtesy of our excellent ticket rep, Melissa. The students loved it. Many of them were really impressed with the stadium design, and how there truly is not a bad seat…
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This is What Happens When You Teach a Sports Class
I teach one of the few sports-connected classes at Santa Clara University. This is what my inbox looks like right after the first day of class registration. And by the way, this is a not a humblebrag. If it is, it’s a pathetic one: “Oh hey students are trying to sign up for my course…
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Some Boring Thoughts on the Upcoming College Football Playoffs
Look, I’m just being honest. A few thoughts on the upcoming College Football Playoffs: This is a huge step forward from the BCS model. Huge. As I’ve said before, if you have 129 teams and they each play about 13 games, you can’t possibly have enough interaction to narrow the playoff field to 2…
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One Sided Championship Games – Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, and Ohio State
The weird thing about the conference championships this weekend is that only one team in each game has a strong opportunity to continue on to the real championship, which you get to by going through the College Football Playoffs. If #10 Missouri (all rankings my own) wins the SEC championship, they will go to a consolation…
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Here are the Teams that Control Their Own Season
Here are the teams that currently kind of control their path to the championship: Alabama Florida State Great list, right? No one else is included because every other team has the possibility of winning the rest of their games but not being included in the playoff. If Oregon barely wins their next two games, they…
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College Football Week 8 – AI Score
(Top image from The Big Lead) Yahoo! writer Dan Wetzel has been posting something like this tweet every Saturday: My weekly reminder that the playoff was supposed to ruin the regular season. — Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) October 19, 2014 Saturdays in the fall are as glorious as ever, even with 4 teams getting in. The…
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College Football AI Score – Week 7
The SEC is dominating most ratings, including mine, at the midway point of the season. I have 5 SEC teams in the top 8. All these teams will have (or have already had) a chance to prove themselves and rise to the top. Notre Dame is making it interesting this year. I summarized my playoff format…
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College Football Week 6 – AI Score
This is my first rating update of 2014. I think September is too early to try and rank teams. And frankly, October might be too early, too, but the A’s are out of the playoffs so I need a distraction. Speaking of playoffs, and college football: College Football Playoffs! I’ve always been a proponent of…
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Thoughts on Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester
Some thoughts on the big trade today: The Innocence of Sports Fandom. The A’s traded Jose Canseco in the middle of a game in 1992. I was 9 years old and it made absolutely no sense to me. How could Jose Canseco play for another team? He’s an Athletic! I had the same feeling this…