Search the Site

Bring Your Hidden-Side-of-Sports Questions to the Scorecasting Authors

Earlier this week, Tobias J. Moskowitz (a University of Chicago finance professor) and?L. Jon Wertheim (a Sports Illustrated writer) contributed a guest post on black NFL coaches, which was an adaptation of their new book Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won. You may recall this as the book Levitt described as?”[t]he closest thing to Freakonomics I’ve seen since the original,” much to his wife’s chagrin.
Now Moskowitz and Wertheim have agreed to answer your sports questions. So fire away in the comments section below and, as always, we’ll post their answers in due time.
To give you an idea of the ground they cover, here’s the Table of Contents from Scorecasting:

Whistle Swallowing: Why fans and leagues want officials to miss calls
Go For It: Why coaches make decisions that reduce their team’s chances of winning
How Competitive Are Competitive Sports?: Why are the Pittsburgh Steelers so successful and the Pittsburgh Pirates so unsuccessful? [For Steelers fans (like me), here’s an unrelated post on the improbability of the Steelers’ success.]
Tiger Woods is Human (and Not for the Reason You Think): How Tiger Woods is just like the rest of us, even when it comes to playing golf
Offense Wins Championships, Too: Is defense really more important than offense?
The Value of a Blocked Shot: Why Dwight Howard’s 232 blocked shots are worth less than Tim Duncan’s
Rounding First: Why .299 hitters are so much more rare (and maybe more valuable) than .300 hitters
Thanks, Mr. Rooney: Why black NFL coaches are doing worse than ever — and why this is a good thing
Comforts of Home: How do conventional explanations for the home field advantage stack up?
So, What Is Driving the Home Field Advantage?: Hint: Vocal fans matter, but not the way you might think
There’s No I in Team: But there is an m and an e
Off the Chart: How Mike McCoy came to dominate the NFL draft
How a Coin Toss Trumps All: Why American Idol is a fairer contest than NFL overtime
What Isn’t in the Mitchell Report?: Why Dominican baseball players are more likely to use steroids — and American players are more likely to smoke weed
Do Athletes Really Melt When Iced?: Does calling a time-out before a play actually work?
The Myth of the Hot Hand: Do players and teams ride the wave of momentum? Or are we (and they) fooled into thinking they do?
Damned Statistics: Why “four out of his last five” almost surely means four of six
Are the Chicago Cubs Cursed?: If not, then why are the Cubs so futile?

Update: Moskowitz and Wertheim respond to your questions.


Comments