sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to NASCAR Day!
Observed across the United States on the third Friday in May is NASCAR Day. This day is a celebration of NASCAR drivers, celebrities, corporate partners, media and millions of fans coming together to raise funds for charitable causes. “We believe our greatest asset is the power and passion of our NASCAR fans: passion both for the sport and for giving back. NASCAR Day is an annual celebration of this NASCAR spirit.”
SU News
Waiting for Taurean Thompson (TNIAAM; Keeley)
The Syracuse Orange really would love to fill that open scholarship spot with a 2016 big man. And they'd really like that big man to be Taurean Thompson, the 6-foot-10 senior from Brewster Academy who is one of the last few remaining ESPN Top 100 recruits on the board.
While Thompson has Syracuse on his shortlist (along with Michigan State and Seton Hall), he hasn't made up his mind yet about where he wants to play next season. And he's not in any rush either, per Mike Waters:
No one, not even those close to Thompson, seems to have any idea when he will announce a decision.
"Good luck with that,'' Brewster coach Jason Smith said via text message this week.
While you never want to get too comfy, there are some signs that look good for the Orange. While MSU has offered, he has yet to actually visit East Lansing (while he has visited SU). Seton Hall has put on the full-court press, but they also received a commitment from Eron Gordon this week, which puts them at their scholarship limit. Depending on whether or not Isaiah Whitehead goes pro or comes back could end up making the decision for Thompson.
For those wondering how and why a recruit can take all this time to decide where to go to school, Mike Waters reminds us that NLIs aren't the be-all-end-all agreements we think they are.
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Other
Syracuse's Sports Analytics Degree is Overhyped (vocativ.com; Silverman)
Last week, Syracuse University grandly proclaimed that starting in August 2017 they would be the first school in the United States wherestudents would be able to earn a bachelor of science in Sport Analytics. Their accompanying press release picks out a slew of alluring data points to paint a picture of a burgeoning field—specifically a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing 27 percent annual growth in the sports analytics job market and that sports as a whole has swelled to a $500 billion dollar industry, making it the fifth-largest in the nation.
That’s all well and good. There’s certainly no doubting the fact that over the last decade, franchise after franchise has jam-packed its front office with eager-eyed number-crunchers hoping to discover the latest data-driven insight that will provide a precious “Extra 2%” advantage. But for current analytics professionals, there are some serious questions as to the value of a sports-specific analytics degree.
Seth Partnow is the managing editor of the Nylon Calculus, a leading basketball analytics website, and a contributor with the Washington Post. Reached by phone, he pointed out glaring omissions from the publicly available course catalogue. Namely, any courses that teach students about the sports themselves and internship opportunities with any one of Syracuse’s numerous men’s and women’s Division I teams.
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