Mama’s Got a Brand New Bag

I’ve taken a bit of hiatus from blogging, but it’s time to get cracking!  While most of the sporting world is focusing on the Olympics, my mind is elsewhere.  Somewhere unexpected… the Cleveland Indians.

That’s right, I’m thinking about the Tribe.  I’m working on a team preview for another site and that is the team I’m covering.  Pitchers and catchers report in just a few days and it’s time to put the nose to the grindstone.

What I’m thinking about specifically are the numerous statistics, scientific and mathematical equations that go into the analysis of sports, baseball in particular.  As a fan and student in the world of sports, I have a decent understanding of many of these.  However, as a newbie to writing, I admit that my level of knowledge when it come to things like WAR and Pitch F/X, still has room to grow.

So where does one educate themselves in more advanced forms of baseball analyses?  I’ve gone to other baseball sites, consulted books and watched the experts and I’m slowly learning.  It’s proving to be an interesting endeavor.  I do wish, however, that an appreciation for the numbers behind the game was instilled in me at a younger age.  Children these days are encouraged to play sports from a young age, however little emphasis is placed upon understanding the math behind the game.  Boys typically either gravitate toward more analytic understandings of sports or are exposed to it sooner, but it seems that in general, women are left a bit in the dust.

I don’t think it has to be that way.  The more I’ve learned the more interesting I find it.  Sports analyses could even be better incorporated into classrooms to teach math, science and statistics in more exciting real-world applications.  High school stats would have been a bit more exciting if we could have learned about more information like this… just saying!

(Photo courtesy of the Education Week blog)