If you’re interested in diving into the statistical side of sports coverage, look no further than FiveThirtyEight, which offers compelling analysis that’s clearly articulated.
You can find top-notch analysis at FanGraphs, Beyond the Boxscore, and FootballOutsiders.com. You can also regularly find fantastic coverage related to advanced metrics on a Wall Street Journal website that, unfortunately, is fairly expensive for those who seek only sports news. There’s also stories based on advanced metrics in Yahoo!, ESPN, and SB Nation, among others. But all pale compared to FiveThirtyEight.
Today, for example, Scott Kacsmar concludes that NFL coaches and quarterbacks should divorce after five years, if they have not already won a Super Bowl.
Analysis is always better when connected to timely news. In this case, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is expected to resign at the end of the season after 15 years in which he went 0-7 in the playoffs. “No head coach in NFL history has more playoff losses without a win than Lewis,” Kacsmar writes.
Kacsmar, who investigates every Super Bowl season, learned that no NFL team “has ever started the same quarterback under the same head coach for more than five years and seen that duo win its first championship.” Pretty remarkable information culled from basic research. The best ideas, though, always seem simple in retrospect. They also, inevitably, take considerable research, a sharp mind, and employ many multimedia elements such as this other piece on the Chicago Bulls’ bizarre, odds-averse winning streak.
Bring it home: You could take an historic look at various sports championships in your own school conference or track a school team over a lengthy span to yield your own insights. Statistical analysis is one of many ways to cover sports, and to make yourself more marketable. In addition, you might find such research more fun than covering games and writing features. Give it a try.
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