Elevating Analytics in Sports Writing
Explore how analytics are revolutionizing sports journalism by challenging mainstream narratives, connecting data to game-watching experiences, and emphasizing personal writing styles. Discover how writers like Ben Lindbergh are reshaping player evaluations and engaging fans through data-driven insights and creative mediums.
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Presentation Transcript
Going Mainstream Bringing analytics to a larger audience and how it can help fans, writers, data analysts and front offices
The Brad Boyes Theory Everyone wants to know: Is the narrative on a player actually true? Boyes was said to be a bust in Buffalo because he was washed up The real explanation: Lindy Ruff took away his power play time The article angered mainstream media , which caught the eye of fans who also hated Boyes Readers wanted to know if more of the mainstream opinions on players were BS - Thus, kicked off a stats series about each Sabre and grew a following of readers
Pitch framing Readers have to be able to connect data to watching the game Ben Lindbergh s series of articles on pitch framing gave viewers/front offices something they could notice made it easy to recognize the impact Jonathan Willis piece on Ovechkin plus-minus Rob Vollman s Player Usage Charts, another example. Watch for zone starts, matchups Discover ideas by .wait for it .watching the game! Listen to players/announcers/analysts and question them
Writing for mainstream AP style BOLD USE FREAKING BOLD to separate ideas Don t write like lawyer Don t write down to audience, but simplify Use all mediums Vines/GIFs
Find a niche numbers guy at WGR turned into player evaluation guy If the Sabres were targeting a player, hosts would ask about him Find a focus, then expand maybe it s a team or part of the game Why should I consider you an authority or give a crap what you say? Find a way to add YOUR PERSONALITY to your writing
