In sports, futures bets are a popular way for casual fans to get in on some sweet season-long action and casinos to take advantage of the eternal optimism of Cubs fans. What's more, future odds for next season are up mere minutes after the previous season ends. And while you can't place many entertainment-related bets in Vegas, you can certainly place them online. With all that in mind, The Feats of Strength proudly presents the first lines posted* for the sixth season of Mad Men.
* - God, I HOPE they're the first lines posted. What is wrong with you people?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Dutch Oven Overheats
Yea, and when the Philistines hath batted around in the inning, Maddux brother of Greg pulleth Holland and summoned yon reliever.
It's been a rough couple of weeks for Rangers starter Derek Holland. Just after Memorial Day, Holland made the anemic Seattle Mariners look like the '27 Yankees, giving up eight runs in less than two innings May 30. Just to prove it was no fluke, Holland labored through a five-inning start against the Oakland A's in the pitcher's haven that is the Oakland Coliseum.
The Rangers put Holland on the disabled list with a "fatigued shoulder" and blamed a stomach virus that saw "The Dutch Oven" drop some 15 pounds. But Grantland's Jonah Keri has the real story:
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tangled in the Rigging: Defending the NBA Draft Lottery
The NBA conference finals brings with it one of the best sideshows in sports: the NBA draft lottery, in which 14 grown men stand around awkwardly for half an hour to figure out how a bunch of ping pong balls bounced. We*, the viewing audience, are treated to a half-hour special containing some 15 minutes of talking heads speculating wildly, 2 minutes of commisioner David Stern reading franchise names, and 5 minutes of awkward interviews with team representatives. Fascinating.
* - Maybe "we" is the wrong pronoun; I mean, I didn't watch it.
But while the presentation of the lottery may not be especially compelling, the lottery itself sure is. The lottery teams (i.e., those that miss the playoffs) are ranked in inverse order of record, with the worst teams receiving the best chances of a high pick. So the team with the worst record has a 25% chance of winning the lottery, the second-worst team has a 19.9% chance of winning the lottery, and so on down to the 14th-worst team (the last team out of the playoffs) who has a 0.5% chance of winning the lottery. The whole list of probabilities for this year's draft is available here.
Some have argued (with varying degrees of seriousness) that the lottery system is rigged*, and point to the fact that the worst team in the league hasn't won a lottery since the Orlando Magic won and picked Dwight Howard in 2004. But I want to stress this again, because it's important: the team with the highest probability will still lose the lottery (i.e., not get the first overall pick) 75% of the time.
* - Maybe "we" is the wrong pronoun; I mean, I didn't watch it.
But while the presentation of the lottery may not be especially compelling, the lottery itself sure is. The lottery teams (i.e., those that miss the playoffs) are ranked in inverse order of record, with the worst teams receiving the best chances of a high pick. So the team with the worst record has a 25% chance of winning the lottery, the second-worst team has a 19.9% chance of winning the lottery, and so on down to the 14th-worst team (the last team out of the playoffs) who has a 0.5% chance of winning the lottery. The whole list of probabilities for this year's draft is available here.
Some have argued (with varying degrees of seriousness) that the lottery system is rigged*, and point to the fact that the worst team in the league hasn't won a lottery since the Orlando Magic won and picked Dwight Howard in 2004. But I want to stress this again, because it's important: the team with the highest probability will still lose the lottery (i.e., not get the first overall pick) 75% of the time.
Monday, May 7, 2012
...I mean, uh, ALBERT PUJOLS IS AWESOME AT BASEBALL
I typed up my most recent article, investigating the causes behind Albert Pujols' home run drought, with a growing sense of dread. Visions of Pujols homering in his first at bat Thursday night hung over my frantic analysis like some baseball bat of Damocles. I watched Thursday and Friday's games with bated breath.
Considering the power Pujols has displayed throughout his career, the fact that he made it until Sunday afternoon was as good as I could have hoped for. Plus, now I get to write an easy follow-up post whining about my miserable luck*.
After the home run, Keith Law tweeted that he couldn't wait for the whiplash-incuding speed with which the narrative on Pujols would change. As a free service to those busy producers of the talking head panel shows on ESPN, we here at The Feats of Strength wish to provide a general recipe for a ready-made Albert Pujols discussion.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
We're So Sorry, Uncle Albert
Albert Pujols would be very happy if we all just forgot about the last month of baseball.
Pujols signed a 10-year, $240M contract over the winter with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim*. The statistically-minded balked at the deal, which would pay him $30m in 2021, when Pujols will be 41 years old. Still, it wasn't hard to imagine that the deal could still be worthwhile, so long as Pujols crushed in the first half of the deal.
...Whoops. Pujols, projected by FanGraphs to hit 28 home runs this season, is still waiting for his first homer some 107 plate appearances into the season. That's the longest drought of the season, and naturally, everyone's asking, "What's wrong with The Machine?"
Pujols signed a 10-year, $240M contract over the winter with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim*. The statistically-minded balked at the deal, which would pay him $30m in 2021, when Pujols will be 41 years old. Still, it wasn't hard to imagine that the deal could still be worthwhile, so long as Pujols crushed in the first half of the deal.
...Whoops. Pujols, projected by FanGraphs to hit 28 home runs this season, is still waiting for his first homer some 107 plate appearances into the season. That's the longest drought of the season, and naturally, everyone's asking, "What's wrong with The Machine?"
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Bracket Showdown, Day 10: [Title Vacated]
With Kentucky's dismantling of Kansas in last night's national championship game, the first ever Feats of Strength Bracket Showdown has come to an end*. A comical 28 entries correctly put Kentucky on the final line. As I said on Twitter last night, I have never seen more experts pick the same team to win a championship -- and be correct -- in a long time. Then again, maybe I just haven't been paying attention.
Anyway, the Aluminum Pole for best performance** goes to Jerry Palm at CBS Sports, who picked 3 of the Final Four, both finalists, and Kentucky to win for a total of 146 points.
Congrats, Jerry; you've earned this.
Anyway, the Aluminum Pole for best performance** goes to Jerry Palm at CBS Sports, who picked 3 of the Final Four, both finalists, and Kentucky to win for a total of 146 points.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Bracket Showdown, Day 9: Domeward Bound
No one, they say, wants to hear about your fantasy sports teams or your bad gambling losses. At the risk of losing my one reader, then, I'll refrain from complaining about the Ohio State Buckeyes, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and cost me a shot at my bracket pool. Fortunately, I had the catharsis of the Bracket Showdown, so as the Buckeyes stood around bewildered on the Superdome floor, I grimly set to work tallying up the points from tonight's semifinals, drawing larger-than-usual X's through the incorrect predictions.
Let's move on, and see how our panel of experts fared in the Bracket Showdown. As usual, the rules of the showdown are here, and the updated scoreboard is here.
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