It's a World Cup Summer, But It's a Gus Johnson Spring

I had a great time in Las Vegas. It was my first time there, first time to the west coast; so it was an eye opening experience. It's a big world out there

I plan to write about some of my thoughts on America's Playground soon. I am still digesting a couple things, and trying to put my thoughts together.

For now, How F'ING good is Gus Johnson? He's so awesome. I can't believe he's not doing every game in every sport. The NCAA games he called were outstanding, with the Kansas St.-Xavier game being the highlight of the tournament. It was fitting that the best game was on Gus' watch. I was lucky to have stayed up to watch that whole game. It was vintage Gus. He had some amazing lines and explosions. What an awesome dude.

As excited as I am about the World Cup this June, I have come up with what I think is a cool idea. I would like all the Gus Johnson enthusiasts to try to do their part in my idea. The game is as follows: Incorporate and use Gus Johnson sayings all day everyday in your daily life. I posted a link on my Facebook account to a great Gus soundboard. Check it out. It's the best thing I have ever found on the internet. It's filled with unbelievable stuff. I can't say enough about this guy.

When you have a few minutes, go through them all and pick out some that you think fit you and friends the best. I know I have my favorites already. There are so many good ones, and all of them can be used in a bunch of funny inside your friends circle situations. WHEN THEY NEED BASKETS, THEY GO TO HIM! RISE AND FIRE!

There is my Tuesday good idea. Here is the link if you need it: www.gusjohnsongetsbuckets.com

Packing for Vegas

Checklist:

Balls
Wits
Nerves
Confidence
Alligator Blood
Alcohol Tolerance
2 Decent Pickup Lines
Pool/Beach Body (checkkkkkkk)
A Bag for All the Money

MIT Sports Analytics Conference

I was in Boston last weekend for Daryl Morey's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention Center. It was a really cool thing to be a part of. It was a great event. I met a lot of cool people, got to see what some of these guys are like up close, and got a lot out of the topics and discussions that were held throughout the course of the day. It was a very well run event.

Just to backtrack a bit, this conference is about the discussion of the emerging presence of analytics in sports. In English, to give a few examples, it's looking at little things like Rashard Lewis' 3 point percentage in the right side corner when he's unguarded, or the amount of deflections Trevor Ariza makes during a game. Same goes for baseball and football. Looking at small things like the ground Grady Sizemore can cover coming in on a ball, or Joe Thomas' matchup on the Browns bread and butter run play on 2nd and 9. Analytics is aimed at trying to find new and different measurements and statistics that can create value and advantages for a team. And they hope to transcend those advantages to encompass much more than the night to night happenings of a game. They can be used to evaluate personnel decsions, drafting players, measuring a certain lineups effectiveness, etc. I'm losing my point here, let's move on.

Guys I Met at the Conference (shook their hand and had a meaningful 1-2 minute talk with them)

Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy

Steve Kerr, GM Phoenix Suns

Daryl Morey, Host, GM of the Houston Rockets

Ric Bucher, NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Mark Stein (Steiny Mo), NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Henry Abbot, NBA Writer, TrueHoop, ESPN.com

Bill Polian, President, Indianapolis Colts

John Hollinger, NBA Writer, ESPN.com

Mike Zarren, Assistant GM, Boston Celtics

Brent Barry, Former NBA player

Aaron Shatz, Editor, Football Outsiders

Brian Kenny, ESPN Sportscenter Anchor

David Thorpe, NBA Player Skill Developer

Guys Hands I Shook at the Conference (Just a quick "what's up)

Mark Cuban, Owner, Dallas Mavericks

Avery Johnson, Former NBA Coach

Michael Lewis, Author, Moneyball, The Blind Side

Kevin Pritchard, GM Portland Trail Blazers

Darren Rovell, CNBC Sports Business

Dean Oliver, Denver Nuggets Analytics Guy

Buck Showalter, Former MLB Skipper

A GREAT IDEA FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS

HAPPY FRIDAY PEEPS. I am getting ready to go to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. It should be an interesting event. I am excited to see what happens. For those of you who don't know, this is a sports conference hosted by Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets. He's in my top 3 favorite GMs in the NBA. Smart guy. He's an MIT guy, who started working for Bill James in the late 80s early 90s at STATS INC. And he has kinda brought the moneyball type thinking that Bill James revolutionized baseball with to the NBA. And now, it has kind of taken a life of its own, with almost every team devoting some man power to dissecting and analyzing small unorthodox statistics looking for that secret sauce. And that's what this MIT Sports Analytics Conference is all about: it's a forum to discuss the increasing role of statistical analytics in sports, and brings together some of the leaders of the movement for a great discussion.

BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I HAVE FOR YOU TODAY. Today I have a great idea. A useful idea. An idea that you can use with your buddies. An idea that you can use with women.

With all the fuss in NFL Free Agency, and the pending NBA Summer of 2010 Free Agent class, the idea of using NBA and NFL contracts to talk about girls just popped into my head driving home yesterday. I sent a weird text to a couple of my buddies to see whether the idea had any validity. All of them signed off. I feel like you can use this in a lot of ways. Here it is.

Let's say you meet a girl tonight. You too hit it off. Good energy is happening. You report back to your group of friends who have been watching intently. They ask you about it. You say, "Ehh yea I feel like she's a candidate for a 10 day contract."

You meet a 10 downtown at lunch. She's babe-zilla, has it all working. You shoot a text to a couple of your buddies: I THINK I JUST MET A MAX PLAYER! I THINK SHE'S WORTH RASHARD LEWIS TYPE MONEY!

You get the picture. If things are going well with your new lady, maybe you sign her to the vaunted second 10 day contract. Maybe you've been with a girl for a month and you're trying to figure out what the future holds. Is she worth a first and third rounder tender? Are trade talks off the table? Can you work out a sign and trade with one of her friends? Can you extend her for the summer? What if you're in with a girl that you can't get rid of: I CAN'T GET OUT OF THIS CONTRACT, IT'S LIKE BRIAN CARDINAL OR JERMAINE O'NEAL!

There is just a lot of funny ways you can use this. Whether you have a girl playing for the mid-level exception due this summer, or you terminate a contract because she violated the character clauses set forth in her contract. Or even worse, maybe she has not hit the bed room incentives part of her contract, it's all gravy and great chatter for you and your buddies. Maybe you have a lady friend and you find yourself buying her crap all the time: THIS CHICK IS PUTTING ME OVER THE LUXURY TAX!

I think you can attack a girl with this at a bar too. I think you can really put a girl on her toes with it. You can go in directly for the kill with: "I would like to sign you to a one night contract." You can temporarily disqualify them with: "I think you're great but I don't think you're worth a top 10 money yet. What else do you have going for you?" You have to tread lightly with it, but if you can disqualify them and make them qualify themselves back to you with reasons why they deserve a lucrative contract, it could be something new and interesting that they appreciate.

Happy Friday. Go out and find that max player.

NFL COMBINE HYPNOSIS

I love the NFL Combine. It's one of my favorite events to watch and monitor. Over the years, it has taken on a life of its own. The NFL Network takes you inside of it and lets you see everything. I really enjoy watching it. I monitored it all weekend, with periods of being in a hypnotic trance and watching it for long periods of time. For something so simple and systematic, it can be really entertaining.

For the sake of argument, I am going to put myself through the combine drills throughout this week. I want to know where I stack up with some of the prospects in this year's draft class. I will report back my test results as soon as I can. I am trying to figure out how I am going to measure vertical. Other than that I should be in good shape to get them all done.