I'm a massive football fan, so when Ladbrokes approached me and asked me to take a look at the statistics, I jumped at the chance.
Analytics, math, science has gone into a lot of different areas of the NBA.
We just kind of relied on written scouting reports through the eighties and even the early nineties. I've really been amazed by some of the data that's out there, especially with regards to tendencies of hitters, and certainly tendencies of pitchers as well. I would have loved to have gotten that data when I played.
I'll look at stats after a game to see the work I've done in different areas.
When I was growing up, I always had the dream of being an analyst for a minor league baseball team or something like that.
I'm not a big 'Moneyball' fan.
In terms of merit, sports has mathematical statistics. That's how you know who the best player is.
The company I invested in is probably a leader in that area. They're a company called Second Spectrum, which happens to be based in LA but was started by two USC computer-science professors. It's filled with guys who love sports, who played sports, but really look like programmers.
Whether baseball or football, we're tasked in front offices with making decisions under uncertainty. How do you corral that uncertainty in a way to make more consistently better decisions? That's very similar.
If you start thinking about stats it can get too complicated and you just have to go out there and play your game.
Teams are trying to get the advantage over the other team by what kind of reads we can get, how can we measure guys if they're tired - all these things.
Baseball fans love numbers. They love to swirl them around their mouths like Bordeaux wine.
I understand what sabermetrics get across, and what they're getting across is to keep it simple. Especially for me, as a pitcher, that's something that helps me - finding ways to keep it simple. Numbers can only tell so much.
In baseball you have terrific data and you can be a lot more creative with it.
I'm not a fan of analytics. When I was a kid, I couldn't tell you what percentage Allen Iverson shot, or Michael Jordan.
None of us are claiming that the statistical analysts understand the game of football as well as the football coaches do, or that our analysis should take precedence over the informed opinions of experts. I'm not saying that at all.
Years ago, you never concerned yourself with pitch counts. Now, with statistics telling you that between this number and that number bad things happen to this particular pitcher, you have to pay attention to it. The bullpen has become a huge part of what happens now.
Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the life of a footballer, and I guess that is true across most sports now.
Every NBA arena has six cameras in the ceiling. The question is what does the software do with video feeds? How to surface that in a set of analytics? There are some "playbooks," but in most sports these days what you really want to share out with coaches and players is a set of video that lets you visualize what's going on and what's the best way to do things.
I look at film, but more than watching individual players, I'm trying to watch a team's whole offensive scheme. I'm trying to know their tendencies so I can... guess. That's what it comes down to, really, making the best guess.
I like Billy Beane for the fact that he - his idiosyncrasies, that he can't watch the games without getting too emotional, that he often has food down his shirt, that he tends to break a few chairs now and then. I mean, these things make him human.
I'd like to run a professional football team. I'd love to run the USTA, be the sports editor of the 'New York Times.'
As I've become a professional, I just feel more pressure to produce, to score goals and get assists. I know I'm a good player, but it gives evidence of how good you are if you're able to look at how many passes you've made in a game or how many chances you create. It's in the books. It's become more about stats as I've become a professional.
What I seek is the highest possible batting average.
When I was younger, I thought maybe one day I'd be involved in sport in terms of career.
