Scorecasting

I was just reading the latest issue of Sports Illustrated (January 17, 2011) and came across an article called, "What's Really Behind Home Field Advantage?"  An interesting article that debunks myths such as home crowds and rigors of travel.  Much of the argument behind home teams winning more often lies with umpire bias especially with large professional crowds in attendance per the article.  I personally think this bias is the fix but definitely worth exploring.  The article is written by authors Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim who also wrote the book Scorecasting.  The authors use statistics to back their claims and as they say the numbers speak for themselves.  Once I have time to read "The Fix is In", I will most likely pick this up next.

NU says Lacrosse Final 4 Tainted

Five time defending women's NCAA lacrosse champions were upset in this years final late last month.  Northwestern claims the final four was tainted.  School officials point out that official Pat Dillon has a conflict of interest and should not have been officiating and possibly cost them the championship.  Pat Dillon's life partner is Maryland's head athletic trainer Sandy Worth also Northwesterns championship opponent.  In 2009 the ACC prevented Dillon from calling ACC games to avoid such conflicts of interest.  Northwestern was trailing Maryland 11-10 in the championship game and found momentum to tie the game until a questionable charging call from Dillon waved off the game tying goal.  Momentum swayed back to Maryland who won a close championship game 13-11.  Northwestern plans to achieve change to the process of assigning officials as there should be not question concerning a referee's bias, integrity and professionalism.