Ahead of the Curve - Inside the Baseball Revolution

Zusatztext  “This ain't your grandparents' baseball book.”  Informationen zum Autor Brian Kenny is an Emmy Award­–winning broadcaster and host for the MLB Network. The foremost proponent of analytics on sports television! he founded the first and only TV program devoted to sports analytics! Clubhouse Confidential . He currently hosts the daily panel shows MLB Now and MLB Tonight and is a columnist for Sports on Earth . Previous to his tenure at MLB! he spent fourteen years at ESPN hosting SportsCenter ! Baseball Tonight ! The HotList ! Friday Night Fights ! and The Brian Kenny Show on ESPN Radio and on NBC Sports Radio. Ahead of the Curve is his first book. Ahead of the Curve 1 The Herd “The group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thoughts it has impulses, habits and emotions.” —Edward Bernays, Father of Modern Public Relations There is safety in the pack. One must understand this to completely understand why it is so difficult to act independently. To adopt new methods is not just to stray from the pack, but to mock the herd itself. For this, there are repercussions. The herd—large, powerful, belligerent—has ways to deal with rogue operatives. In football, a sport seen as a quasi-military exercise, innovative head coach Bill Walsh was routinely called a “genius.” It was done as a tribute to his creative play calling. In baseball, a sport laden with tradition, innovative manager Tony La Russa was also referred to as a “genius.” It was done to mock him. Football culture, unlike baseball culture, has welcomed the idea of “intelligence” as a tactical practice. It’s seen as necessary, even manly. Coaches are lauded for “attacking” in new ways, like a brilliant general. Yet even in football, the herd mentality is difficult to shake. ESPN.com ’s excellent columnist Gregg Easterbrook once asked Don Shula if there was an innovation left in football. Shula said, “Someday there will be a coach that doesn’t punt.” Over the last decade, the practice of mindless punting has decreased. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, though, has been able to maintain an almost automatic advantage over other clubs by frequently going for it on fourth down. David Romer, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, churned out a mind-blowing study on the folly of incessant punting in 2005. Studying NFL data, Romer concluded you should go for it on fourth down in the following circumstances: 1. Inside your opponent’s territory, on fourth and seven or less. 2. Inside your opponent’s 33, on fourth and 10 or less. 3. Fourth and four or less, anywhere on the field. So, given the statistics, why do NFL coaches keep punting? Because that is what has always been done. In life and in sports, it’s easier to stay within the herd and fail than go out on your own and succeed. An innovative coach can insulate himself from a herd backlash by winning, but woe to him when the pendulum swings. If he begins to lose, he will not be “one of the guys.” Going against the herd is not a career path for the timid. Reverential of its tradition, the baseball culture eyes innovation even more warily. The baseball equivalent to punting is bunting. Both are seen as automatic moves. Let’s set the scene. The leadoff man gets on. You have a choice, let your next batter hit away or have him bunt. The manager stands on the top step, giving the sign to bunt. The batter squares up, the fielders are in motion, and the runner is primed to move. Here is the skipper, the leader of men, taking matters into his own hands, initiating a lot of action, with his players fully engaged. U...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Brian Kenny
• Editore: Simon & Schuster USA
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 31.07.2016, ritardato
• EAN: 9781501106330
• ISBN: 978-1-5011-0633-0
• Pagine: 512
• Categoria: Guide e manuali > Sport > Sport di palla