Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Back in the old days, before this box-like object called a computer, you couldn't get inside sports like you could now. Sure, there was the game story in the newspaper, the occasional talking head on television and the blabbering columnist obsessed with one-sentence paragraphs, but none of those guys really took you inside the game.
But now, thanks to computers, the Internet and the exploding sports blogosphere, you can analyze important topics like whether Oklahoma City's James Harden plays better with a headband. Yes, really. Thunder blog The Daily Thunder crunches the numbers and reaches this conclusion.
As we see, Harden turns into a sharpshooter when wearing the sweat-catcher. He jumps 17 percent from the free throw line and 7.6 percent from 3. He also goes up 1.2 percent from the field but in such a small sample size, I don't think that matters. (I guess in reality, none of this matters, but alas.) And with the band, Harden gets to the line more (2.4 to 3.2 free throw attempts a game). Overall, with the headband, Harden is just a more productive player. And the most important thing, the team is 5-4 when he wears it.
Us sports fans in 2010 are spoiled. What can I say?
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