First, hello all. I currently live in Georgia, but I am moving to Houston this weekend for a new job. I am all for adopting the Texans as my second team (sorry, Stafford's Lions come first) and really most other Houston teams.My other teams are White Sox, UGA, and Clippers...so I don't think there is any bad blood there.

So I know nothing about Houston, and figured that the best place to really get advice on things is a SB Nation blog, so here I am. So, what areas should I consider living? I'm looking at downtown, the heights, and the woodlands. I really want to be where a lot of other single young professionals are...and of course be close to sports venues. I will be working near IAH airport, but I've heard that's not where you want to live. Here are some other questions I have that maybe you can help me with:

• is the traffic really that much worse than other places, like atlanta?
• is the toll road worth it if i will be driving from downtown to north of town daily?
• where are the best places to meet people?
• how do I not look like an outsider?

Really though, anything yall think I might need to know in my grand adventure of becoming a Texas girl would be great.

Thanks!

Feel free to also add me to the list of people on notice this week for being behind on posts. I promise I will make up for my lateness with some new extra in-depth analysis. First things first though, here are how the numbers ended up in the LSU game.

1. Kicks Attempted: 1- Lose by 7
2. Kickoffs: 2- Lose by 25
3. Kickoff yards: 140- Lose by 24
4. UGA's 3rd Down Conversions: 7- Win by 18
5. Rushing TD's: 0- Win by 1
6. Length of game: 3:56- Lose by 19
7. UGA's Total Offense: 296- Lose by 3
8. Yards off Interceptions: 0- Win by 2
9. UGA's 1st Downs: 19- Win by 8
10. Rushing Yards: 78- Lose by 8

For those of you keeping count at home, that is an average loss by 6 points. Remembering that we had two dropped touchdowns, a missed field goal, and a few missed block in the back penalties on a LSU return TD that didn't actually cross the goal line; that number is pretty close(accounting for all of that puts us losing by only 8). We did have more first downs, total yards, and 3rd down conversions than LSU usually allows, so there is your moral victory. Oh yeah, and we held them without a first down in the entire first half. I know it went downhill quick after that, but it is worth mentioning again just for the dominance it reflects. The statistician in me was doing cartwheels around the living room with numbers like that(note: actual cartwheels may have also happened if i didn't live in a small apartment)

As promised, with the extra time in-between the end of the season and bowl games, I took a more in depth at the reported statistics. I converted lots of stats to percentages of total( ex. % of passes that ended as an INT, % of downs that were 1st downs), looked at averages(yards per rushing attempt), and found differences between our performance and our opponents(turnover margin, difference in rushing yards). These numbers are a much better reflection of our team's performance because it eliminates some of the obvious correlations like kicking being important, when it is really that kicking follows scoring of some type.

More than you ever wanted/needed to know about football stats after the break :

Continue reading this post »

Alright....first things first. Here is how last weeks game numbers added up:

1. Extra Points: 4- Win by 16
2. Kickoffs: 6- Win by 10
3. Kickoff Yards: 396- Win by 10
4. UGA's 3rd Down Conversions: 4- Lose by 1
5. Rushing TD's: 0- Lose by 2
6. Length of Game: 3:14- Win by 22
7. Yards Off Interceptions: 0- Tie
8. UGA's 1st Downs: 18- Win by 4
9. UGA Total Offense: 380- Win by 9
10. Rushing Yards: 128- Win by 2

For those of you keeping score at home, the numbers predicted a win by a TD on average. In reality, we won by two TDs. Alright, who is showing off and messing up my numbers? Oh, our sophomore QB and his go to receivers, most of whom are freshmen. Well then, I guess that's ok.

As for the big game this week, what was important then is important now. As a matter of fact, the top 10 includes the exact same cast of characters as last week, just in a slightly new order. For those of you that think that pessimism works well for Georgia, LSU's numbers will make you feel warm and fuzzy. And since its SEC Championship week I stepped up my game and decided to look a little deeper into the numbers at the end of the article.

Continue reading this post »

First off I would just like to point out that my model from last weeks article was within a point of predicting the score differential based on Kentucky's season averages. There's something to be said for numbers when they are looked at in way too much depth. So here is how the numbers look based on last weeks game:

1. Extra Points Attempted: 1- Lose by 11
2. Yards off Interceptions: 52- Win by 54
3. Kickoffs: 6- Win by 10
4. Kickoff Yards: 405- Win by 12
5. Rushing TDs: 0- Lose by 5
6. UGA 3rd Down Conversions: 7- Win by 18
7. Fumbles Recovered: 2- Win by 35
8. Length of game: 3:26- Win by 20
9. UGA 1st Downs: 16- Lose by 5
10. UGA's Total Offense: 317- Lose by 3

At the end of the day we should have won by 12. We came frighteningly close to this being reality. Had Bogotay not missed that field goal the numbers would line up perfectly. Hows that for a good model?

Since the model is only getting stronger as the year goes on(bigger sample size and all) we can be more certain about the numbers lining up with reality. So what is most important to beating tech? How likely is it that we win the battle of clean old fashioned hate? all this and more after the break!

Continue reading this post »

Before we jump into the stats relevant to getting to the Dome, lets go over how we WON the Deep South's Oldest(and most intense and dirty) Rivalry:

1. Yards off Interceptions: 24- Win by 21
2. Extra Points: 6- Win by 29
3. Rushing TD's: 1- Win by 6
4. Auburn's 3rd Down Attempts: 11- Lose by 23
5. Kickoffs: 8- Win by 26
6. Yards on Kickoffs: 547- Win by 30
7. UGA's 3rd Down Conversions: 12- Win by 53
8. Length of Game: 3:15- Win by 19
9. Passing Completions: 14- Lose by 2
10. Fumbles Recovered by UGA: 2- Win by 34

By the numbers we should have won by 19. We all know we won by much much more than that. I like to think the other half of the points between us and our orange rivals were karma points showing up as actual points. We knew those would come in handy eventually and I cant think of a better team to cash them in against.

So now onto what is most important in beating Kentucky and winning the SEC East!

Continue reading this post »

First lets recap last weekends game that included 3 guys phonetically named Brandon scoring TDs. Anytime I can report something like that you know it is a weird game. Here are the numbers:

1. Opponent's Yards on Offense: 402- Lose by 13
2. Kickoffs: 9- Win by 63
3. UGA Rushing Td's: 3- Win by 35
4. UGA's Yards off Interceptions: 51- Win by 53
5. Opponent's 3rd Down Attempts: 16- Win by 40
6. UGA's 3rd Down Conversions: 8- Win by 22
7. Opponent's 1st Downs: 19- Lose by 2
8. Opponent's Plays on Offense: 67- Win by 1
9. Opponent's Passing Yards: 276- Lose by 7
10. UGA Kickoff Yards: 625- Win by 37

On average, according to the most important statistics, we win by 23. In reality we won by 47. Most of these stats are skewed due to the fact that almost every guy on the UGA sideline played. We should have won and we did, simple as that.

As I was watching the game Saturday all I could think of was how much it was going to skew all the stats for my weekly analysis. But as a good little statistician, I am going to run the numbers as is and report on the findings. 

Beating Auburn is a big deal(and for some of us Dawg fans...the biggest deal). A win would mean a bunch of wonderful things: SEC Championship game, going undefeated against all SEC teams that wear orange, put us within 1 game of tying the series, and making sure that Auburn knows where they stand.

Here is where you ask "Well that all sounds swell, but just how do we go about winning the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry?" No, its not black jerseys(but boy was that a fun game) nor is it sic'ing Uga on the Auburn boys. Here is what our Dawgs need to focus on to ensure a win:

Continue reading this post »

Can I first say how wonderful it feels to be reporting on the numbers behind UGA's win over Florida.

So, here's how the stats from last week played out in the big game:

1. Florida's Yards on Offense: 226- Win by 20
2. Florida's Plays on Offense: 56- Win by 34
3. UGA's Yards off Interceptions: 0- Lose by 8
4. Fumbles recovered by UGA: 2- Win by 46
5. Kickoff's by UGA: 3- Win by 5
6. UGA Rushing TD's: 1- Win by 5
7. Florida's 3rd Down Attempts: 13- Win by 3
8. Florida's 1st Downs: 11- Win by 23
9. UGA's Plays on Offense: 83- Win by 35
10. UGA's 3rd Down Conversions: 7- Win by 18

Notice a trend? Winning! We should have won by 18 according to the 10 most important stats, and we acutally won by 4. But with the Florida game its not the amount you win by, its the win that counts. I was there and I can promise you it felt amazing!

Continue reading this post »

First, as promised, here is how the numbers from last weeks How to Win article held up in the Vanderbilt game.

1. Punts: 2- Win by 86

2. Fumbles Recovered: 1- Win by 26

3. Opponent's Offense Yards: 349- Lose by 4

4. Rushing TDs: 0- Lose by 17

5. Number of 3rd down Conversions: 8- Win by 29

6. Opponent's # of 3rd down Attempts: 12- Lose by 17

7. Defensive Yards from Interceptions: 18- Win by 16

8. Opponents # of Offensive Plays: 67- Tie

9. Kickoffs: 8- Win by 31

10. Opponent's # of 1st downs: 19- Lose by 3

So if you average that out, we were predicted to win by 15. We only won by 5. Moral of the story, we win.

Now, an updated list of importance going into the most important game (Funny how much one game changes things, especially when we play like a totally different team). Added this week is a specific look at how Florida stacks up:

Continue reading this post »

Well here we are halfway through the regular season, with a 4-2 record. Those of us here on Dawgsports have a tendency to be very opinionated about what will get our boys a win and what will send us home with the shape of a L on our foreheads…and record books.

I decided to set the records straight. I have looked at all the team statistics that UGA keeps for each game. After running an analysis on the effect of 81 different stats on the scoring differential, I now present you with a guide for what effects the outcome of a UGA Saturday

First let’s talk about what is the most important. I will give you these in order of importance. Keep in mind that I just let the numbers talk and then give my input as to why I think the numbers are what they are:

Continue reading this post »

Thats right, we SSS peeps are playing fantasy football again this year. We only had 6 teams return from last year so there are up to 8 spots open! And yes, you could be one of the lucky few to join the madness. First come first serve

League ID: 257095

Password: whitesox

Ready....set....JOIN!

Draft is this Sunday at 4pm EDT. Fairly standard roster, PPR with a few slight alterations.

*note: if less than 8 people join, i will drop the league to whatever number we have.

I just wanted to come by and say congrats to everyone on this blog for being fans of a team who made the classiest move in sports that I have seen in a long time. I just graduated from the University of Georgia where I have watched Jonathan Taylor(we call him JT) play for the past 3 years. I watched him steal bases on the diamond and steal girls hearts downtown(kid has swag). He is a great kid that a horrible thing happened to. Although I had only met him a couple times, the day that he collided with his friend(Zach Cone, which by the way, congrats on him too) in the outfield, I cried. It was particularly hard to watch knowing that another player on the team had been paralized just last year. JT is fighting hard and we follow his story daily, as I'm sure some of you have started to.

Given all that has happened, when I saw his name come up online on the draft board I lost it again. This time though it was tears and laughter and joy. JT was an incredible baseball player and through his strong character and will, I will not be surprised to see him walk again. The Rangers will never know what it meant to him to be drafted. And I can promise you this, the Rangers just gained a bunch of fans wearing Red and Black.

*Im sorry this isnt very well written or witty and fun, but its hard to put something like this into words.

So today at 7pm I will become an alumni of our beloved university. I have never been so proud of myself and as terrified and excited about the future. As I was counting down to graduation I made a list of my top 15 memories while a student at UGA. I thought I would share them with you all since some of them are sports related.

1. the first time we played glory my freshman year in the band room- i say we played, but i just sat there and smiled ear to ear in shock and happiness. for those of you that have not had the honor of hearing this, just imagine the redcoat band playing like they were in Sanford but being in a enclosed room. in that moment i knew i was a Dawg forever.
   
2. the china trip- that trip changed who i am. i am now hooked on international travel. but the biggest thing that changed me on that trip was realizing that no matter what race, religion, political beliefs, or culture...people are just people. I believe in the general good of humanity.
   
3. pledging SAI- those 10 weeks were some of my favorite time as UGA. nothing says sisterhood like scrapbook sleepovers and red book dancing.
   
4. the blackout- the original blackout vs. Auburn. when they came out of that tunnel wearing black the stadium was beyond crazy. and then we got an interception on the first play from scrimmage. Epic game!
   
5. the 07 Florida game- Yeah, that was the touchdown celebration game. Yeah, i was there. and yeah, it was awesome!
6. The Georgia Center crew- who knew that such a random group of individuals would all come together by working at the G Cent and become an inseparable group of friends. they are a big part of who i am.
   
7. Beckham's final HR in the super-regional- it was one of those sports moments you don't ever forget. "I don't wanna lose your love tonight" was blasting from the house on the hill the rest of the game
   
8. Working at the airport- i didn't know how much i loved aviation until i worked there. is has been the best job. I look forward to work every day and don't mind staying late. I LOVE my job!
   
9. The sec baseball tournament- 4 days of non-stop baseball. pretty sure that's what heaven is. if not, im not going.
   
10. The summer I spent at arch bar- great people, lots of baseball, and just being a college girl
    
11. sec championship freshman year- I will always remember how quiet all those LSU fans got after DJ Shockley showed out.
    
12. Last minute road trip in 06- A fantastic weekend with great friends
    
13. the post valentines party every year- gotta love a party where you are encouraged to dress like you are in a rap video.
    
14. seeing someone pulled over by a bike cop my first night of college- hello real world!
    
15. GORP trips- i went caving, kayaking, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing. Best PE class ever!

and with that, Congrats to the class of 2011....WE DID IT!

I hate to post sad things on here, but right now a UGA baseball player needs all the positive thoughts he can get.

In today's baseball game two UGA outfielders collided diving for a ball. Zach Cone made the catch and eventually left the field with trainer assistance and only suffered a cut forehead and possible concussion. The other player, Johnathan Taylor, was eventually taken off the field in an ambulance and taken to the local hospital with a serious neck injury. There isnt any more information on his injury at the time because they are still doing tests at the hospital. He is strong, but this is a very serious injury, and he needs all the help he can get.

This is especially hard since the UGA baseball roster already includes a player restricted to a wheelchair after being paralyzed in a scooter accident only a year ago. The whole team and Bulldog Nation is having a hard time with the potential for another life changing injury.

I will post updates as i get them, but in the mean time please take a minute to send some positive energy to a member of the baseball family.

My path to becoming a Georgia fan is a little different than most. I first was a fan of the University. I started coming to Janfest my freshman year of highschool. It is a 4-day music performance festival where band students that have been recommended by their directors come and perform in one of 7 bands. The whole thing is very similar to Allstate Band(for anyone familiar with that), but on a bigger scale, since there are 7 bands instead of 2. This was my first time performing with such a talented group and with such an incredible staff. I knew on day two of the festival freshman year that I wanted to come to UGA and study music.

I did early acceptance, and would have gotten in early had they not lost the teacher recommendations from my highschool. I had a killer letter from a UGA player from the 1980 team, who is current Dawg Chad Gloer's dad. About a month late I got my acceptance letter, and cried on my front porch.

Since I was in the school of music, I was automatically accepted into Redcoats. This was back when Redcoats was fun. The director looked like Steve Carell, how could we go wrong. I dont know if other people understand how hard the band practices...and parties! Band camp consists of practice from 9-8 every day for a week in the dead of summer. The part that most people really dont know is that there is a party every night during this week. Work all day, play all night, sleep later. My first night in college, on the way home from the party, i saw a guy get tackled by a bike cop and saw another guy arrested for cocaine. Talk about a welcome to the real world.

So now to where i become a full blown Georgia fan. My first game day was as a student/redcoat. I had never been to a college football game before I was a student at UGA. My first Dawgwalk was awful. There were some really drunk guys behind me that were intent on high-fiving the players and making me feel really uncomfortable in the process. The band are the security guards between the crazy drunk fans and the players at this beloved tradition. Yes we get a front row view, but its not an easy job. Be nice to us. Luckily that was my only bad Dawgwalk.

I cannot tell you the defining moment in which I became a UGA football fan, but by the end of that year I could name you most of the depth chart and tell you about video of the new recruits. I still only focused my efforts on the football team. It was not until my junior year that i became a full blown UGA fanatic.

Continue reading this post »

After watching a few frustrating games over the past few days i have needed an alternate source of White Sox entertainment. And yes, i know i am a dork for finding stats fun/interesting. Figure i would give you all a random sampling of the things i looked at and the results.

First I wanted to look at some things concerning ozzie-ball. I wanted to see what things improve or hurt each batter's game time and if these supported what ozzie claims to value. Here is what i found based on a selection process where only values that are significant to a model to predict game appearances are used. Only four statistics were significant: r, 2b, 3b, and ops+ (obp+slg). Every triple increases the number of game appearances by a little over 9 games and a double gets them an extra 1.5 games. Each run scored also scores them an extra game appearance. The only factor that subtracts from game appearances is OPS+, although not by much. This seems to confirm that Ozzie does in fact favor players who play ozzie ball by hitting extra base hits (excluding hr's) and those players that score runs (although not the people who get the rbi's). He value hits and speed more than power hitting or patience.

Next I wanted to look at what makes Ozzie go to the bullpen. I found the pitching stats for each game and built a model of numbers of pitchers used. There are many more statistics that are significant in this model compared to batting. Besides the obvious stats that would effect number of pitchers used such as pitch count and number of batters faced, the significant stats were(in order of significance): inherited runners, HR's, doubles allowed, opponent stolen bases, GIDP, and K's. The effect of each of these stats on number of pitchers used is where I was surprised. Number of pitches, K's, batters faced, inherited runners, stolen bases and GIDP all increased the chance of seeing extra pitchers. The only two statistics the decreased the chance of seeing additional pitchers were hr's allowed and doubles allowed. One could go as far as thinking that hr's and 2b's would lead to a high score for the opponent, which usually means a loss, so why waste the bullpen? But as a rule of statistics, if you have to go that far to explain something it usually is not the real reason. As for what the reason is, you will have to ask Ozzie, replay his answer 10 times to translate it, and then post it here.

That is all for now, i will continue to look at other things as they come up. just thought this would be a good starting point, as the concept of ozzie-ball has been a hot topic on SSS.

Yahoo League: SSS Football Duel

League ID: 117259

Password: whitesox

20 teams, first come first serve, live draft on Sat Aug 28 at 2pm

Roster

QB, WR, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, W/R, K, DEF, IR, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN

 Slightly altered scoring with bonuses for total yards and fractional points for completions/touches

and just to be clear....YOU MUST STAY ACTIVE AND MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO BE PRESENT FOR THE DRAFT!

I was thinking of putting together a SSS fantasy football league on yahoo, but wanted to find out interest level first so i know how many teams to put in the league. Also taking suggestions for roster size, IDP vs team defense, nontraditional scoring, etc.  We would draft at the end of august, live draft, and you have to be there unless the sky is falling. Oh, and stay active for the season, but thats a given.

Anyways, who wants in?

The final results were announced earlier this week in the This Year in Baseball Awards. The Sox were represented in 4 categories, and one of them had multiple nominees. Here is how they did in their respective categories. I will just present the stats and let yall discuss how you feel about the outcomes. So without further ado, the winners (and losers) are:

- Rookie of the Year-

• JA Happ - 47%
• Andrew Mccutchen - 9.4%
• Tommy Hanson - 9%
• Chris Coghlan - 7.1%
• Rick Porcello/Gordon Beckham - 6%

- Setup Man of the Year

• Jeremy Affeldt - 24.8
• Phil Hughes - 19%
• Matt Guerrier - 12.1%
• Luke Gregerson - 10.1%
• CJ Wilson - 7.9%
• Matt Thornton - 6.8%

- Performance of the Year

• Mark Buehrle (Perfect game) - 29.8%
• Jonathan Sanchez (No hitter) - 13.3%
• Carl Crawford (4/4, 2B, 2R, 6SB, BB) - 11%
• Ian Kinsler (Cycle, 6/6, 5R, 4RBI, SB) - 10.7%
• Chris Carpenter (W, 5IP, 0ER; GS, 6RBI) - 9.8%
• Adam Lind (3/5, 2HR, 2B, 3R, 8RBI) - 9%
• Troy Tulowitzki (Cycle, 5/5, 2R, 7RBI) - 7.1%
• Yovani Gallardo (W, 8IP, 0ER, 11K, HR) - 4.9%
• Paul Konerko (3/4, 3HR, 7RBI) - 3.1%

- Play of the Year

• Dewayne Wise – 25%
• Eric Bruntlett – 18.4%

Other Category Winners

• Hitter of the Year: Joe Mauer  (.365, 28 HR, 96 RBIs)
• Starting Pitcher of the Year: Zack Greinke (16-8, 2.16 ERA, 242 Ks)
• Closer of the Year: Mariano Rivera (44 SV, 1.76 ERA)
• Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy (92-70, NL Wild Card)
• Executive of the Year: Ruben Amaro Jr. (93-69, NL East champs)
• Defensive Player of the Year: Jacoby Ellsbury (.994 FPCT)
• Unsung Star of the Year: Jayson Werth (36 HR, 99 RBIs, 20 SB)
• Moment of the Year: Derek Jeter (Passed Gehrig for NYY hits)
• Postseason Moment of the Year: Johnny Damon (WS Game 4)
• Oddity of the Year: Phillies fanatic (Dad's catch thrown back by daughter)

via multimedia.onlineathens.com

UGA honored Beckham after the first quarter at the UGA v. Auburn for his 2 Rookie of the Year awards.

The shirt Beckham is wearing is in support of Chance Veazey. He is a freshman at UGA, and was coming in expected to be a big time contributor to the UGA baseball team. He batted close to .450 in high school. A few weeks ago, Veazey was in an accident while leaving the student learning center. His scooter slid into the car that pulled out in front of him. He is now paralyzed from the waist down.

It is nice to see that Beckham is keeping up with his former team, and showing support like that. Where some players getting the kind of attention and money Beckham is would come back wearing some fancy designer suit, Beckham is not above sporting a t-shirt. The amount of support for Veazey has been incredible, and its nice to see the savior join in. If only he really could perform a miracle here.

oh, and please keep Veazey in your thoughts. He is strong and fighting hard to walk again, but he still needs any and all support he can get!

i.e. The Savior's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON!

"For to us a *star* is born, to us a *viable option at 3rd base* is given, and the *White Sox* will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Let's hope he uses his birthday karma to play the game of his life tonight and put himself firmly in first place for AL Rookie of the Year!