Applied Sports Science newsletter – November 3, 2018

… But there’s an argument to be made that many are simply looking at the 20-year-old the wrong way. [Frank Ntilikina] may be the pro basketball version of Benjamin Button, a player whose skills age and develop in reverse, with defensive mastery coming before offensive. Once fans accept that possibility, they may be able to better enjoy the unique talent they have on their hands.

Those underwhelmed by Ntilikina would point to his rookie season, in which he averaged 5.9 points a night and hit just 38.5 percent of his shots from 2-point range, one of the worst marks for a first-year player1 over the past 15 seasons, according to Basketball-Reference.com. (It’s early, but so far, he’s on pace to do the same this season, shooting 38.7 percent on 2-pointers.)

… The basketball world is now flat. Every international player who’s good enough in Europe attempts to prove himself in the NBA. Some become Dirk Nowitzki and the Gasol brothers. Some become tourists and head back home. But they all come.

Llull is the one exception, and it’s not because he’s not good enough. NBA executives discuss his talent and moxie in wistful, almost mythical tones. The league’s general managers named the Real Madrid point guard the No. 1 international player outside the NBA before this season, and every other player at the top of their annual surveys over the last decade eventually crossed the ocean.

But in a recent interview on a rainy day in Spain, Llull repeated the message he’s sent to the Rockets for years: He’s not planning to leave Madrid.

“It’s home,” said Llull, who is 30. “I came here when I was 19 years old. I was a kid. I grew up here as a player and person. I’m really happy to be here, and this is the place I want to be

… In August, there were questions about whether Peterson could still play; now he’s the lead back for a division leader, on pace to rush for more than 1,300 yards. He has 587 rushing yards and four touchdowns in seven games.

If he rushes for 1,000 yards, he’d be the fifth player in history to reach that figure at age 33. A lot of backs are hoping that he does, including the last one to do so — Frank Gore, who topped that total two years ago with Indianapolis.

Taylor rushed for more than 1,000 yards at ages 30 and 31. Tiki Barber rushed for 1,662 yards at age 31 — and then retired. Eric Dickerson didn’t crack 1,000 yards in his 30s, but he’s the one in the Hall of Fame.

All four backs weighed in on Peterson’s renaissance season.

With wearable fitness trackers becoming the norm among recreational athletes, more of us know at any instant what our heart rate is during workouts. What we might not know is what that data means. That’s a shame, because basing your workout intensity on your heart rate can be a great way to meet your exercise goals. “Heart-rate training gives you objective guidance on whether you’re on the right track, pushing too hard or taking it too easy,” says Janet Hamilton, an Atlanta-area running coach. Here’s what you need to know about training by heart rate.

… One of the most practical ways to automate good habits is to look for onetime choices that require a little bit of effort up front but create increasing value over time.

I’m fascinated by these single choices that can deliver returns again and again. Not long ago, I surveyed my readers on their favorite onetime actions that lead to better long-term habits.

OBJECTIVE:

The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a battery of 7 unloaded tests designed to rate human movement competency. Injury rates vary across the different level of a sport. The purpose of this critical review was to determine whether normative FMS composite scores differ across high school, collegiate, and professional athletic populations and to determine whether normative composite scores correlate with rates of severe injury across different collegiate sports.
DATA SOURCES:

PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases from inception to September 2017 with the following syntax: “functional movement screen*” OR “movement screen*”. Additional records were identified by citation tracking and hand search of articles.
STUDY SELECTION:

A total of 708 records identified, of which 36 were included. Studies were included if they reported a FMS composite score for one of the groups.
DATA EXTRACTION:

Two reviewers (T.R.P. and F.K.) screened records for the author and year; sample size; study design; sport(s); number, age, and sex of participants; testing conditions; methodological quality; and mean or median composite score(s).
DATA SYNTHESIS:

Normative FMS composite scores were invariant to level of play, with 61% of reported scores falling between 14 and 16, despite injury rates increasing by level of play. Scores for high school, college, and professional athletes were 14.1, 14.8, and 15.7, respectively. There was a significant positive relationship between composite scores and rate of severe injury in college sports (r(11) = 0.66, P = 0.014).
CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings potentially undermine the FMS’s predictive validity. Although the FMS may have other applications, this critical review provides further evidence against the composite score for injury prediction in competitive athletes.

OBJECTIVES:

To examine potential intrinsic risk factors that may contribute to the onset of jumper’s knee in elite level-male volleyball players.
DESIGN:

Prospective Cohort Study.
SETTING:

Varsity and National team volleyball gymnasiums.
PARTICIPANTS:

Sixty elite adult male volleyball players from Canada.
ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS:

Players completed a series of risk factor assessments at the commencement of their seasons, including vertical jump (cm), ankle dorsiflexion range (degrees), dynamic balance (normalized distance reached; cm), dynamic knee alignment (degrees), and landing mechanics (degrees).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:

Self-reported knee problems, captured via short message service.
RESULTS:

Knee problem prevalence was 75% [95% confidence intervals (CIs): 62.2-84.6] and the incidence rate for substantial injuries over the study period was 30 injuries/100 players/season (95% CI: 19.5-43.1). No risk factor was found to significantly predict the future occurrence of developing jumper’s knee. The odds ratios were close to unity (range: 0.94-1.07) with narrow confidence intervals and P > 0.05.
CONCLUSIONS:

A more sensitive capture of overuse knee problems did not result in the identification of distinct risk factors for the development of jumper’s knee. These findings highlight a lack of available methodology to accurately assess risk factors for overuse injuries.

… But what impact does burning the midnight oil have on our lives? Plenty, according to experts. “You’re at 12 per cent higher risk of any cause of death if you’re a short-sleeping adult, at 15 per cent higher risk of having a stroke, and 48 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease,” explains Michelle Miller of Warwick University’s Sleep, Health and Society research programme.

“A lack of sleep has a massive effect on health outcomes.” This is in large part due to the lack of time for the body to recover when sleep is pared back. “When we sleep we’re refreshing the mind and the body,” says Jason Ellis of Northumbria University’s Centre for Sleep Research.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called sleep deprivation a public health crisis, saying that one-third of adults don’t get enough sleep. Some 80 percent of people report sleep problems at least once per week, and according to a 2016 study, sleep deprivation “causes more than $400 billion in economic losses annually in the United States and results in 1.23 million lost days of work each year.”

… it was the 1976 Olympics Games changed everything. Australia experienced an unexpected poor result, winning only ​5 medals ​and, for the first time since the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, they did not bring home a single gold medal. Defeated and embarrassed, the Australian government decided to create the ​Australian Institute of Sport​ in 1981, focused solely on advancing Australian athletes to become sporting elites.

The institute was the first of its kind, and it was led by the world’s first sports scientist, Dick Telford, who took the drastic step of taking his scientific work out of the lab and onto the field.

The results were dramatic, just three years after the foundation of the Australian Institute of Sport, Australia won ​24 medals ​overall in the Los Angeles Games of 1984, and came home with 4 gold medals. Despite Australia only being home to 20 million people, they had performed at an unparalleled level. The secret to their success was not just the money the government had invested, but also the new way that they had decided to approach sports, using the latest scientific understanding of the human body to inform state-of-the-art training and fitness regimes. Thus, sports science had been born in the Land Down Under, and had already proven its ability to tip the scales in sporting com

Objectives

To improve the success of interventions aimed to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity, we need to better understand the correlates of the extensive individual differences in voluntary exercise activities. Starting in adolescence, genetic effects become a dominant factor in explaining individual differences in voluntary exercise behavior. Here we aim to establish the prospective contribution of potential correlates of voluntary exercise behavior to its heritability.
Design

In a sample of adolescent and young adult twins, data on potential correlates of exercise behavior were collected using surveys (time point 1, N = 373) and a laboratory study (time point 2, N = 499). Information on personality, perceived barriers & benefits, subjective and objective exercise ability and the affective response to exercise were collected in a set of healthy adolescent twin pairs (16-18y) and their non-twin siblings (12-25y). Almost 3 years later, the subjects were sent an online follow-up survey on their current exercise status (time point 3, N = 423).
Methods

In bivariate models, the phenotypic (co)variance in these correlates and exercise behavior at all time points were decomposed in sources of genetic (co)variance and environmental (co)variance. The correlates that were significantly associated with exercise behavior at time point 1 or 2 and showed significant genetic correlations to exercise behavior at time point 3 were used in two further analyses: Multiple regression analysis to predict exercise behavior at time point 3, and a genetic analysis in a common 2-factor model, that tested the overlap in genetic factors influencing these correlates and exercise behavior.
Results

Personality (Extraversion), perceived benefits and barriers, exercise-induced affective response (Energy measured after the cycling test), and subjective and objective exercise ability (VO2max) showed significant phenotypic and genetic association with exercise behavior at time point 3. The genetic correlation between the two latent factors in the common 2-factor model was 0.51, indicating that part of the heritability in exercise behavior derives from genetic variants that also influence these correlates.
Conclusions

Given their shared genetic basis and predictive power we assert that individual differences in extraversion, perceived benefits and barriers, exercise-induced feelings of energy, and subjective and objective exercise ability can be used to develop stratified interventions for adolescent and young adult exercise behavior. In addition, our results provide the first clues on ‘where to look’ for specific genetic variants for voluntary exercise behavior. [full text]

Objectives: To assess the effect of multiple high-risk-scenario (HRS) exposures on noncontact injury prediction in elite Australian footballers. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Sessional workload data (session rating of perceived exertion, global positioning system–derived distance, sprint distance, and maximum velocity) from 1 club (N = 60 players) over 3 seasons were collated; several established HRSs were also defined. Accumulated HRS sessional exposures were calculated retrospectively (previous 1–8 wk). Noncontact injury data were documented. Univariate and multivariate Poisson regression models determined injury incidence rate ratios (IRRs) while accounting for moderating effects (preseason workload volume and playing experience). Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics (area under curve). Results: Very low (0–8 sessions: IRR = 5.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.69–19.66) and very high (>15 sessions: IRR = 4.70; 95% CI, 1.49–14.87) exposures to >85% of an individual’s maximal velocity over the previous 8 wk were associated with greater injury risk compared with moderate exposures (11–12 sessions) and displayed the best model performance (area under curve = 0.64). A single session corresponding to a very low chronic load condition over the previous week for all workload variables was associated with increased injury risk, with sprint distance (IRR = 3.25; 95% CI, 1.95–5.40) providing the most accurate prediction model (area under curve = 0.63). Conclusions: Minimal exposure to high-velocity efforts (maximum speed exposure and sprint volume) was associated with the greatest injury risk. Being underloaded may be a mediator for noncontact injury in elite Australian football. Preseason workload and playing experience were not moderators of this effect.

There are about 45 million people in the US alone with a mental illness, and those illnesses and their courses of treatment can vary tremendously. But there is something most of those people have in common: a smartphone.

A startup founded in Palo Alto, California, by a trio of doctors, including the former director of the US National Institute of Mental Health, is trying to prove that our obsession with the technology in our pockets can help treat some of today’s most intractable medical problems: depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse.

Mindstrong Health is using a smartphone app to collect measures of people’s cognition and emotional health as indicated by how they use their phones. Once a patient installs Mindstrong’s app, it monitors things like the way the person types, taps, and scrolls while using other apps. This data is encrypted and analyzed remotely using machine learning, and the results are shared with the patient and the patient’s medical provider.

There is no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that gradually kills off the motor neurons that control muscles and is diagnosed in nearly 6,000 people per year in the United States.

In an advance that could help scientists develop and test new drugs, MIT engineers have designed a microfluidic chip in which they produced the first 3-D human tissue model of the interface between motor neurons and muscle fibers. The researchers used cells from either healthy subjects or ALS patients to generate the neurons in the model, allowing them to test the effectiveness of potential drugs.

EPFL scientists have developed a miniaturized electronic platform for the stimulation and recording of peripheral nerve fibers on a chip. By modulating and rapidly recording nerve activity with a high signal-to-noise ratio, the platform paves the way to using chips to improve neuroprosthetic designs.

Scientists at Yokohama National University and the University of Tokyo in Japan have designed an ion gel with excellent toughness and an ability to self-heal at ambient temperature without any external trigger or detectable change in the environment such as light or temperature. This new class of material has promising potential for building flexible electronic devices.

Ion gels have attracted much attention due to their unique properties such as low tendency to evaporate at room temperature, high thermal stability and a high ionic conductivity. The researchers demonstrated an ion gel that quickly heals on its own without any external stimuli at room temperature. They also demonstrate the material’s excellent toughness resulting from multiple hydrogen bonds within the material.

“Wearable electronic devices are expected to be stretched and bent many times during daily use,” said Ryota Tamate, a corresponding author and a JSPS postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University. “If the ion gel used in the wearable device has a self-healing property, it may fix cracks and damages during the repeated stretching and bending, and improve the device’s durability.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman affirmed that new, league-wide puck- and player-tracking systems will be ready for the 2019-2020 season and acknowledged, for the first time, that the NHL will have ownership of the technology.

The NHL initially commissioned development of the tracking technology to be used as a broadcast and fan engagement tool, with an early test at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The Supreme Court decision that paved the way for legalization of sports betting has created an additional use for the system. This new advanced data source is the centerpiece of the NHL’s betting partnership with MGM Resorts.

“We will own the technology that we’re using,” Bettman said Monday, adding: “We’ve had to make some direct investments to get the type of technology we think we need and to make it work.”

Briana Williams arrived at the World U20 Championships earlier this year as an underdog. Then she won the women’s sprint double at the impressively-young age of 16. When Henry Cejudo squared up then-UFC Flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson in August, he, too, was rated the underdog. But Cejudo would snap Johnson’s 11-match streak of title defenses. Behind the scenes, those upsets were linked by a single piece of technology: a clinical-grade device that told Williams and Cejudo exactly how hard to push in training sessions and when to takes rests.

That device, the Humon Hex, measures muscle oxygen use in real time to get a read on exertion. After launching in February, Humon, a company which was born out of MIT Sloan, has boasted a 40 percent month-over-month growth. And now, a number of world class athletes are leveraging the Hex to seek an edge.

Correct form is very important for runners at all levels. Its not enough to simply focus on training, nutrition and hydration. Good posture and proper technique helps runners move more efficiently, avoid injury and have a positive mental outlook.

You can take time to educate yourself or fork out for a fitness coach. But there may be a better way. The next level up from simply dishing out statistics, a growing number of wearables is providing users with real-time analysis of running form.

These are gadgets that treat technique as an integral part of your performance. Read on for our selection.

PURPOSE:

To establish the inter-unit reliability of a range of Global Positioning System (GPS)-derived movement indicators, determine the variation between manufacturers, and investigate the difference between software-derived and raw data.
METHODS:

A range of movement variables were obtained from 27 GPS units from three manufacturers (GPSports EVO; 10 Hz, n = 10: STATSports Apex; 10 Hz, n = 10: and Catapult S5; 10 Hz, n = 7) that measured the same team-sports simulation session while positioned on a sled. The inter-unit reliability was determined using the coefficient of variation (CV; %) and 90% confidence limits (CL), whereas between manufacturer comparisons, and also comparisons of software versus raw processed data were established using standardized effect sizes (ES) and 90% CL.
RESULTS:

The inter-unit reliability for both software and raw processed data ranged from good to poor (CV = 0.2%; ±1.5% to 78.2%; ±1.5%), with distance, speed, and maximal speed exhibiting the best reliability. There were substantial differences between manufacturers, particularly for threshold-based acceleration and deceleration variables (ES; ±90% CL [-2.0%; ±0.1 to 1.9%; ±0.1%]), and there were substantial differences between data processing methods for a range of movement indicators.
CONCLUSIONS:

The inter-unit reliability of most movement indicators were deemed as good regardless of processing method, suggesting that practitioners can have confidence within systems. Standardized data processing methods are recommended, due to the large differences between data outputs from various manufacturer-derived software.

Masimo’s RD SET sensors with Masimo Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion SET pulse oximetry have received FDA clearance with improved SpO2 accuracy specifications for all patients weighing greater than 3 kg. The latest RD SET sensors’ SpO2 accuracy specifications during patient motion have improved for adult, pediatric, and infant patients to 1.5% (at 1 SD), compared to previous accuracy specifications of 3%.

In addition to offering improved accuracy, RD SET sensors are designed to enhance patient comfort, optimize clinician workflows, and help hospitals meet green initiatives. The sensors are lightweight and have a flat, soft cable with smooth edges, so that they lie comfortably on a patient’s hand or foot. They feature an intuitive sensor-to-cable connection and a lightweight design that results in up to 84% less waste.

Everything we consume is made of molecules that our bodies can detect, use, or eliminate. When we drink water, for example, we rely on an arsenal of highly evolved tools that help us use it in specific ways and get rid of the water we don’t need. The same is true for the countless other molecules we consume, from sugars, to caffeine, to ingredients in medications.

One of the bigger tools in our arsenal is a group of proteins known as the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. Many of these enzymes are produced in the liver where they help process or break down chemicals in the body. A particularly well-known CYP enzyme is called CYP2C9. Among its many roles, CYP2C9 is responsible for metabolizing ibuprofen1. Researchers have found that many people inherit a variant—a change in the DNA sequence—that alters the CYP2C9 enzyme’s ability to metabolize ibuprofen. This means that depending on a person’s DNA sequence, they may be able to metabolize ibuprofen faster, or slower, than others. This link between genetics and drug response is studied in the field of pharmacogenomics.

Pharmacogenomics is an important and growing field because it helps explain why some people have significantly different responses to medicine compared to others. A good example of this is the pharmacogenomics association between the CYP2C9 gene and ibuprofen metabolism.

Athletes progressing from injuries to full recoveries is a powerful sight, and it is made possible thanks to the Training HAUS facility that was created by Twin Cities Orthopedics.

Located just south of TCO Stadium at the Vikings headquarters, Training HAUS provides comprehensive care for athletes, blending expert sports medicine and performance providers, cutting-edge technology and science-based methods to enhance performance and recoveries.

Training HAUS (TrainingHAUS.com) is a 22,000-square-foot facility that offers elite sports-performance training for individuals and groups in addition to its physical therapy services. It already has had 5,700 athlete visits since opening on May 29.

Kekaula Kaniho is not afraid of needles — he did spend 20 hours over three days this offseason getting a tattoo on his leg — but he wasn’t too sure what to think of acupuncture when it was recommended to him last year.

Now he’s certain: It helps.

Whether it is to heal injury, relieve pain or improve movement, many Boise State football players have made being needled part of their training regimen.

“It’s a different feeling, the first time you don’t know what the sensation is, your muscles are twitching and all that,” said Kaniho, a sophomore defensive back. “After the first time, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this again.’ Game day, I felt really good, and was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going back next week.’ ”

Background

We implemented a high-protein diet (2 g·kg−1·d−1) throughout 12 weeks of concurrent exercise training to determine whether interferences to adaptation in muscle hypertrophy, strength and power could be attenuated compared to resistance training alone.
Methods

Thirty-two recreationally active males (age: 25 ± 5 years, body mass index: 24 ± 3 kg·m−2; mean ± SD) performed 12 weeks of either isolated resistance (RES; n = 10) or endurance (END; n = 10) training (three sessions·w−1), or concurrent resistance and endurance (CET; n = 12) training (six sessions·w−1). Maximal strength (1RM), body composition and power were assessed pre- and post-intervention.
Results

Leg press 1RM increased ~ 24 ± 13% and ~ 33 ± 16% in CET and RES from PRE-to-POST (P < 0.001), with no difference between groups. Total lean mass increased ~ 4% in both CET and RES from PRE-to-POST (P < 0.001). Ultrasound estimated vastus lateralis volume increased ~ 15% in CET and ~ 11% in RES from PRE-to-POST (P < 0.001), with no difference between groups. Wingate peak power relative to body mass displayed a trend (P = 0.053) to be greater in RES (12.5 ± 1.6 W·kg BM−1) than both CET (10.8 ± 1.7 W·kg BM−1) and END (10.9 ± 1.8 W·kg BM−1) at POST. Absolute VO2peak increased 6.9% in CET and 12% in END from PRE-to-POST (P < 0.05), with no difference between groups. Conclusion

Despite high protein availability, select measures of anaerobic power-based adaptations, but not muscle strength or hypertrophy, appear susceptible to ‘interference effects’ with CET and should be closely monitored throughout training macro-cycles. [full text]

Context:

Recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH) has become a target of abuse in the sporting world. Conversely, sports medicine clinicians may encounter athletes using rHGH to achieve normalcy in the context of growth hormone (GH) deficiency.
Evidence Acquisition:

Medline and PubMed databases were queried using the following keywords: GH, GH physiology, GH deficiency, acromegaly, GH athlete, GH sports, GH athletic performance, and GH deficiency concussion. Articles focusing on GH physiology, deficiency, excess, and its effects in both deficient and healthy patients were included.
Study Design:

Clinical review.
Level of Evidence:

Level 3.
Results:

GH is a naturally occurring hormone with important roles in human physiology. Patients with GH deficiency (GHD) present variably, and GHD has numerous etiologies. rHGH treatment has substantial therapeutic benefits for patients with GHD. The benefits of rHGH treatment in otherwise-healthy adults are uncertain. GH excess may cause health problems such as acromegaly. Professional, collegiate, and international sports leagues and associations have banned rHGH use to maintain athlete health, safety, and fair play. Athletes misusing GH may face prolonged suspensions from competition. Implementing GH abuse testing is challenging, but new methods, such as the biomarker testing procedure, are being finalized.
Conclusion:

rHGH is not only an important therapeutic agent for GH-deficient patients but also a target of abuse in competitive athletics. Its benefits in a healthy, adult population are uncertain. A safe exercise and competition plan, developed with a physician knowledgeable of GH use, physiology, and abuse potential, should be of benefit to a longitudinal clinician-patient relationship.

… When it comes to choosing the protein supplement that’s best for you, whey protein is often one of the best. Right off the bat, it is a complete protein, meaning it contains all the essential amino acids your body needs (and doesn’t produce on its own and is needed from other food sources) to continue building proteins (protein synthesis).

“The best protein possible is one that has all the essential amino acids, which allows you to build muscle faster,” says Sandra J. Arevalo, MPH, RDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Vitamin D levels in the blood are linked to cardiorespiratory fitness, according to a study published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a publication of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

“Our study shows that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with better exercise capacity,” said Dr Amr Marawan, assistant professor of internal medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, US. “We also know from previous research that vitamin D has positive effects on the heart and bones. Make sure your vitamin D levels are normal to high. You can do this with diet, supplements, and a sensible amount of sun exposure.”

… Danilo is quick to credit video analysis to the identification and training of the next generation of Paderborn players.

“It’s very important for us that the youth teams work with Hudl, firstly to keep everything uniform, and crucially to improve and facilitate the sharing of videos” said Danilo.

According to Danilo a key issue for youth coaches can be monitoring all of your talent effectively, which is solved through effective sharing of video summaries.

“Truthfully, we don’t always have a chance to see these young players live, because sometimes we will have a simultaneous match or we train at different times,” said Danilo.

NBA teams are shattering records. Not even two weeks into the season, scoring is up across the board and games are being played a breakneck speeds. It’s an outburst that has been brewing for some time.

It’s also one that the Dallas Mavericks have seemingly embraced. While the team has been at the forefront of offensive innovation, this is something new. It’s the beginning of a new era, not only for the Mavericks, but for the league.

“I’m sure Dick Harter is turning over in his grave right now. He was a coach on the Knicks in the 90s and I worked with him for many years,” Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said after the team’s 140-136 win over the Timberwolves. “This is a new age of basketball. This is where we are. The days of games in the 80s are probably done. Everything is spread out. It’s freedom of movement. There’s four attackers and, often times, five three-point shooters. There are missiles flying everywhere.”

Mixed in with all of the World Series hoopla, the Mets decided to hire Brodie Van Wagenen as their next general manager. This decision came out of left field almost literally— as the head of CAA Sports’ baseball division, he’s the primary agent of left fielder Yoenis Cespedes as well as several other prominent Mets.

Needless to say, this hire is curious at best. Van Wagenen has no front office experience whatsoever. That means he’s never had unfettered access to a professional scouting department. His access to advanced stats and information is probably not much better than our own.

Presumably, in 2018, all 30 teams should have proprietary data used for player evaluation that exceeds what’s publicly available. CAA surely stays up-to-date with modern information for the purposes of negotiating contracts, but there ought to be big difference between that and what teams use to build their rosters.

The game of baseball has changed yet stayed the same in the last 100 years. Referencing a famous quote from Field of Dreams, there is no better place than Fenway Park showing the constancy of baseball even as America has re-made itself over and over again in the last century since its’ opening. But technology has changed baseball, not just America. This talk reviews how baseball has stayed the same and also managed to adapt with advances in sport science and equipment, with special demonstrations of how this has occurred in Fenway Park.

Andy Andres teaches Biology and Mathematics at Boston University (mostly introductory courses in biology, physics, and human genetics), but also developed and teaches the highly successful MOOC “Sabermetrics 101: An Introduction to Baseball Analytics” to about 50,000 registered learners on the edX platform during its two runs in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 he was invited by Google to talk about Sabermetrics and Technology in his Talks at Google presentation.

The cost of attendance stipend is quietly helping college players while the debate rages on whether they should be paid.

The modest stipend is a fraction of the millions college football generates, but is intended to provide players with money to buy an occasional pizza when university food service is not available or take in a movie. Some players use it to pay utility bills or help out family members, and there are coaches and administrators who feel it helps ward off the temptation to accept impressible benefits.

The money from universities, including Atlantic Coast Conference schools, varies based on how far from home the players play, the cost of living where they play and the status of their educational pursuits. How it is distributed also varies from school to school.

When Loyola Chicago, an 11 seed, knocked off Kansas State to earn an improbable trip to the 2018 Final Four in San Antonio, the Ramblers found themselves in an unfamiliar place: the limelight. And while their journey ended at the hands of Michigan in the national semifinals, history suggests the goodwill generated by four upset tournament wins will provide a lasting boon for the 11,000-student school.

A handful of other low seeds — a mix of relative unknowns and small universities — have made memorable marches through March in recent years. And that fleeting time in the sun has borne fruit: An influx of applicants, donations, merchandise sales, even infrastructure investments often follow. Just how meaningful are a few wins in March, and what might be in store for Loyola Chicago?

… Now, the third-time-through trend is not based on some crazy hypothesis. Regular season data does show that hitters post an .800 OPS in their third at-bats against a starter, as compared to a .720 OPS against an “average” fresh bullpen arm. But some apples-and-oranges caution is recommended here. These averages were generated under regular-season conditions. Thus, applying their conclusions to variably different playoff situations actually render them highly flawed.

For one, the principle edge relievers enjoy during the regular season is never facing the same hitter twice in a game and usually never more than two times in the same series. But given five- and seven-game playoff formats, the better relief pitchers lose this element of unfamiliarity by regularly throwing four or more times against the same team.