Description
Book SynopsisThe Wages of Wins is a proper analysis of the data generated by professional sports; it tells many tales that are inconsistent with the myths put forward by the media, industry, and consumers of professional sport.
Trade Review"Wages is provocative, stimulating, and challenging." -Dick Friedman,-Sports Illustrated "The Wages of Wins brilliantly and provocatively argues that our eyes betray us when we watch professional athletes. To see the truth about how good a point guard or a quarterback really is, we need the help of algorithms." -Malcolm Gladwell,author of Blink and The Tipping Point "When I read the book, I was impressed by the amount of effort that went into compiling the reams of data that underlie the work... The fundamental case the authors make is that the statistical analysis shows that the conventional wisdom about sports is dead wrong-that the data, as they put it, 'offers many surprises.'" -Joe Nocera, New York Times "Sports fans with an analytical bent shouldn't skip this book. And come to think of it, perhaps sports executives should be reading it as well."-The Free Lance-Star "This book presents complex economic analysis in a breezy manner that the casual sports fan and econophobe will appreciate and enjoy. I plan to assign it to students and recommend it to friends."-Michael Leeds, Temple University, and author of The Economics of Sports
Table of Contentscontents List of Figures and Tables vii Preface xi Preface to the Paperback Edition xv Chapter 1 Games with Numbers 1 Chapter 2 Much Talking, Little Walking 11 Chapter 3 Can You Buy the Fan's Love? 30 Chapter 4 Baseball's Competitive Balance Problem? 46 Chapter 5 The NBA's Competitive Balance Problem? 69 Chapter 6 Shaq and Kobe 90 Chapter 7 Who Is the Best? 116 Chapter 8 A Few Chicago Stories 146 Chapter 9 How Are Quarterbacks Like Mutual Funds? 172 Chapter 10 Scoring to Score 201 Notes 227 References 269 Index 279
