the other night at a social dinner, i sat next to two young hip computer programmers. thank god they were football fans--texas, cal--so we had something to talk about, but i decided to sneak in a business question. our in-house programmer had built our company a state-of-the art website, but lately we've been seeing the competition develop features that our guy can't seem to match, let alone exceed. my dinner companions had the same question: how old is your website? when i said fifteen years, they both looked at each other, trying to contain their laughter. "fifteen years is an eternity in programming," one finally said. "no wonder your guy is behind."
and so it is today, in any field. the tools available for analysis far exceed anything anybody has had to work with even a decade ago. and nowhere is this more apparent that in baseball and football, where analysis is not replacing the eternal verities, but is certainly challenging conventional wisdon. i mean:
--why huddle up if you don't have to? why give the defense time to catch a breather?
--why not run 30% more plays, so as to make the defense more weary?
--why not go for it on fourth down inside the 40?
football has become the pre-eminent american game because it is playing faster, playing on grass what basektball used to play on the hardwood, the while basketball got stuck for a good long while in the egotistical gimme-the-ball-and-let-me-go-one-on--one mentality. thank god san antonio and now golden state have broken that mold, and are playing wide-open...dare i say, grass basketball? but it was football that led the way, and finally we have a guy, a la don read, to whom bigger programs will be paying visits to learn the latest developments in this fast-paced game. it may not happen right away, it may take more time for our kids to perfect this system than the opener against north dakota state, but congratulations to haslam for this hire. we're finally living in the present and future tenses, and i am pumped to watch it all play out.
and so it is today, in any field. the tools available for analysis far exceed anything anybody has had to work with even a decade ago. and nowhere is this more apparent that in baseball and football, where analysis is not replacing the eternal verities, but is certainly challenging conventional wisdon. i mean:
--why huddle up if you don't have to? why give the defense time to catch a breather?
--why not run 30% more plays, so as to make the defense more weary?
--why not go for it on fourth down inside the 40?
football has become the pre-eminent american game because it is playing faster, playing on grass what basektball used to play on the hardwood, the while basketball got stuck for a good long while in the egotistical gimme-the-ball-and-let-me-go-one-on--one mentality. thank god san antonio and now golden state have broken that mold, and are playing wide-open...dare i say, grass basketball? but it was football that led the way, and finally we have a guy, a la don read, to whom bigger programs will be paying visits to learn the latest developments in this fast-paced game. it may not happen right away, it may take more time for our kids to perfect this system than the opener against north dakota state, but congratulations to haslam for this hire. we're finally living in the present and future tenses, and i am pumped to watch it all play out.
