Upsets, upsets and more upsets. Every year, they help drive the NCAA Tournament to a special place in our sports culture. And yet, despite 128 opportunities, we still haven’t seen the king of all upsets — a “lowly” No. 16 seed has yet to knock off a No. 1 seed in the men’s tournament. Yet […]
A 13-year-old in Illinois. A 47-year-old English woman. A 70-year-old Vegas oddsmaker. At first blush, there isn’t much linking them. But last year, all three were among the most successful March Madness prognosticators. That’s where the similarities end. With methods ranging from gut instinct to computational learning theory, these three characters demonstrate just how wide […]
In 1999, college football superstar Ricky Williams — represented by rapper Master P’s No Limit Sports — signed one of the most infamous contracts in NFL history. Williams received a large signing bonus and a minimum salary, with the rest of the contract value tied to extremely aggressive, maybe unachievable, performance incentives. How did this […]
Bobby Bonilla hasn’t played in a professional baseball game since 2001, yet on July 1 of this year, the New York Mets paid him $1.19 million. And they will every July 1 until 2035, as part of a deferred contract that the Mets negotiated with Bonilla after the 1999 season. Instead of paying him $5.9 […]
A 13-year-old in Illinois. A 47-year-old English woman. A 70-year-old Vegas oddsmaker. At first blush, there isn’t much linking them. But last year, all three were among the most successful March Madness prognosticators. That’s where the similarities end. With methods ranging from gut instinct to computational learning theory, these three characters demonstrate just how wide […]
