Manchester United: Sleeping Giants

by RJ Garcia, posted in Premier League, Soccer

The most popular sports league in the world starts back up this weekend, and with Manchester United playing Swansea City, it will sprint to a start this Saturday. Looking to the Sports Books for a look at how the bettors believe the league will end, Chelsea is the favorite at 15-8 (giving them around a 34.78% chance of winning the title), Man City is a close 2nd at 9-4 (30.77%), Manchester United is 3rd – decently far behind the Blues and City – at 9-2 (18.18%), and Arsenal rounds out the top 4 at 6-1 (14.29%).

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Explanation of the Corner Three Fantasy Football Rankings

by RJ Garcia, posted in Fantasy Football, Football, NFL Football

In sabermetrics, one of the biggest concepts is the idea of the value over a replacement level player. In baseball that stat is WAR, wins above replacement, and in basketball it is WAR and also VORP, quite literally value over replacement player. For our Corner Three fantasy rankings we have followed the sabermetric path to create the only fantasy football stat you need, Points above Replacement, or PAR.

Here is how PAR works.

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The Batting Order: Where Managers Cost Their Teams Wins

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

The managers of MLB seem to have it down to an art.

  • 1st: Speedy guy who can steal bases.
  • 2nd: Guy who can drop a bunt or draw a walk.
  • 3rd: Your best pure hitter.
  • 4th: Cleanup man; your best power hitter.
  • 5th: Complete the “heart” of the order; a good power hitter.
  • 6th-8th: Your remaining position players, in descending order of quality.
  • 9th (NL): Your pitcher.

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Breaking Down the James Rodriguez Transfer

by RJ Garcia, posted in Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Soccer

It is almost certain now that James Rodriguez will be moving from Monaco to Los Blancos, for 60 million pounds, to become the 5th most expensive player of all time, trailing only his teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, and his rivals at Barcelona, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Like both Bale and Neymar, a lot of his value is in his youth and the idea that he may not yet have reached his full potential at the ripe age of 23. Now that the transfer is a done deal, it is time to analyze the ramifications of the transfer for Real Madrid and to attempt to decide if James is money well spent, or a big mistake for Real Madrid.

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The Statistical Impact of Neymar and Thiago Silva’s Absence

by RJ Garcia, posted in Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Soccer

The loss of Neymar

The entire nation of Brazil was punched in the stomach when the news came that Neymar, their young superstar, was out for the remainder of the World Cup, and the emotional video that Neymar sent out to the country caused tears for millions across the world. For most nations in the World Cup, losing a player of Neymar’s caliber would probably end their Cup dreams, the same way that #7 FIFA ranked Uruguay looked like a completely different team in their two games without their superstar, Luis Suarez. Even Argentina didn’t look the same after Angel Di Maria left the field and Enzo Perez, midfield for Benfica, stepped in for the rest of the match.

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Guide to The Rematch

by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Parker’s ridiculous game 1 buzzer beater. LeBron’s block on Splitter. Danny Green’s unbelievable shooting run. Ray Allen’s immortal corner three in game 6. The series lasted seven games, but fans were hungry for seven more. A year later, that wish may come to fruition. Through their all-playoff-long dominance, the Heat and Spurs seemed destined to meet again in this year’s Finals. With teams this great, a lot of information is needed to make a well-educated prediction on the series’ winner. Let’s take a look:

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A Way-Too-Early 2014 Fantasy Football WAR Ranking

by RJ Garcia, posted in Fantasy Football, Football, NFL Football

If you have ever played fantasy football, you know that quarterback is the most plentiful position, with tons of solid starters available for pickup off of the waiver wire, and running back is the most scarce, with very little top-flight talent. What I set out to do was to truly quantify the “Wins Above Replacement” of each Fantasy Football Player, by creating a “replacement-level” baseline for each position (essentially a player that you could pick up off of the waiver wire throughout the year), and then calculating which players had the most projected 2014 points above their position’s replacement level. Using 2014 projections from DraftShark.com (future projections may change, due to drawing on a combination of different projection services when they put out their 2014 projections, such as NumberFire or ESPN), I created the CornerThree WAR Top 200 Fantasy Football Players for 2014 (based off of PPR fantasy football).

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All You Need to Know About the Conference Finals

by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Well, we’re here. After a very exciting first couple rounds of the playoffs, the Conference Finals have arrived. This season, the NBA again showed that there is little parity in its ranks, and multiple seven-game series usually weed out potential upsets. Accordingly, in both conferences, the only teams remaining are seeds 1 and 2. Both of these matchups, though, are sure to be classics. Let’s take a closer look:

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Five Biggest Picks of the First Round

by Sean Fener, posted in Football, NCAA Football, NFL Football

Last night was an absolute roller coaster for NFL fans – one the NFL world probably would have enjoyed ending a little more quickly, but still a great ride. The draft truly is a special event that gives fans across the country immense amount of hope for the upcoming season. Whether you are a team in rebuilding, or a team that may be one player away from hoisting the Lombardy trophy, the draft is always exciting. Last night had some eye-opening picks, some head scratchers, and everything in between. This is not a list of the five best players chosen last night. Rather, this list shows the five biggest picks that best pair an organization with a draftee, not without questions. The factors that go into this list are when the player was drafted, what the team had to do to draft him, and the overall fit of the player with his new team.

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Who/When/Why: Second Round

by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

We have just witnessed one of the greatest first rounds in NBA Playoff history: Game 7s, overtimes; four-point plays. Can the second round top it? Here’s what the stats say about each of the matchups:

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