Dorkapalooza 2010: Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Recap #ssac

It’s over. One of the great sports gatherings of the year has come to an end. The winter baseball meetings? No, that happened months ago. The NCAA tournament selection committee? That’s next week. The NFL Draft? Next month. The giant inflatable beavers of Vancouver? Excellent guess, but no. I’m talking about the 2010 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. What is this sports analytics conference of which I speak? If you don’t know, you don’t like sports, don’t work in sports, don’t care about sports or weren’t following me on Twitter.

What Is this Analytics Conference?

The annual conference stems from a 2004 Sloan Business School sports analytics business class and evolved when Houston Rockets’ General Manager Daryl Morey and Jessica Gelman of The Kraft Sports Group founded the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in the winter of 2006.

Now in its fourth year, the analytics conference, dubbed “Dorkapalooza” by ESPN’s Bill Simmons (he’s not just a columnist, he’s also a panelist!) has become one of the preeminent events on the sports conference circuit, whether you’re a data fiend or not. In short, this event was ginormous. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the numbers: 12 hours. 16 panels. 70+ speakers. 1000+ attendees. Yup, the numbers don’t lie. That’s big.

Conference Recaps

I’m not going to even try and do a complete recap of this year’s conference. It was too big, too much and I couldn’t get to half of the panels. One of the biggest downsides of conferences like this is having to choose between equally excellent panels on interesting topics. So until cloning technology is perfected, I’ll have to rely on great recaps like this one from ESPN’s TrueHoop (update: check out this “key moments” post from TrueHoop) or the conference live blog by David Pinto of Baseball Musings.

I also can’t possibly write about all the great people I met or reconnected with throughout the course of the 12 hour day. And if you were there and we didn’t get a chance to say hello, I’m sorry we missed each other.

What can I do? A Tale of the Tweets of course! So without further ado, here are all my live tweets from the conference. If you want to see more (and there were a lot), search Twitter for #ssac. I’ve included a link to the description of each panel so you can read all the biographical details of each of the impressive speakers.

2010 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: Tale of the Tweets

• Dorkapalooza time! #ssac (@ Boston Convention and Exhibition Center w/ 7 others) http://4sq.com/5s6Zl7
  

Developing the Athlete’s Brand

• Shocker: baseball analytics panel was completely SRO, so checking out Developing the Athlete’s Brand. #ssac
• Dawn Hudson: person’s brand is a product. They stand for something. Make sure personality and brand are consistent. #ssac

Next Generation Sports Management and Ownership

• Now at Next Gen Mgmt and Ownership panel. Matt Silverman, Brian Burke, Adam Silver, Steve Pagliuca, Randy Vataha. Bob Ryan moderator. #ssac
• Correction: @dmorey in for Bob Ryan at Next Gen Mgmt and Ownership panel. #ssac
• Awesome. RT @jonahkeri: Highlight of the conference: Matt Silverman just took #RedSox jersey behind him down. Go #Rays #ssac
• I am a little overwhelmed (but not surprised) by the disparity in men and women here. Probably 90/10. #ssac
• Adam Silver giving love to upcoming @30for30 “Winning Time” on Reggie Miller and the Knicks. #ssac
• Silverman: Rays need to convince fans of their permanence. In 13th season. Wow. Has it been that long? #ssac
• Vataha: data says in league with 30 teams you win a championship once/30 yrs. But you need to be competitive. #ssac
• Brian Burke averaging 3 laughs in crowd per statement. In a good way. Honest, funny, candid. Great panelist. #ssac
• Like the Cubs sell an experience, the NBA sells an experience since only one team will win a title. Adam Silver. #ssac
• Adam Silver is incredibly bullish on the sports industry. International growth and importance of digital media are keys. #ssac
• Pagliuca: working in sports is 24/7 commitment. Like being an investment banker. Hmm…sounds like Matt Silverman. #ssac
• Silverman: nobody in baseball wants total parity. Just want to increase the parity. #ssac
• Confirmed. RT @jonahkeri: Pagliuca: One #NBA go-getter broke in as Brian Scalabrine’s shooting coach. 500 people just cracked up. #ssac
• Silver on parity/large markets: this year’s Super Bowl had 2 of the smallest market teams yet huge ratings. #ssac
• Vegas has taken over/under on Yankees bashing remarks today off the board. #ssac

Break #1

• Line out the door for men’s room. No waiting for the ladies’ room. #ssac
• Dear @SloanSportsConf, please make sure all panels with “analytics” in the title are in the largest rooms. #ssac
• Talked Simpsons and Sports with @jonahkeri @jasoncfry @howardbecknyt. #ssac
• [Confession: I skipped the second morning session and opted to schmooze]

Lunch Presentation: Bloomberg Sports: Making Data Analytics User-Friendly

• Just humbled and honored to be sitting next to @jonahkeri at Bloomberg sports presentation at #ssac #bbgsports
• Everybody was drooling in Jan. RT @jasoncfry: Watching demo of Bloomberg baseball pro product. Like nerd Xmas. I think I’m drooling. #ssac

Psst…want to learn more about Bloomberg Sports? Check out my recap of the January 31 Bloomberg Sports Launch Event.

Marquee Event: What Geeks Don’t Get: The Limits of Moneyball

• Packed house awaits What Geeks Don’t Get panel w/@mcuban @dmorey @sportsguy33, Bill Polian, J. Kraft. Moderated by Michael Lewis. #ssac
• http://twitpic.com/16zhei – What Geeks Don’t Get panel @sloansportsconf #ssac
• Challenge is that formulas are getting more complicated. @sportsguy33 lasted 3 weeks in statistics in college. #ssac
• What bothers @mcuban? That @dmorey won’t share his secrets and formulas. NBA owner/gm humor at its finest. #ssac
• Polian congratulates Lewis for getting it right in Moneyball. Undervalued assets are key. Geekdom provides the tools. #ssac
• Polian: Stats guy who played football and was military officer would be the complete package in football. #ssac
• RT @jonahkeri: Michael Lewis to @dmorey “You’re large and manly. You could fool people into thinking you played something.” WIN #ssac
• Per @dmorey, if Mavs won NBA title, it’d bring down league office. Said @mcuban: “That would explain a lot of things.” #ssac
• Michael Lewis: “You can’t be too stupid to play baseball.” Ouch. #ssac
• On who has info and who doesn’t: “Some teams are cheap. I have season tickets to one of them.” @sportsguy33 #ssac
• “You can tell by what lineups they put out there” if a team has or doesn’t have data. @mcuban #ssac
• Polian: Here’s what geeks don’t get re: 4th & 2 call by Pats. If we get it back, we win the game. “100% the right call.” #ssac
• Watching back and forth of @mcuban and @dmorey is just fantastic. #ssac
• One thing you didn’t know about sports that you know now? “Referees” says @mcuban. Didn’t skip a beat. #ssac
• Great exchange with Simmons and Polian re: defensive pass interference rule changes. Kraft says no power to do that. #ssac
• ET @BothTeamsPlayed: Cuban: “You want to dump your morons on the other guy. So you try to play hide the morons.” #ssac
• RT @fb_outsiders: Mark Cuban is really, really impressive. Just an obviously really smart guy who knows his business inside and out #ssac
• RT @jonahkeri: Michael Lewis asks @dmorey about screening for clutch players. Morey swatted that weak stuff into the 3rd row. #ssac
• If you can predict injuries, you’ve got a job waiting for you with the Rockets. @dmorey #ssac
• Injury factor re: DeJuan Blair. FWIW, I loved Blair and was heartbroken he slipped to the Spurs b/c of his injury. #ssac
• Does playing the sport make you a better talent evaluator? Doesn’t it depend on the sport? asks Simmons. #ssac
• Polian: playing is not helpful when it comes to negotiating. Lawyers are better at that. Rare lawyer love. #ssac
• RT @jonahkeri: Bill Polian: “Branch Rickey was light-years ahead of his time.” Bill Polian have a hot dog with me. #ssac
• Vegas has now taken over/under on Simmons’ verbal attacks on Clippers off the board. #ssac
• Just chatted with Bill Simmons Sr. Pure awesome. #ssac

Social Media Marketing

• Social media marketing panel: @darrenrovell1 promotes via Twitter but cannot break news there. #ssac
• Lou DePaoli CMO of Pirates: he’s on twitter but mainly follows. Insert joke here. #ssac
• Pirates are focused on fan engagement first. Then move to marketing. #ssac
• Sports and social media should be a marketer’s dream. @jeffma #ssac
• Reminder for teams: Having a Twitter account and Facebook fan page is not a social media strategy. @jeffma #ssac
• RT @Ron_Wechsler: @darrenrovell1 says if his tweets are not RT’d, then tweet is a “failure”. Tweets should “further the conversation” #ssac
• Sitting next to guy in Red Sox cap. No fisticuffs have ensued. Yet. #justkidding #sortof #ssac
• Guy in red sox cap just left. Was it something I said? #ssac
• Attn @digitalroyalty: talking about random acts of Shaqness. #ssac
• Media consumption habits are changing. Marketers must embrace it. Be a part of the conversation. @jeffma #ssac
• RT @NHLdilo: @darrenrovell1 “marketers are patting themselves on the back for being on Twitter and being reactive. Have to be proactive.”
• RT @jasoncfry: @jeffma says cos that want to embrace social media have to take chances. Agree. Too much control guarantees boredom. #ssac
• P.S. If you didn’t already know, @jeffma is super smart and totally gets it. #thatisall #ssac
• Social media is not a fad. This is how people will communicate. @jeffma #ssac
• RT @jonahkeri: Q: “If the Pirates develop a great Twitterer, how will the Pirates prevent a big-market team from picking him off?” #ssac
• On the road, scoreboard watching is key. MLB At Bat Is greatest invention for this. @darrenrovell1. #ssac

Alternative Storytelling: Future of Sports Journalism

• Future of Sports Journalism panel: Henry Abbott of @truehoop @danshanoff @rfking @jasoncfry @howardbeckNYT #ssac
• Twitter at the opening of NFL free agent period at 12:01 am was “bananas.” @rfking #ssac
• What’s absent at that moment on Twitter in real time is the editor. @rfking #ssac
• Instant reader reaction on Twitter is remarkable. @HowardBeckNYT #ssac
• “If the news is really important, it will find me” is a key concept to keep in mind. @jasoncfry #ssac
• Henry Abbott: Having a blog is like having an obnoxious coach yelling at you with criticism immediately during practice. #ssac
• Plug by @rfking for ESPN’s new Section 140, real time comments like a live game experience. How did I not know about this? #ssac
• It’s not about the 140 characters, it’s about the content and the level of authority. @rfking #ssac
• This is the greatest time ever for a sports fan who wants to read and get all sorts of info. @jasoncfry #ssac
• Where does analytics fit in? Lots of opportunities to build it into journalism whether writer, editor, blogger. #ssac
• By analytics, we’re talking about page views, SEO, google trends, etc. How to use that info? #ssac
• Athletes who tweet: tweets aren’t always really from the athletes. Don’t be naïve. @rfking #ssac
• People are always going to do stupid stuff. “Stef Marbury and Vaseline? What?” @rfking #ssac
• Big question: is the game story dead? Read @jasoncfry’s blog post on it at sportsjournalism.org. #ssac
• Pay wall: what is the value proposition for what’s behind the wall? Apple is very good at getting us to pay $1. @rfking #ssac
• RT @blazersedge: “The game story is not dead. The game story is evolving.” — @howardbecknyt #ssac
• Yes I just quoted Dumb and Dumber at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Win! #ssac
• Link included. Thanks! RT @The_Real_LLC Is the game story dead? http://bit.ly/c7rUN8 from @jasoncfry #ssac
• RT @AmyKNelson Sloan sports conf extremely impressive. Understatement to say how many smart people thinking @ sports in diff ways. #ssac