20250227 - updates

Author: isaactpetersen

sports-cognitive-psychology.qmd

@@ -40,14 +40,14 @@ Instead, he advocated for the use of more advanced metrics that could provide a
 He also developed advanced metrics such as runs created (RC) and defense efficiency rating (DER).
 
 James' ideas were slow to catch on among those in baseball.
-Neverthless, some people eventually caught on to his ideas—and to good success.
+Nevertheless, some people eventually caught on to his ideas—and to good success.
 Billy Beane, a general manager, used Sabermetrics to help the Oakland Athletics, a small market team with a limited budget, better compete with teams with larger budgets.
 He used statistics such as on-base percentage to identify player value more accurately, especially for identifying undervalued players.
 The story was described in Michael Lewis' book, Moneyball, which was turned into a movie.
 Following publication of Moneyball, Theo Epstein, who was president of the Boston Red Sox and then of the Chicago Cubs, used sabermetrics to help each win the World Series.
 
 In addition to teams using Sabermetrics to evaluate player talent, teams also began to frequently use statistical analysis to inform decision making during games, which led to key changes in the style of play.
-For instace, defensive shifts—where defensive players moved to locations on the field where particular hitters were most likely to hit the ball—became more common, attempts to steal bases became less common, there were fewer bunts, batters took more pitches (i.e., watched more pitches without swinging), there were more frequent pitching changes (for particular pitcher–batter matchups; such as to have a right-handed pitcher face a left-handed batter or vice versa), and a greater focus on velocity and spin rate among pitchers.
+For instance, defensive shifts—where defensive players moved to locations on the field where particular hitters were most likely to hit the ball—became more common, attempts to steal bases became less common, there were fewer bunts, batters took more pitches (i.e., watched more pitches without swinging), there were more frequent pitching changes (for particular pitcher–batter matchups; such as to have a right-handed pitcher face a left-handed batter or vice versa), and a greater focus on velocity and spin rate among pitchers.
 Some of these analytics-driven changes in play style eventually led Major League Baseball (MLB) to make rule changes in an attempt to make the game more exciting to watch, including banning defensive shifts, reducing the number of pitching changes allowed, and making the bases larger and easier to steal.
 
 Although baseball was one of the first major sports to embrace analytics, other sports have been transformed by analytics, as well.
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ When asked about how he makes the decision about whether to go for two after a t
 
 That is, Mike Tomlin, suggested that he does not take into account analytics when making decisions.
 Perhaps that is why the Pittsburgh Steelers were voted [one of the least analytically advanced teams](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29939438/2020-nfl-analytics-survey-which-teams-most-least-analytically-inclined) in the NFL in 2020 (archived at <https://perma.cc/R7FA-HGGB>).
+Nevertheless, the [Steelers did eventually hire a person focused on analytics](https://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/14521/why-the-steelers-hired-a-carnegie-mellon-professor-for-advanced-analytics) (archived at <https://perma.cc/W7VE-JZQX>).
 
 A player talent evaluator for the NFL noted that [many people around the league believe that the use of analytics is better suited for baseball than football](https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2016/01/in_an_nfl_divided_over_analyti.html) because baseball involves more games, players, and one-on-one matchups (archived at <https://web.archive.org/web/20200803205803/https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2016/01/in_an_nfl_divided_over_analyti.html>).
 By contrast, player performance in football may be more dependent on teammates and play calls.