Whenever I tell people that I study Statistics, they almost always respond, “So what do you do with that?” After they get over their initial shock, I often get, “If I were in Statistics, I’d study sports statistics.” I usually respond by telling them that while it would probably be a lot of fun, I don’t think there is much money in it (because I gotta eat, right?) and that statisticians usually take that as a part time gig. I’m thinking I might have to change that response though, as the game of sports statistics is showing signs of life with the recent Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports.
Articles in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (JQAS) come from a wide variety of sports and perspectives and deal with such subjects as tournament structure, frequency and occurrence of records and the optimal focus of training for decathlons. Additionally, the journal serves as an outlet for professionals in the sports world to raise issues and ask questions that relate to quantitative sports analysis. Edited by economist Benjamin Alamar, articles come from a diverse set of disciplines including statistics, operations research, economics, psychology, sports management and business.
Maybe I’ll read regularly and take up sports betting as my new hobby.
