San Diego State: Where East meets West

Nothing particularly new (or actuarial) about this, but starting in 2013, San Diego State will be in the Big East conference for football and the Big West conference for all other sports.

Attention, sports fans: Return of the call

Major League Baseball is again offering call options for playoff tickets. Recall last year you could plunk down $10 to $20 and buy the right to purchase playoff tickets at face value. I wrote about it here. I guess response was strong, because now baseball is auctioning off the purchase rights. (Sorry, the auction ended [...]

Attention, sports fans: Allstate’s hockey follies

The video’s gone viral, but perhaps you haven’t seen the remarkable shot that has given a bit of a black eye to Allstate Insurance: Before the shot, contestant Richard Marsh had agreed to donate the money to St. Vincent’s Heart Center and the American Heart Association. As I’ve mentioned before, these contests are underwritten by [...]

Attention, sports fans: Winning streaks

UConn’s women’s BB team lost to Stanford, ending its record 90-game winning streak. Its previous loss, two years ago, was also to Stanford. UCLA has the men’s record, 88 games. Again, the same team bookended the streak. Notre Dame was the last team to beat UCLA before the streak and was the team that ended [...]

Claim of the Week: Attention, sports fans edition

What do you think it means when a stability ball is ‘burst resistant’? The Sacramento Kings basketball team is suing three companies in federal court over an exercise ball that burst and injured one of their players. Roger Dreyer, the lawyer representing the team, said on Wednesday that Francisco Garcia broke his right wrist after [...]

Attention, sports fans: player insurance

I don’t follow the sport closely, thus always wondered how soccer players could sign with a league team, then play for national teams. The answer: insurance. The insurance protects the team in case a player gets hurt playing for the country. Thus: The UK’s Football [Soccer] Association’s insurers will pay compensation to Liverpool after midfielder [...]

Attention, sports fans

Former LSU lineman Ciron Black sues Lloyd’s of London for $4 million. He claims one of the syndicates refused to pay after he blew out his knee.

Strictly personal: Mom’s World Series pick

“This is probably the first time in my life I’m rooting for an American League team,” Mom tells me. She likes the pitching coach; she’s picking the Rangers. She’s been right exactly half the time so far this post-season – not bad considering the three favorites – New York, Philadelphia, and Tampa – are all [...]

The folly of pro football

I watch some NFL games but have never understood the attraction of prognosticating. Every year there are a few clearly good teams and a few dogs and about 25 teams in the middle. And a good season or a bad season, for those 25 middle-of-the-roaders depends largely on luck – specifically turnovers. Hera are two [...]

Attention, sports fans: Baseball – the winning formula

MLB.com lets you customize your baseball standings. You can include (or exclude) a team’s record against the other league, against each division, at home, on the road, etc. But there’s one statistic the actuary in me really likes: expected won-loss record. Expected win/loss records use the number of runs a team has scored and the [...]