Challenge accepted. Once again, Jed Demuesy (@jdemuesy) challenged me to figure out a difficult sports statistic, and I couldn't help but try to figure it out. It was a simple question: Aroldis Chapman had just achieved his 100th save. How fast had he achieved it compared to other pitchers who had hit that milestone?
There was no established list that I could find on the internet of when each pitcher had hit their 100th save milestone. So I used baseball-reference.com and an age calculator. Because Jed was unspecific on what "fastest" meant, I calculated the age of the pitcher at the time of the save, the number of games they had appeared in before achieving the save, and the number of innings they had pitched before achieving the save.
I wanted this spreadsheet to be more interactive, but it doesn't seem like I'm able to make it re-order itself. If you would like to see the spreadsheet and re-order the lists based on the different criteria, here is a direct link to the Google sheet I used. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19Qi-7qP3NdY0gvBlFDFZ5TJUjXM88ggmD6biBjy26wo/edit?usp=sharing Or if you know some HTML coding and can help me figure out how to embed a code that would allow re-ordering, please let me know.
As for Jed's question: The answers regarding Aroldis Chapman are:
Age: 26 years 5 months 4 days Rank: 9th of 136
Number of games: 238 Rank: 24th of 136
Number of innings: 232.0 Rank: 9th of 136
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Sports Through the Eyes of a Dog
I've had a dog for the majority of my life. When I was born, my parents already had a dog. It passed after a few years, but we got another then later, another. I may have experienced a total of 5 years of life without a dog. My wife and I recently bought an Australian Shepherd/Poodle puppy. He's about 6 months old now, and he has watched several sporting events on TV with me. We haven't gone to a Bark in the Park yet (he's not trained enough in my opinion to handle it). However, what follows is what I believe is his take on sports and what a trip to Bark in the Park will be like.
Hey, where are we going? I see you've got my leash in your hand. Usually we go for walks with it. But you seem like you're headed for the garage...
Whoa, wait. I don't like the garage. That big metal thing with the wheels is in there. It's loud and I got sick that one time. I mean, we go to the pet store in there, but we also go to the vet. So this is a toss-up. Nope. Nope. Not going. Just leave me in the yar...shoot, you picked me up. OK fine.
Mom, where are we going? You guys are wearing that lighter shade of gray that's the same color as my Kong. Wait, is my Kong here?!?! It has peanut butter in it!!! Oh, it's not. Dang.
Oh, we're getting out? Where are we? This isn't the pet store or the vet. This place is big. There's lots of people! Oh, I very much like people. And! And! And! Look at all the other dogs that are here!
Hello friend! Oh, you don't want to play.
Hello friend! You're kinda big.
Hello friend! Oh, you've got another friend over there? OK.
Dad, where are we going? Oh, this is nice. Look at all that grass and dirt. Dad, can I play in the grass? That man has a stick. I think he wants to throw it. Nope. Gonna keep it. Oh, hey, other dogs are ov...IS THAT A BALL?!?! Dad you didn't say there'd be balls here. Can I chase it? C'mon. Pleeeease.
Oooh, water bowl. Thanks, I forgot I was thirsty. Oh hey, another dog. Do you want to be friends? You do! Let's wrestle is this narrow area full of beer bottles and peanut shells. Woohoo! Wrestle, play, grrr, growl... DAD, we were playing. We weren't gonna hurt each other.
AAAAAHHHHH what was that noise? You know I don't like loud noises. It was hot too. Very hot. Dad, what's PEET-ZAH? And why is everyone yelling it? Whoa, is that grass? Can we run on the grass. Never mind, I'm gonna munch on these peanuts shells.
What? We're going somewhere else? But I was just starting to enjoy this. Hey! Other dogs! Lots of people! Friends, friends? No? Oh, we're walking out? Mom, can I play with the man with the saxophone? I like that noise. Ah, nuts. OK. Waaaaaait, not the car again!
I better not get sick again guys. You know I hate this stuff. Boy, I could go for some more of those peanut shells. Did you get one of those sticks, Dad? I'm gonna nap for a minute.
ZzzzzZzzZZzzz
What? We're home? OK. Can we run in circles in the backyard for a little bit???
SWEEET!!!
*runrunrunrunrunrun*
Did I have fun at the what? Baseball game? What's a baseball game? We've been running in the backyard. Did we do something else today? I forget.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
TV Tricks and Aspect Ratios
**ALERT: This is not a sports post. I know, it's a departure from my normal stuff. But hey, I'm a nerd too. Fair warning**
Recently, my wife and I subscribed to Netflix. We've enjoyed many shows, new and old. Two that she loved as a teenager were "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff "Angel". She has gotten me to start watching them as well. Today, she was watching an episode of "Angel" when she noticed something peculiar and brought it to my attention.
So, a little background about "Angel" if you're unfamiliar. The show centers around David Boreanaz as Angel, a vampire with a soul. Angel is tormented by his previous life of killing and blood-sucking and has since resigned himself to atone for all this by saving the lives of people caught in supernatural predicaments in Los Angeles. He has two human associates who work with him to solve cases and save lives. They are all characters who were created on "Buffy".
The screenshot is from season 2, episode 1 entitled "Judgment". In the beginning of the episode, Angel and his friends are looking for something regarding a case at a health club. This health club, as you can see, has mirrors lining the walls, as many do. And Angel, staying true to vampire lore, does not have a reflection.
So how did the crew achieve this illusion? Well, in some instances, you could edit the person out in post-production. But that would have been very hard in this instance, with all the gym equipment in the foreground. So the simple solution? Just don't have the actor in the shot. But that can't last forever. They do it just long enough for us to get it that Angel is a vampire without a reflection. We have to see him eventually.
Now as the scene progresses, the camera refocuses off the mirrors and back onto the original subjects, with Angel added in. There was just one slight problem with the way they shot this particular scene.
David Boreanaz is in the scene, but not where he is supposed to be! The two yellow arrows are pointing to his two associates. The green arrow is the gym manager following them. The red arrow suggests where David Boreanaz is supposed to be walking, owing to the fact that he has no reflection. But look over on the right side of the screen. There's David waiting to join the group. As they all pass that green post, the camera racks focus, the camera is now focused on the actual people and the mirror is out of focus, and David is now at the head of the line. That's how they got around not having him in the shot. But why is he so obviously in the shot right now? I mean, it's a fast move. But it was on the screen long enough for my wife to catch it.
Here's what we think probably happened. This episode originally aired in September of 2000. While the show was originally shot in a 16:9 format, there was not a high use of 16:9 aspect-ratio capable television signals or home televisions that could receive such a signal. I imagine that was also the case when editing the episode. As a result, no one would have noticed David standing by the post, because they would have seen it something like this.
Everything outside the blue line would have been chopped off on an analog 4:3 aspect-ratio television.
I know. Nerd things. Something that we found interesting. Perhaps it interests you too. I'm now going to have to watch other shows from around that time closer to see what was shot in 16:9 and got cut off on a 4:3 TV. Gotta see what else I've been missing in widescreen.
Recently, my wife and I subscribed to Netflix. We've enjoyed many shows, new and old. Two that she loved as a teenager were "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff "Angel". She has gotten me to start watching them as well. Today, she was watching an episode of "Angel" when she noticed something peculiar and brought it to my attention.
So, a little background about "Angel" if you're unfamiliar. The show centers around David Boreanaz as Angel, a vampire with a soul. Angel is tormented by his previous life of killing and blood-sucking and has since resigned himself to atone for all this by saving the lives of people caught in supernatural predicaments in Los Angeles. He has two human associates who work with him to solve cases and save lives. They are all characters who were created on "Buffy".
The screenshot is from season 2, episode 1 entitled "Judgment". In the beginning of the episode, Angel and his friends are looking for something regarding a case at a health club. This health club, as you can see, has mirrors lining the walls, as many do. And Angel, staying true to vampire lore, does not have a reflection.
So how did the crew achieve this illusion? Well, in some instances, you could edit the person out in post-production. But that would have been very hard in this instance, with all the gym equipment in the foreground. So the simple solution? Just don't have the actor in the shot. But that can't last forever. They do it just long enough for us to get it that Angel is a vampire without a reflection. We have to see him eventually.
Now as the scene progresses, the camera refocuses off the mirrors and back onto the original subjects, with Angel added in. There was just one slight problem with the way they shot this particular scene.
David Boreanaz is in the scene, but not where he is supposed to be! The two yellow arrows are pointing to his two associates. The green arrow is the gym manager following them. The red arrow suggests where David Boreanaz is supposed to be walking, owing to the fact that he has no reflection. But look over on the right side of the screen. There's David waiting to join the group. As they all pass that green post, the camera racks focus, the camera is now focused on the actual people and the mirror is out of focus, and David is now at the head of the line. That's how they got around not having him in the shot. But why is he so obviously in the shot right now? I mean, it's a fast move. But it was on the screen long enough for my wife to catch it.
Here's what we think probably happened. This episode originally aired in September of 2000. While the show was originally shot in a 16:9 format, there was not a high use of 16:9 aspect-ratio capable television signals or home televisions that could receive such a signal. I imagine that was also the case when editing the episode. As a result, no one would have noticed David standing by the post, because they would have seen it something like this.
Everything outside the blue line would have been chopped off on an analog 4:3 aspect-ratio television.
I know. Nerd things. Something that we found interesting. Perhaps it interests you too. I'm now going to have to watch other shows from around that time closer to see what was shot in 16:9 and got cut off on a 4:3 TV. Gotta see what else I've been missing in widescreen.
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