Sports Then and Now

The Olympics is known for its world-class athletes and diverse sports. Throughout the years, this quadrennial event has undergone many changes including the elimination of certain sports. Some of these sports were dropped due to a lack of popularity or qualified athletes or just seemed to no longer fit the Olympic program. Here are some sports that were once part of the Olympic Games but have since been discontinued.

Jeu de Paume

This game was played only once as a medal event at the 1908 Olympics in London, but a version of the game was featured at the 1900 Paris Olympics as an exhibition sport. Played with balls and racquets on an indoor court, jeu de paume is considered to be the original form of tennis and sometimes referred to as “royal” or “real” tennis. Although the scoring for this event was much more complicated, some of the overall objectives of the game are similar to today’s version of tennis.

Live Pigeon Shooting

Making its only appearance at the 1900 Olympics, the objective of this event was to shoot as many live pigeons as possible from a 27-meter distance. Six birds were released at a time, and any shooter who missed two or more birds was eliminated from the competition. Many dead and injured birds and a gruesome mess were left in the wake of this event, and it was fortunately discontinued after these Olympics. Clay targets are used instead of live pigeons in today’s shooting events. Read the rest of this entry →

Advanced analytics have completely changed basketball and baseball strategy at the highest level. After decades of traditional wisdom ruling over the NBA and MLB, coaches and front offices were forced to adjust to new data sources which revealed valuable competitive insight.

Professional hockey went through a major change in the 1990s, with NHL betting odds favoring teams which made the switch to trap-based defensive systems. Since then scoring has almost returned to pre-trap levels as analysts attempt to utilize modern analytics to uncover the next big edge in hockey. And the best sports betting sites have had also had to adjust their betting lines accordingly.

NBA Analytics Created The Three-Point Revolution

Basketball might be the most extreme example of how analytics has influenced a sport’s strategy at the highest level. NBA champions of the 80s and 90s ruled the paint, including legends like Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal. The action has moved far away from the key, with the three-point shot dominating the newest offensive schemes and strategies.

The record for three-point attempts was broken once again in the 2016-17 season, this time by the Houston Rockets, who bombed their way to a second-round playoff exit. The previous record holders, the Golden State Warriors, earned their second NBA championship in three years. No team has won a ring without elite three-point shooting for nearly a decade.

Basketball analytics have progressed to personal electronics worn by players around the clock, with players being monitored almost incessantly. Before the modern age of the three-pointer, a three-point shooting center or power forward was a rare luxury. Now, players who previously focused on banging in the paint must develop a jumper if they expect to start on most NBA rosters.

MLB Analytics Lead To Home Run And Strikeout Records

Perhaps the most stat-intense sport in the world, baseball has always recorded the history of their game meticulously. The advent of modern analytics and micro data has allowed statisticians to run through an abundance of data to determine the best hitting, pitching and batting strategies. Read the rest of this entry →