In The Stands With Peter Robert Casey
Peter Robert Casey, who runs his eponymous blog here, and tweets here, is in pretty lofty company when it comes to sports journalism and sports social media. We were lucky enough to get him to answer a couple of burning questions about what’s happening at the intersection of social media and sports, advanced statistical measures, and some of the crazy scenes he has seen covering the Red Storm and working with other teams.
Here we go:
FanFeedr: You were the first person assigned to cover the Red Storm exclusively on Twitter this season. What is a single highlight from that experience?
Peter Robert Casey: My road trip to Durham, NC. to cover the St. John’s-Duke contest was a unique and memorable experience. I’ve never witnessed a basketball atmosphere quite like Cameron Indoor Stadium, where passionate fans stand and cheer coordinated chants (often hilarious ones) for an entire game at deafening decibels.
The fans created a row within a row directly behind our press table, and could literally reach out and touch our keyboards. While the game itself wasn’t ‘one for the ages,’ the overall experience was a highlight among highlights. I escaped the gymnasium without any body paint on the back of my sports coat. That’s an achievement.
What would you do differently?
I would integrate CoverItLive or another live blogging platform into the equation to outpost tweets and conveniently archive the Twitter conversation from pre-game notes to the post-game press conference. It was a fun experiment, and a lot of credit is owed to Mark Fratto, St. John’s SID, for thinking outside of the box.
You were involved in a recent Tweetup with the NY Knicks. What did the Knicks get out of it, and what did the fans get?
The Knicks weren’t the first NBA team to host a Tweetup, but they were the first to add a panel of digital media practitioners to the slate, and deliver live video content through USTREAM’s Facebook application.
From a business perspective, the Knicks were able to leverage their distressed ticket inventory and sell 272 tickets, which resulted in $11,881 in revenue and created an effective sell out. They also sold a presenting sponsorship for the event to Discount Tire for $10,000. In addition to $21K+ in revenue, they created value for the sponsor, increased their online presence and established thought leadership in the social media space.
Fans were able to transition their online relationships offline, and interact and engage with some of the brightest minds in the game today: VP of Octagon Digital, Jim DeLorenzo; Founder of Digital Royalty, Amy Martin; and co-founder of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey. The ticket price also included a free t-shirt and a seat in the TweepZone at the game. All for $40. Kudos to Jordan Maleh and his marketing team for putting the ground breaking event together.
There has been a lot of discussion about using advanced metrics in basketball (adjusted plus minus, position-adjusted win score) and baseball (sabermetrics, win expectancy). Do you follow any of these?
Advanced metrics can help us understand and analyze baseball and basketball at a deeper level, and help GMs make more informed decisions, which I think are good things. I haven’t read Moneyball and I haven’t attended Daryl Morey’s MIT Sports Analytics Conference yet, but I’ve watched the keynote panel and I do frequent Hoopdata.com, 82games.com and Basketball Prospectus.
As great as numbers are and as much as they help, they don’t always tell the whole story. Scouting and making draft decisions are an inexact science. It’s tough to precisely predict how a 19-year-old kid will respond to NBA life. There are a lot of temptations and pressures from family, friends and strangers that come with the fame, time and money.
I think it’s important that you also evaluate players as ‘people’ and examine how their personalities fit within a culture and organization. I’m actually working with a pair of Columbia University professors on actionable research around the ‘reverential’ element of team chemistry. We think this data is complementary to the advanced statistics movement, but also valuable when making NBA transaction decisions.
Have they changed how you appreciate games and players?
Absolutely. It’s fun to look beyond the standard data to see how players (and teams) perform on a per-minute basis (or a per-possession basis for teams), or from particular spots on the floor. Efficiency ratings can help us compare apples to apples, and oranges to oranges on both sides of the ball. It’s a worthwhile activity.
ESPN has been launching several local sites. Is it game over for the local incumbents, or is there an opportunity for them to compete?
I’m not counting the local incumbents out just yet. I would imagine local newspapers are a bit nervous about ESPN’s reach and resources, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Worldwide Leader adapts to pursuing local advertising and smaller deals.
What is the most exciting event for you during the sports year and why?
March Madness does it for me: It’s 3 weeks of sustained excitement in a single elimination tournament format with lots of underdogs, unique match-ups, unsung heroes, upsets and enthusiasm.
The NBA Playoffs are a close second because of the high level of talent and depth of knowledge that teams have on one another. There’s a lot of strategy and adjustment involved; and the better team usually wins.
Almost last but not least, FanFeedr connects people to their favorite teams and players. Please give us your top three players and teams, in any sport. This has to be definitive, PRC-branded, for 2010.
Players
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins): He won my attention during the Vancouver Games this past winter. He’s a winner, through and through.
Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors): Fundamentally, he’s one of the best basketball players I’ve ever seen. His passing ability is even more impressive than his knack for scoring. Curry disproved a lot of critics this year.
Tony Gwynn (formerly, San Diego Padres): Gwynn’s long retired, but his career was a mark of consistency. He got it done at the plate.
Teams
Butler Bulldogs: Yes, I’m on the bandwagon. Brad Stevens is a terrific leader, and his team maximizes their abilities.
San Antonio Spurs: Not a ‘fan’ per se, but it’s fun watching a team with good on-court chemistry.
New York Yankees: 27 rings. 40 American League pennants. And I live in The Bronx.
Tell us something about you that no one else knows.
I watch The Biggest Loser every week with my wife. Shhhh! Outside of hoops, it’s the only thing I watch on the tube.
We want to thank Peter for his time, and we hope you follow his smart work.
