#140 NFL Analytics & Teaching Bayesian Stats, with Ron Yurko

Learning Bayesian Statistics

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• Intro to Bayes Course (first 2 lessons free)
• Advanced Regression Course (first 2 lessons free)

Our theme music is « Good Bayesian », by Baba Brinkman (feat MC Lars and Mega Ran). Check out his awesome work!

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Takeaways:

• Teaching students to write out their own models is crucial.
• Developing a sports analytics portfolio is essential for aspiring analysts.
• Modeling expectations in sports analytics can be misleading.
• Tracking data can significantly improve player performance models.
• Ron encourages students to engage in active learning through projects.
• The importance of understanding the dependency structure in data is vital.
• Ron aims to integrate more diverse sports analytics topics into his teaching.

Chapters:

03:51 The Journey into Sports Analytics

15:20 The Evolution of Bayesian Statistics in Sports

26:01 Innovations in NFL WAR Modeling

39:23 Causal Modeling in Sports Analytics

46:29 Defining Replacement Levels in Sports

48:26 The Going Deep Framework and Big Data in Football

52:47 Modeling Expectations in Football Data

55:40 Teaching Statistical Concepts in Sports Analytics

01:01:54 The Importance of Model Building in Education

01:04:46 Statistical Thinking in Sports Analytics

01:10:55 Innovative Research in Player Movement

01:15:47 Exploring Data Needs in American Football

01:18:43 Building a Sports Analytics Portfolio

Thank you to my Patrons for making this episode possible!

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