Sports Gone Nerdy

That's right, hang up your jock strap and suit up with your pocket protector and favorite calculator: nerd culture has officially infiltrated pro sports.  The warning signs were there.  Fantasy sports has been a growing industry for years, sabermetricians are now widely respected, and even star athletes like Curt Schilling are addicted to dorky RPGs.

Despite this, pro leagues have largely spurned the advances of their thick-spectacled, meekly-built admirers.  Leagues such as the NFL have butted heads with fantasy sports providers, threatening litigation unless said providers pay licensing fees for player stats and information.

This is despite the strong evidence that fantasy sports actually increases consumption of sports.  Speaking from personal experience, I have never watched so much NFL football as I did this past year.  This crippling addiction was caused by the drug of fantasy sports laced with a heavy dose of NFL RedZone.  When I should have been putting up Christmas decorations, I was stealing away to watch channel 794, hoping to experience the high of seeing Michael Turner's thunder thighs scampering into the end zone for six big points.  By allowing me to see every game, I was able to analyze players and teams to an extent I never could have before.  Finally, I had found the opium to my Sherlock Holmes.  RedZone support groups will pop up in the next few years, just watch for it.  I am....

Returning to the subject of pro league and their number-loving fans, there is now officially one league that has truly embraced the segment with open arms.  Surely this is a league on the cutting edge, with forward-thinking, radical fans, and management made up of brainy academics.  It's... the NHL?!

They say desperate times call for desperate measures, and the NHL lately has never been one to hide its insecurities.  With perennially low TV ratings post-lockout, the league has tried everything to bring back the casual fan.  Now, "everything" includes a bizarre comic book narrative called The Guardian Project that is aimed at attracting young nerdlings.  No one knows exactly what they're guarding, but my guess was that they were guarding the unholy contract Gary Bettman signed to keep his job this long.

Yup, this fabulousness is happening.

Then Bettman and the NHL produced perhaps their greatest innovation in recent memory: an All-Star fantasy draft.  No longer simply a function in NHL 11, hockey fans saw the best players in the world create their own teams, forming never before seen lines and juicy match-ups, all while humiliating final pick Phil Kessel and Maple Leafs fans.  Talk about perfection.  There hasn't been a distribution of talent like this since Agamemnon and Priam recruited heroes for the Trojan War. (Phil Kessel as Protesilaus, anyone? Talk about amazing irony.)

The ratings justify the NHL's efforts, as the game itself saw a 33% increase in viewership over 2009 (2010 was the Winter Olympics).  As all pro leagues try to find ways to make their All-Star games relevant, the NHL for the first time in quite a while is at the forefront of innovation.

And that's what I aim for this blog to be about: looking at sports in an innovative way, identifying opportunities, and celebrating the odd and the absurd.  Finally, before signing off on this inaugural address, let's celebrate the ridiculous lacrosse stylings of Corey Perry from this year's Breakaway Challenge: