John Pudner wrote his first statistical analysis for the New York Post more than 20 years ago, ranking pitchers on opposite Sundays from when Bill James ranked batters, and he was named as the top sports news writer in his newspaper class in Virginia by the Virginia Press Association.
Since then he has run more than 200 political campaigns for candidates or ballot issues while continuing to write statistical analysis for sports and developing a database of thousands of basketball players at www.valueaddbasketball.com and writing for www.crackedsidewalks.com. He met with and advised several NBA teams to advice on the future performance of potential draft picks this year. His work for the Alabama Farmers Federation in 2010 included helping to coordinating door-to-door efforts that reached the homes of 170,000 voters, and his more recent statistical work was featured by CNN/Sports Illustrated.
Like the great Utah Jazz teams that had the misfortune of playing during the Michael Jordan era, Novak Djokovic has the misfortunate of trying to win a Grandslam during the era of the greatest clay court player in the history of tennis. Rafael Nadal rallied to defeat Djokovic again in France on Friday to move within one game Sunday of becoming the first player to win a single Grandslam event eight times (see table).
7 Jun 2013
Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were right where Gregg Popovich wanted them, stuck on the bench, when Chris Andersen's follow-up shot gave the Heat a 76-73 lead with nine minutes to play. The two stars had been stuck on the bench for three minutes during the up-and-down game, and then Popovich surprisingly called a time out, allowing James to come back in the game. The Heat scored one field goal the next 5:50 as the Spurs took an 85-79 lead and would not trail again en route to a first-round upset sealed by Tony Parker's final basket with 0.1 seconds on the shot clock.
6 Jun 2013
The NBA Draft has a more dramatic impact on teams than any other draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers more than doubled their wins the year after picking LeBron James with the top pick, and this year have the top pick again and hope not to make the mistake the Portland Trailblazers did in the 2007 NBA Draft when they took the 24th best Value Add player in the country (Greg Oden) over the best Value Add player (Kevin Durant).
5 Jun 2013
On Thursday, Major League baseball teams will use first round picks on Jonathan Gray and Mark Appel, hoping those potential future stars can help them win a few games in 2016. One team will draft San Diego University's Kris Bryant (pictured), who hit more home runs than three-quarters of all college TEAMS. Unlike in the NBA and NFL Drafts where a quarterback or star shooter can immediately improve a team, fewer than half of first round picks from four years ago have played in a single major league game.
4 Jun 2013
The only player besides Rafael Nadal to win the French Open in the past eight years fell Tuesday. Life after 30 is proving tougher for Roger Federer, who won the title in 2009, but lost early in the Australian Open in January and struggled for stretches throughout this tournament and fell to the home favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 Tuesday.
4 Jun 2013
The Indiana Pacers outshot the Miami Heat in the first half and was still behind 52-37 due to Miami's suffocating defense. The Heat forced 15 turnovers (Udonis Haslem, left, and Mario Chalmers double team Roy Hibbert in the photo) to only five for the Pacers in the half. The Heat's pressure nullified the Pacers' size advantage that had been decisive in much of the series, giving the Heat a 4-3 series win and a trip to the Finals to play the San Antonio Spurs.
3 Jun 2013
Three American women-Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Jamie Hampton, and Sloane Stephens--will hope for upsets in the Round of 16 on Monday at Roland Garros as the second week of the French Open gets under way. American Serena Williams is already through to the quarterfinals.
3 Jun 2013
While the Heat made some three-pointers in the fourth quarter to cut the score to six points, the game was once again decided in the third quarter to force a Game 7 in Miami Monday for the right to play the Spurs for the NBA Title. Indiana defeated Miami 91-77 in Indiana. Breitbart Sports documented LeBron James's magic that started at the 10:53 mark of the third quarter and included 18 contributions in less than 11 minutes to bury the Pacers in Game 5. The Heat entered that same point leading 42-41 Saturday, but this time it was Indiana's defense that dominated the same stretch for a 27-9 run.
1 Jun 2013
Americans on the East Coast may wake up Sunday to Serena Williams playing in the Round of 16 in the French Open. The No. 1 player in the world who used to be heckled during the tournament has apparently won the crowd over by speaking French. As shown on the table of all eight matches below, Williams was the most dominant player either men's or women's play in the Round of 32, winning 86 percent of her games (6-0, 6-2) to be one of four American women to advance. Once again, no American men made it to the Round of 16 on clay.
1 Jun 2013
Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey combined to win 55 games in the Round of 32 - and still there is no American in the French Open Round of 16. The slow pace of clay has frustrated many Americans over the years, but both showed incredible patience before falling 5-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 and 8-10 for Isner and 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-7 and 2-6 for Querrey for a combined 55-57 loss. The table below shows the eight match-ups and the percent of games each has won so far.
1 Jun 2013