If you subscribe to the theory that a good advertisement should provoke, the new commercial for Nike SPARQ is one of the better ones around. You’ve seen it if you’ve watched more than five minutes of any televised athletic even in the past month—it’s the one where different athletes, pro and am, look into the camera and tell you how “my better is better than your better:”
Somehow, I don’t love a commercial that says anybody who uses this product is a trash-talking asshole.
Speaking of omens, did either of you see the latest bit of statistical analysis from Bill James? Over in the Web pages of our corporate sibling, Slate, Mr. Sabermetrics says that 40 years of witnessing the University of Kansas blow out opponents at Allen Fieldhouse left him wondering, basically, at what point on the clock does it become impossible for the losing team to come back? (The subtext here: How much do the Jayhawks have to be up by in the second half before it’s safe to bail early and get a head start on the crowds? (Lawrence traffic is murder on game days)). The piece comes with a nifty lead calculator (though: no widget? Basketball fans everywhere could use one of these for their Blackberries); just input the lead, time left to play and which team has the ball, and voilà! You get the chances that your lead is safe. According to James, as far has he’s been able to tell, no team has ever lost after having what the calculator says is a safe lead.
Like comedy, sports video on the web is hard; the motion is usually so blurred it’s hard to make out what sport you’re watching, let alone who’s playing. Still, the new(ish) EPSN video site has some good bits, like this Suns-Spurs highlight
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Basketball, Sports | Tagged: Nike, Saul Williams | 
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Posted by Mark Coatney
