IEORTools.com Resources added

I've decided to spruce up my personal website IEORTools.com.  I want to add some additional resources to it along with the book store.  Most of the content will be relevant reference links to Industrial Engineering and Operations Research professionals.

The first thing I did was added a Resources side menu.  The Resources side menu will link to relevant resource sections.  So far I have created the following resources

• Optimization
• Statistics
• Data Mining

These links are a collection of resources that I have accumulated over the years.  The links are a great reference and hopefully I can build them up more.  I'm going to be creating more content on ieortools.com site as opposed to the blog because I'm just running out of room.

Moneyball coming to the big screen

Recently I found out that the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis will be shown as a motion picture.  The Moneyball trailer can be viewed online.  In case you have never heard of Michael Lewis then you might have heard about the movie "The Blind Side" which he also wrote the accompanying book.  The book Moneyball is about the Oakland Athletics and how they used analytics and mathematcal know-how to turn around a professional baseball franchise.

The story centers around Billy Beane which is played by Brad Pitt in the movie.  Billy Beane is a professional ballplayer turned General Manager.  Billy Beane inherits the top organizational management job for the losing Oakland Athletics.  He is immediately frustrated with the same old losing ways and believes he needs to shake up the system.  He finds out about the curious world of baseball analytics or otherwise know as sabermetrics and hires a curious crew of young mathematically gifted folks.

The story is fascinating even if you are not a fan of baseball.  The use of mathematics to help make business decisions is nothing new.  Yet employing this analytics method to an industry that is deep rooted in old ways and practices is intriguing.  Changing the ways of the "good ole boy" network requires risk, knowledge, and sometimes good fortune.  This can translate to almost any industry or even organization.  I am most definitely looking forward to seeing this movie.

Sports analytics summer blog reading recommendations

The dog days of summer are almost here and if you are a sports fan it can be long.  Only baseball and soccer endure the summer seasons in the U.S.  Even if you are a die hard baseball or soccer fan the season itself can seem to last forever.  Now is the perfect time to get caught up in the analytics of your favorite spectator sports.  The following is some of my favorite sports analytics blogs and reading material.

Baseball
FanGraphs.com
FanGraphs is the all everything baseball numbers website.  The best thing that FanGraphs is known for is having a complete database of baseball players metrics.  One of my favorite metrics in baseball is WAR or Wins Above Replacement.  If that is not enough they even have heat maps of strike zone pitching locations.  Tracking your favorite team has never been more analytically exciting.

Football
AdvancedNFLstats.com
Advanced NFL Stats is the best NFL analytics blog out there right now.  Similar to FanGraphs there is a complete database of NFL offense and defense metrics.  Advanced NFL Stats also does a good job of explaining the numbers behind the measurements.  Football is no easy task to analyze team and player performance.  This site does an excellent job of both.  Also Advanced NFL Stats is keeping a database of play-by-play data.

Drive-by-Football
The up and comer of the NFL analytics blogs is Drive-By Football.  Drive-By does a great job of explaining some of the harder math around determing team and player efficiency.  One of the most interesting features is the Markov Chain Drive calculator which calculates likelihood of scoring scenarios drive-by-drive hence the name of the website.

Basketball
Wayne Winston blog
This blog's primary focus is on Basketball, specifically the NBA.  Wayne Winston is definitely known as a prolific Operations Research professor.  You may not know is that Wayne Winston consulted the Dallas Mavericks and other sports teams to help improve their franchises.  Wayne talks about other sports from time to time as well.  If you have not read Wayne Winston's book Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football you are in for an analytical treat.   Wayne analyzes the why and how of measuring professional sports efficiency and winning.

Data Mining Books List

I came across a great list of Data Mining Books while perusing around the internet.  The list is maintained by Kurt Thearling who is Director and Chief Scientist in various organizations helping to develop their Analytics and Engineering groups.  Kurt has written some white papers on the subject of Data Mining and has also been featured on NPR.  Kurt's NPR piece was about data mining and privacy which is obviously a big subject in our Facebook society today.

I believe this is probably one the the most comprehensive lists of Data Mining books available.  If you are interested in obtaining one of these books please be sure to peruse the the new IEOR Tools Online Store Data Mining section.  There you can find books and references on Data Mining with varying levels from introductory to advanced applications.