tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10016685.post114581288376113334..comments2024-03-26T09:23:26.937-04:00Comments on ZooTennis: The Wisdom of CrowdsColette Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14905215531491180014noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10016685.post-1145988609095343392006-04-25T14:10:00.000-04:002006-04-25T14:10:00.000-04:00I find it very interesting that USTA High Performa...I find it very interesting that USTA High Performance recommended the book Moneyball. Moneyball is an outstanding book and it supports the convenient theory for them that what matters most is "results" demonstrated by statistics, not "potential" which may never come to fruition. This way the USTA can just make their decisions on which player to support based upon his/her record and ranking and will not have to get creative on predicting the future. <BR/><BR/>The only question I have is whether they are actually following this advice spelled out in the book. A great example is James "Bo" Seal. Seal's record proves that he deserves to be treated by USTA High Performance as one of the elite players born in 1991, and yet they seem to exclude him from their training camps and the only explanation I can think of is that they don't think he's going to be that tall. If you look at the most recent 1991 training camp photo which you reported on, it looks like a basketball camp for the "over 6 ft. crowd." Just look at the picture: JT Sundling, Austin Krajeck, Rhyne Williams, Chase Buchanon, etc. And yet, James Seal has a better record than Krajeck and Britton but I guess there is no room for a guy who is only 5 ft. 6 in. and who isn't likely to reach 5 ft. 10 in. I would love to hear their explanation of why Seal never seems to get invited to these camps. According to the lessons spelled out in Moneyball, James Seal would get invited, just like the stockily-built baseball player in the book who may not "look" like what a great baseball player is "supposed" to look like, but who can hit better than the tall, good looking, "athletically-built" guys who just "look" the part. <BR/><BR/>As Oakland A's Manager Billy Beane points out in the book: "we're not going to hire this guy to sell jeans; we're going to hire him to play baseball."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com