Cherry to Corsi: 'Get off my lawn'

By Colby Cosh - Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 10:55 PM - 20 Comments

It must be 2010; I’m watching Don Cherry talk about Corsi numbers on TV [fast-forward to 5:00 in the video above]. Granted, he’s denouncing them, but a) he has a couple of good points, and b) that’s what old guys do when they’re confronted with statistical innovations. Read your Kuhn.

Ron Maclean didn’t do a very good job of explaining the Corsi stat (yes, it was invented by Jim Corsi), and he picked a slightly inopportune occasion to bring it up with Grapes sitting next to him. As this Globe & Mail primer explains, Corsis are essentially a more powerful extension of the plus-minus stat you see in the newspaper; they count not only the goals for and against while the player is on the ice at even strength, but all shots directed at the net either way (goals, shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots).

Everybody knows plus-minus isn’t a very robust or accurate way of measuring a player’s contribution, and Corsi numbers mitigate some of the disadvantages of only counting goals. You’re counting a lot more events per game—scoring chances, loosely speaking–which gives you more statistical power and leaves luck and contextual factors with less relative influence on the stat. You’re also factoring out the quality of the goaltending behind (and in front of) a skater.

That doesn’t mean Corsis are a perfect means of understanding or isolating a player’s contribution. Shifts in hockey aren’t like a batting order, in which everyone must take his turn. Some players are out there with inferior teammates, some players are shielded from the toughest competition, and some players provide value just by chewing up a lot of minutes. Context is important, and in hockey we may never be able to correct advanced stats for context as well as we can for hitters in baseball. (That’s why stats in hockey aren’t very advanced. We’ve really only just gotten around to expressing events as rates in the simplest possible way. The guy who did this for baseball was born 186 years ago.)

The biggest easily-measurable influence on Corsi numbers—easily measurable thanks to the work of Gabe Desjardins—is where a player tends to start his shifts on faceoffs. A guy who is rolled out for a lot of defensive draws is going to have a worse Corsi rating through no fault of his own—indeed, he is penalized for being trusted by his coach. In that sense, Ryan Johnson was a bad choice for Maclean to pick on, and Don Cherry’s outburst of skepticism was entirely appropriate. Desjardins’ site also tracks “zone starts”, so we know that Johnson, who has the league’s worst Corsi rating, is one of the league’s most disadvantaged regular skaters zone-wise. Through the games of March 28 he’s been sent out for only 78 offensive-zone faceoffs but 165 in his own end. Which is why he’s near the very bottom of this list.

Like Desjardins himself, I am less impressed by the subtly different argument actually made by Cherry—that it’s unfair to penalize Johnson for blocked-shots-against that he himself has blocked. Insofar as Corsi numbers are measuring any ability, it’s the ability to not have to block shots in the first place—to help your team promote the puck out of your end and into the enemy’s defensive zone. The counting of blocked shots has a problem similar to the counting of double plays turned by a team in baseball; they correlate negatively, if at all, with the winning of games. An individual blocked shot might have a positive value—though even that’s certainly not true in every case—and you want players who are willing to block them. But it’s better not to give up lots of opportunities for blocked shots.

And, hell, it’s better still not to be a low-talent, high-grit player who has to block them to keep a job. Even Don Cherry knows that.

That, and they look kind of silly, TV to the rescue and Semi-naked ambition

By macleans.ca - Friday, January 29, 2010 at 9:10 AM - 3 Comments

That, and they look kind of silly
Russian champion ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin wowed European judges with their program based on Australian Aboriginal music and dress, but they face an uncertain welcome at Olympic competition in Vancouver. Their costumes, dark-toned bodysuits decorated with paint, eucalyptus leaves and red loincloths, have enraged Australian Aboriginal leaders. Spokesmen for the four Olympic host First Nations in B.C. have already said they want to meet with the skaters to discuss issues of cultural sensitivity.

Dream job
The photo of sleeping Toronto Transit Commission fare collector George Robitaille has become, it must be said, the sleeper hit of the Internet. Since the picture taken by Jason Wieler was posted online and then displayed on the front of Friday’s Toronto Sun, Photoshoppers have had a field day with the “TTC Sleeper”: having him nap with Homer Simpson at the Springfield nuclear plant, inserting him into the iconic painting of the Last Supper, replacing his head with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s. Robitaille blamed medication for a heart procedure and said he was sorry if he embarrassed his fellow workers and the TTC.

Every Rose has his thorn
Has Axl Rose taken his feud with ex-bandmate Slash to a new level? The gossip site TMZ reports fans attending a Guns N’ Roses concert in Regina last Wednesday were told by security to turn Slash T-shirts inside out, and to leave his signature top hats outside. Later, Rose’s camp issued a denial that any sort of apparel was banned. Still, there’s bad blood aplenty. When Slash recently floated the idea of an earthquake relief fundraiser, an angry Rose twittered: “Pretty low n’ selfish usin’ the devastation in Haiti 2 start (false) reunion rumors.”

Lost, and found
David Idlout has a missing snowmobile and a big satellite phone bill, but odds are he won’t complain. The Inuit hunter from Resolute, Nunavut, spent almost four days on a crumbling ice floe drifting toward the Northwest Passage. He’d set out to retrieve a snowmobile that broke down while he was scouting for seals when the floe broke away from the ice pack. He used a satellite phone to reach his wife, who called search and rescue. A military plane dropped supplies, but equipment problems and bad weather delayed the rescue by a helicopter crew from CFB Greenwood, N.S., until Monday.

Tinker, Taylor, diplomat, spy
Those Austin Powers-style glasses should have been a clue. Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, was hailed as a hero for sheltering six Americans in his official residence after they avoided capture when militant students seized the U.S. Embassy in 1979. Now it turns out Taylor’s role went far beyond smuggling the Americans out of Iran in 1980 on false Canadian passports. He also spied for the Americans, gathering intelligence for a planned U.S. rescue of hostages trapped in the U.S. Embassy, according to Our Man in Tehran, a new book by Robert Wright. Taylor served “as the de facto CIA station chief in Tehran,” says Wright. “It was extremely dangerous work,” he writes.
TV to the rescue
American network medical correspondents, at least those who are also certified doctors, have pulled double duty while covering the earthquake in Haiti. Dr. Nancy Snyderman of NBC treated a man with an infection, trying to keep him alive until a necessary amputation could be performed. And CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, treated several patients, even operating to remove debris fragments from a 12-year-old girl’s brain. “Yes, I am a reporter,” he said, “but a doctor first.” In a different vein, actor and Scientologist John Travolta, another camera-friendly face, underwrote the cost of a plane to Haiti, staffed with food, medics and 80 volunteer Scientology ministers to assist with “spiritual first aid”—and maybe administer some of those personality tests.
Maybe Don Cherry can make peace
Ron MacLean is supposed to be the reasonable half of the Hockey Night in Canada tag team. But his Jan. 16 attack on Vancouver Canuck forward Alex Burrows inspired the entire team to boycott CBC on-air interviews last Saturday night. MacLean accused Burrows of being a chronic diver to draw penalties, and discredited Burrows’s claim that referee Stéphane Auger threatened to take revenge on Burrows for making him look stupid with a previous call. MacLean declined to apologize, so when Vancouver hammered the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 last Saturday, none of the three stars, Canucks Roberto Luongo, Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler, would be interviewed. It’s not clear if they’ll carry their boycott to Toronto on Saturday, when they play the Leafs as part of CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada.
A Cardinal? A Padre? Nope, a priest.
Outfielder Grant Desme was a top prospect for the Oakland Athletics, with a solid reputation as a home-run hitter despite a plague of injuries. But Desme is aiming higher than the outfield fence. Last week the 23-year-old announced he was quitting baseball to enter a Catholic seminary. He now sees his injuries as “blessings” that helped sort out his priorities. His theological studies will take about 10 years, he says. “I desire and hope I become a priest.” The sudden career change is a bit, he added, like “re-entering the minor leagues.”
Semi-naked ambition
Senator-elect Scott Brown arrived in Washington carrying the weight of Republican expectations, but perhaps not so many clothes. Brown, who toppled the Massachusetts Democrat dynasty of the late senator Ted Kennedy, famously posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine as a law student in 1982. His equally photogenic wife, Gail Huff, strutted in and out of a microscopic black bikini in a 1984 music video. The leaked images only helped his cause with voters. Also generating bipartisan interest among Americans is a skin-intensive Internet photo of Brown’s bikini-clad daughters Ayla and Arianna—though calling them “available” during his acceptance speech was a bit over the top. “I want a chastity belt on this man,” said right-wing broadcaster Glenn Beck. “I want his every move watched in Washington. This one could end with a dead intern,” he said, cryptically.
And for his 21st, a small country
Rapper Sean “Did­dy” Combs has set a scary new standard for 16-year-old birthday bashes. He rented a hot New York bar for his son Justin Dior’s party and invited 1,000 friends. Guests included cast members from Jersey Shore and performances from the likes of Lil’ Kim and Trey Songz. MTV cameras filmed the event for an episode of My Super Sweet 16. As for prezzies, they included US$10,000, and a chauffeur-driven Maybach car worth $360,000. In a classy move, Justin donated the cash to Haitian earthquake relief.
Local hero
Li Shiming was a much unloved Communist party official in Xiashuixi, China, who used corruption and hired thugs to grow rich and hold power. When he was stabbed to death in 2008, the village set off fireworks in celebration. But last Wednesday his admitted killer, Zhang Xuping, 19, was sentenced to death. Zhang was paid about $150 to do the killing by a farmer whose land was stolen by Li. A petition of 20,000 signatures asking for leniency was ignored during sentencing. Zhang’s lawyer has filed an appeal. “I wanted to kill Li myself,” said one villager, “but I was too weak.”
All the news  that fits, in a D cup
The New York Times has admitted it did Mad Men star Christina Hendricks wrong. Its fashion writer had said of the low-cut, ruffled gown Hendricks wore to the Golden Globe awards: “You don’t put a big girl in a big dress.” It compounded the sin with a photo that made her even more voluptuous than the reality. It later conceded the photo was distorted “due to an error during routine processing.” No word, though, about its swipe at the “big,” all-natural Hendricks, though several siliconed starlets escaped a similar slagging.
Vlad the paler
Russian PM Vladimir Putin may be the very image of a macho man of action, but it wasn’t always so, says Tatyana Yumasheva, the daughter of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Yumasheva, a former presidential aide, says in her increasingly popular blog that Putin was nervous and “troubled” when Yeltsin said unexpectedly he would hand over power to him on New Year’s Eve in 1999. “It was not easy for Putin to become accustomed to the thought that in two days the responsibility for the whole country would be on his shoulders,” she says. Yumasheva may be building her profile for a return to politics. She is almost certainly enraging Russia’s most powerful man.
Trouble down under
Tennis phenom and clothing designer Venus Williams came close to stepping over the line at the Australian Open this week, but it wasn’t her feet at fault. It seemed that Williams had broken the event’s prohibition against revealing clothing by playing in a low-cut outfit without underwear. Closer examination by, oh, about every male tennis fan on earth proved she was more modestly dressed than first impressions indicated. “My dress for the Australian Open has been one of my best designs ever,” she said. “It’s all about the slits and V-neck. I am wearing undershorts the same colour as my skin, so it gives the slits in my dress the full effect!” Play on.

Our national blood sport

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 2:00 AM - 4 Comments

At this time of year, as we are often told, it’s all about sending a message. And from the opening moments of the NHL playoffs, things have been crystal clear. Down 4-1 in the waning seconds of their first game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers trotted out winger Dan Carcillo—the league leader in penalty minutes—to take the final faceoff. He never touched the puck, but he did live up to expectations, smacking the Penguins’ Maxime Talbot across the head with the butt end of his stick.

ALSO AT MACLEANS.CA: (Video) Top 10 cheap shots during the 2009 NHL Playoffs

There was no penalty, but the next day, the league handed Carcillo a one-game suspension, and fined Philly coach John Stevens US$10,000. “Organizations—players and coaches—will be held accountable for such actions,” said Colin Campbell, the NHL’s vice-president of hockey operations. He referred to a conference call, just prior to the playoffs, where general managers and coaches were warned that late game shenanigans would not be tolerated. It’s tempting to say the league’s chief disciplinarian “set the tone.” Except for the inconvenient fact that only hours later, Calgary’s Mike Cammalleri delivered an even more flagrant shot to the head of the Blackhawks’ Martin Havlat. The Flames winger got two minutes for high-sticking, but no further punishment. Viewers may not have seen the difference between the two incidents, but the league did. Cammalleri’s a goal scorer, not a “repeat offender,” went the official reasoning, but the Carcillo hit came in the final period. “At the end of the game, that’s bullying,” Campbell told the CBC. “I like tough hockey, but it crosses the line.”

Continue…

Don Cherry, conservative icon

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 4:58 PM - 10 Comments

Monte Solberg is a big Coach’s Corner fan.

When Don Cherry talks about the code in hockey fights, he’s talking about a code of honour. When he takes aim at visors, he’s advocating self-discipline and responsibility. When he tells hockey players not to hotdog after a goal he’s preaching humility…

On wintry Saturday nights, in a gloomy and self-absorbed world, Don Cherry stands at the pulpit of hockey and encourages us to be better people, and he reminds us all of what is good and right and just.

Where are you, Bernie Taupin?

By Andrew Coyne - Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 2:25 PM - 0 Comments

For all the talk of the Hockey Night in Canada theme being the “second national anthem” (or is it the third?), it retains a notable deficiency in that regard: lyrics. To my knowledge, since it was first written 40 years ago, no words have ever been added to it. 

Granted, the words to the first anthem are no great shakes, even if I could remember when to sing “far and wide” instead of the old “stand on guard.” And true, it would be kind of a kick to hear 17,000 fans singing, in unison, “dum ba-DUM ba-dum, dum ba-DUM ba-dum.” But really, isn’t it time we gave this “anthem” some words?

The task is complicated by the absence even of  a standardized version of the tune — the CBC has teased and tugged it into various forms over the years, adding sound effects here or altering the mix there, with different passages being used depending on whether it was being played off the top, at intermission or under the credits. There was even a disco rendition, as I recall, though the experiment was mercifully short-lived.

Nevertheless, a canonical version might be assembled out of the following three parts:

First, the intro: 

Dum, ba-DUM, ba-dum

Dum, ba-DUM, ba-dum

(Louder)

Dum, ba-DUM, ba-dum

(Still louder, with an overlay of high-pitched horns)

Dum, ba-DUM, ba-dum, dummm….

Second, the verse: Continue…

Hockey Night

By Steve Maich - Monday, June 9, 2008 at 4:05 PM - 0 Comments

Well well well. It seems Delores Claman’s  commercial instincts and CTV’s competitive  streak have made a nifty match. CTV has acquired full rights to the piece of music formerly known as the theme to Hockey Night in Canada.

I remember reading somewhere that ol’ Delores didn’t stand a chance of selling that music to anybody else.  Can’t remember where I read that, but surely the author is feeling a mite bit sheepish now.  But not nearly as sheeish as the CBC executives who so totally  screwed the pooch on this file.

Good for Delores I say. It’ll be sad not to hear that familiar theme on Saturday nights anymore, but the Ceeb suits were trying to nickle-and-dime the lady out of her creative property rights, and it came back to bite them on the arse. It looks good on them. CTV says it’ll use the theme on TSN, RDS and its Olympic broadcasts.

Small Balls: Friday June 6, 2008

By Charlie Gillis - Friday, June 6, 2008 at 1:10 PM - 0 Comments

La première étoile: Paul Pierce. The Celtics dynamo comes back from a third-quarter knee injury  to drain 15 points, including a couple of three-pointers, to pace Boston to a 77-73 win over the Lakers in the NBA final. Pierce was also part of a thorough defensive effort on the Celtics’ part. And anyone who keeps Creepy Bryant at bay is a friend of ours.

Two minutes for … intercenine squabbling. Never one to take his grievances to the press, Manny decides instead to lay a whupping on fellow Red Sock Kevin Youkilis. Or maybe it was vice versa. Who knows. Anyway, Terry Francona says everything’s all right between them—and the Sox had enough team spirit to duke it out with the Rays. But when’s the last time Ramirez got that stoked about anything? An example, you might say, of Manny not being Manny.

Who’s got tickets? Roland Garros, France. Dinara Safina v. Ana Ivanovic in the women’s final at the French Open. This showdown on Saturday pits true Russian grit in Safina against second-seeded Ivanovic of Serbia. Safina has been dubbed the comeback queen of the tournament for twice coming back from a set and 2-5 deficits, and twice saving a match point. Ivanovic is hot—in every sense of the word.

Fun police: We enjoy beating on the CBC as much as the next blog, but exactly what does Aunt Dolores think the theme to Hockey Night in Canada is worth without, um, Hockey Night in Canada? It’s not like TSN is going to snap it up for their Wednesday night broadcast. And $2.5 million for ring tones seems a stretch. So let’s be clear: a deal will get done. Right, CBC? Right Dolores?

Extra bases: Yowza. Rumours of a steroid-related drug hit in the NFL … you’ll want your ticket money back when you read this: turns out Detroit’s core of Cup-winning stars was available to every other GM in the NHL … another Leafs prospect lost to retirement.

BTC: 'Duh duh duh duh duh'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 6:06 PM - 0 Comments

From the end of the NDP leader’s scrum today.

Reporter: Mr. Layton, there’s talk that CBC may cancel the theme music for Hockey Night in Canada, you know the duh duh duh duh duh —

Jack Layton: What do you mean do I know?

Reporter: What do you think?

Jack Layton: It’s kind of second to the national anthem. Why would they do that? 

Reporter: (Inaudible)

Jack Layton: Why would they? Oh my God. Well, I think we need an emergency debate in the House of Commons. I think we need to mobilize Canadians in defence of that amazing tune that just gets our blood coursing through our veins. It’s a signature. It’s the musical signature of who we are. How dare they? That music belongs to the people. I call on Canadians to rise up and sing. 

Reporter: Okay. Thank you.

Welcome to COTU, Hughie

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 4:35 PM - 0 Comments

Centre of the Universe, that is.

Scuttlebutt from the Corpse, via our cousins at Sportsnet, has it that Jim Hughson will be the “lead” play-by-play voice on Hockey Night in Canada next season, including the Cup final. I feel like I’ve heard this a thousand times, but apparently those were just rumours.

Stripping away Peoples’ Broadcasting Service double-speak, we figure this means Jim gets the Saturday Leafs gig, replacing the venerable but decrepit Bob Cole, who would be inflicted on markets the Mother Corp doesn’t give a crap about (Hullo Sens fans!). Anyone who has watched HNIC in, oh, the last 15 years will see this as long overdue. Cole’s been flubbing calls and misidentifying players since Gretzky went to L.A. The CBC has not been so quick. Their first clue that the old boy’s shingles were coming loose came 15 minutes ago, when he called Detroit’s third goal in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. Continue…