Mixed strategies are a key component of game theory. Investigations into whether or not people use optimal mixed strategies have largely been limited to laboratory settings and have produced mixed results. Recently, the empirical framework has been extended into professional sports. This study...

We study the effect of the red card in a soccer game. A red card is given by a referee to signify that a player has been sent off following serious misconduct. The player who has been sent off must leave the game immediately and cannot be replaced during the game. His team must continue the game...

Play calling strategies during football games are extremely important to the success of a team. In the past, coaches and players have subjectively determined the plays to call based on past experiences, personal biases, and various observable factors. This research quantifies these decisions...

In 1999, the International Volleyball Federation (IVF) changed the scoring system of volleyball, from the side-out scoring system to the rally scoring system. The main goal of the scoring system change was to make the length of the game more predictable. This short paper investigates whether the...

This paper uses K-means cluster analysis and multinomial mixture models to categorize professional golfer performance for the period 1980 to 2006. We collected, cleaned and analyzed final annual money list standings for PGA Tour players from www.pgatour.com. Correlation patterns between other...

Using data from NFL seasons 1960-2007, we examine the quarterback rating and the four variables of which it consists: average yards per attempt, completion percentage, interception percentage, and touchdown percentage. We test for structural breaks in the means and standard deviations of each...

In this paper we examine the use of neural networks as a tool for predicting the success of basketball teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Statistics for 620 NBA games were collected and used to train a variety of neural networks such as feed-forward, radial basis, probabilistic...

Time series clustering is used to show that, relatively, the career progression of Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman's test career as a batsman was most similar to West Indian Brian Lara. Consequently, it is likely his peak performance would have occurred while the Second World War disrupted...

This paper develops a robust, statistically significant, six independent variable multiple regression model that accounts for the relative success of English Premier League football clubs based on an array of twenty-four pitch actions collected during the 2007-2008 season (p0.0000)....

This paper designs and implements an empirical test to discern whether the parties to a contract are able to commit not to renegotiate their agreement. We study optimal contracts with and without commitment and derive an exclusion restriction that is useful to identify the relevant commitment...