Dean Oliver works at ESPN now. He's considered the Bill James of Basketball stats[1], though he doesn't focus exclusively on that sport. Certainly there is a l

Dean Oliver works at ESPN now. He's considered the Bill James of Basketball stats[1], though he doesn't focus exclusively on that sport. Certainly there is a lot of ludditism at ESPN concerning statistical analysis, but you might say that their building a prestigious niche of high minded sports analysis. Also, an affiliation with ESPN, I think reaches more sports fans than an affiliation with the NYT, so if he's looking to switch focus to sports, then that's a pretty compelling reason too. [1] One example: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/posts.html?pg=3 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/posts.html?pg=3