Here’s my story about the whiz kids of Harvard Sports Analysis Collective:
In a cozy room inside Harvard’s Winthrop House, a group of 20 students gathers around a table to talk about sports. Wearing sweatshirts and a few days of stubble, they scarf down subs and foil-wrapped burritos, though with soft green walls and a framed portrait above the fireplace, the space looks more appropriate for afternoon tea. This is the weekly meeting of the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, a student organization that describes itself as “dedicated to the quantitative analysis of sports strategy and management,” which is a modest way of saying that the people in this room aspire to preside over sports franchises.
They slide around a box of miniature glazed donuts — the club spends almost all of its university funding on snacks — when David Roher, one of the group’s two presidents, calls the meeting to order. He asks everyone to introduce themselves and, as an icebreaker, to name a favorite sports book.
“For the sake of variety,” Roher says, “it can’t be ‘Moneyball.’”
“How about the ‘Moneyball’ screenplay?” whispers someone else.
