I don't know all that much about the state-of-the-art in advanced hockey metrics — but one thing I can say is that we're going to be looking carefully at sports (including hockey) where there's a lot of room for improvement, as opposed to "just" baseball where a lot of they key problems have been solved.

When we were negotiating with ESPN, they said 'yes' to an awful lot of things, in terms of our vision for the site. But the one thing they were firm about is that they had to buy the 538 brand name and the URL. The basic reason is that they're going to be investing lots of additional resources into 538, and no…

Obviously, there are SOME sports pundits who are total hacks. But I'd argue that MOST political pundits are completely useless; the outliers are the few who are actually worth reading. Plus the political pundits take themselves very seriously — read the new Mark Leibovich book — whereas I think on some level someone…

ESPN, like the NYT, is a huge news organization. There are always going to be products targeted to different types of consumers. The question is how harmoniously they can co-exist, and I think ESPN executes that very successfully. Our little 538 corner is going to have a lot of editorial freedom and a lot of "voice",…

Sorry for the delay here. It was a difficult decision to make, as I've had a long and fruitful relationship with the Cambodian sandwich shop on Broadway. But I decided to get lunch at the taco cart on 28th & 6th instead.

The more interesting question, perhaps, is why Intrade diverged from the consensus of the other betting/gambling markets, such as Betfair and Pinnacle. I'm a "fan" of prediction markets in general but Intrade was clearly not functioning efficiently in the late stages of the election.

I played up through about 8th grade and realized that I sucked but that the pitchers also sucked and couldn't throw over the plate. I think my batting line in my final year of play was .250/.717/.250.

In some respects, perhaps, but social media can also increase media groupthink. This is evident in the way that the debates are covered, for instance, where a narrative can set in very early, even if it's b.s. What we need is news organizations, and reporters, that recognize the value of independent-mindedness.

Ideally I'd like 538 to be no more than about 50% politics in the off-years.