Back to Grant Winners2008 UPA Grant Project
Operation Scoresheets
By: Bob Krier
UPA Grant Award: $600
Project Summary
No one I know has attempted to compile stats of more than one team in a single database. I'm proposing to not only do that, but to also keep many styles of scorekeeping in a single repository. I'm providing the starting point for standardized stat keeping. It'll serve as a basis for a future system.
Also, most ideas I've heard from players about keeping stats across many teams revolved around standardizing the information. I don't believe standardization of the scoresheets is required. I think we can start by allowing many types of scorekeeping, and slowly over time winnow the list as we learn which methods yield the most valuable information. The database and stats can guide the scoresheet evolution, rather than a scoresheet guiding the stat and database evolution.
The stats project will help grow the sport by creating a new marketing avenue. Without stats, the UPA is unable to market the elite-level games. Its hard to describe who the top players are, and engage the casual fan. But stats can help solve that. Not that stats will definitively tell you which players are the best - but they do tell a story about the player. It's a tangible story - and you can market those stories because casual fans can understand the story told by stats.
