There is a funny exchange as seen in a native movie wherein a vagabond
takes shelter in a temple and manages to employ a runaway teenager to run
errands for him to get ‘free’ breakfast, lunch and dinner from temples that
provides food as religious offering to be consumed by worshippers after
worship. Initially, the starved teenager assents and accepts to do the rounds
by collecting food and shares with his ‘master’. One day, frustrated to be at
the beck and call of the ‘vagabond’ who just sits and does nothing but
instructs him to go to a particular outlet to collect ‘that day’s food
offering’, the teenager puts his foot down and refuses to move a muscle. “Why
should I have to share with you when you don’t as much lift a leg? Why can’t I
just eat it all?” The vagabond smiles “son, I agree you can eat it all
yourself. What about the next meal? Who will offer where? You see, that’s where
my value-add comes into play. I don’t merely sit on my bottom. I alone know on
which day, what time, who will offer you what? How is that?” Tapping his head,
he smirks “the database is right here and that’s why I sit and you sweat. Got
it? Now get going.”
Big Data – some insights
The power of Database is just gripping. The DBMS will become more powerful,
and robust with a ‘Relational’ element as RDBMS – which is more structured
mapped with parent to a child through a primary key. Now that premise is
revisited to look for alternative approach to make things work even more faster
in data retrieval after all database isn’t just to store data but
retrieve and re-engage. From a MySQL came out the NoSQL meaning we are back to
flat file system which instead of sending a query to a database, performs
the typical request-response mechanism keeping the latency at the lowest
possible [100% is utopian. Let’s get real]. So the concept of sending multiple
queries to different databases concurrently to fetch the desired result in a
jiffy was sheer magic, and that magic wand is Big Data. We will call its
database as 'NoSQL' or Not structured and ‘Hadoop’ is the ecosystem within which
the whole things exists and offers the user experience; the concept of sending
multiple queries is to minimize the time taken in data retrieval by knocking
at several databases that possibly holds the data, and of course, one of the
servers will surely serve given the data aggregated and returns with the sought
after result – which in this parlance called as ‘MapReduce’ and the database system as
HDFS – Hadoop Database File System. The hardware aspects is equally significant
as processing of data produces large heat which calls for ‘Hardware Management’
and stretches the budget, but its worth every penny as your ROI is expected to
scale to not just break-even. Its impact on the topline and bottom line will be
tremendous as its will be customer-focused and customer-centric effort in every
sense. Enough chatter about the technicalities and we will turn our attention
how Big Data s aids and assists outcome.
The precursor to Big Data analytics undoubtedly is predictive analysis. The
Brad Pitt starrer Moneyball, which went to become a box-office hit, employed
empirical statistical analysis using to analyze the potential of a player,
and also predict about performance. As they say every picture has a story
behind, and now every second is snapped when you factor that in the blink of an
eye the ball gets passed, thrown, kicked or creamed.
Big Data provides that window to analyze in any role one may choose -
player, coach, fan, viewer, stakeholder, analyst, economist and the list goes
on. We live in this digital age where there is a downpour of data that is
‘humungous’ in size and count keeps climbing.
Big Data and Sports
Remember the good old days of Tennis, when hard heavy
wooden racquets. Bjorn Borg vs McEnroe matches at Wimbledon are truly
legendary, and in fact holds the record for tie-breaker. Watch the latest play
and notice the racquets are the most advanced lightweight carbon fiber
composites with powerful guts. Its more power play now. Times have changed and
so has technology.
The comments made by Cynthia
Rudin, associate professor of statistics at MIT condenses the essence of
Big Data and its impact in sports
“Sports are watched by millions
and millions of people - yet, pretty much all of the strategic decisions are
made by humans in a split second. These decisions could definitely be enhanced
by learning from past data, but humans can’t keep large databases in their
heads. I wanted to build predictive analytics tools to help teams make these
decisions,”
“If we know, for instance, that in
certain circumstances, a particular coach on the opposition team tends to make
a particular decision, then we can be ready for it,” “Another
example - we can place sensors all over a car while it is in training for a
race, and use the sensor data to help a driver learn how to race better.”
It couldn’t have been said better.
IPL [Indian Premier League]
Cricket in the sub-continent is big-time and cricketers are worshipped as
demi-gods. That’s what fame and fortune can place – high aloft on a pedestal.
But then along with its power is the Damocles sword of performance. If you fail
to live up to the expectation, then it will be a nosedive – from glory to fall
from grace. Where does Big data come into the frame? Talk about technology for
the turnaround. From tweaking to thriving, players in this digital age with
digital possessions can equip themselves by playing to the strength and working
on weakness and beyond self-analysis, there is the advice of a professional who
knows where it hurts and what helps . How? Data points. Every stroke you have
played or every ball bowled is captured and analyzed from different
perspectives. It’s a typical holistic 360 degree analysis and with 3-D
technique the sky too isn’t the limit. Predominantly primary data is
always the ‘historic data’ or past data readily available and secondary data
will be made up of the searched and secured ones. What if everything is under
one folder that’s within reach? It provides a ring side view about your
potential and helps to tap onto your advantage. The information is funneled to
predict with certain degree of probability. Everyone, without any exception,
goes through period of slump. In managerial economics, its boom and slump, and
in stock market we call bearish and bullish. In a highly competitive
environment, wherein a single ball can alter the fate , there is so much that
goes into the game. Every player is an asset – and so much is at stake.
As an illustration, let’s check how India fared against Pakistan in the Cricket
World Cup Matches.
Legend has it when Sachin Tendulkar is on a song, it can be nightmare for
the bowlers and notably the 2003 World Cup, when opponent’s ace pace bowler had
to give up in sheer frustration in being smashed all the way to or over the
ropes. Likewise, Brian Lara on his day can be devastating. So the in-form and
out-of-form batsman are closely studied to detect any loopholes that can be
used to advantage. Why does the team have a mix of youth and experience
combine? For raw aggression, the youth and when ‘pressure’ piles up the inexperienced
tend to crumble like a cookie, which emphasize the need for the experienced player who can keep
a cool head undeterred and undisturbed. Composure counts and comes from
experience. And that’s what makes it a balanced team.
Let’s walk-through some infographics of the ongoing T-20, 2016, courtesy:
the Times of India, to substantiate the substance.
It’s a snapshot of the key information required – the data on the
dashboard. Complete with prediction.
EPL [English Premier League]
Who is your top goal scorer in this season? How many appearance? How many
assists? What is the rate of conversion in penalty kicks? Fouls?
Suspension?
Not mere questions. There are answers available – ask your team’s analyst.
Considering a bird’s view, with data available , the analysis is again for
numerous perspective : a) as a game that usually involve player
evaluation, team management, strategy and planning, competitor analysis, and b)
Business – managing a team comes with a cost. Injuries are a coach’s
nightmare, more terrifying than to the player hurt and you can do the math how much
will be the cost in covering the insurance. The overall expenses incurred, check the impact on the top line, and bottom
line. Its business.
NBA [National Basketball Association]
Should it spring any surprise that professional analytics that can break
down data so granular to sift for information – forewarned is forearmed, and
that’s why information is wealth. Digital Asset is too precious to be lost.
Coaches do their own SWOT on every player in the team – own and opposition and
strategize. Stats cite that major sports do hire their talent to tap into
analysis. 97 percent of MLB teams and 80 percent of NBA teams are accompanied by data
analytics professionals.
Sports is more sophisticated today. And the power of numbers and the need
for its interpretation is greater than never before, and that’s how and why the
tug or pull from all sides seem to be on Big Data. Uncertainty notwithstanding,
you can measure player’s performance, read patterns and predict a
possible outcome. Big Data provides the space to maneuver around for
better planning by leveraging on the data available that will empower you to face
the odds in ‘expecting the unexpected’. Big Data helps you to make sense of the
data available to chart out the action plan to enhance your preparedness. It might
sound early to speculate how Big Data will
expand the shores of Artificial Intelligence, but the way the wind blows, the supposition looks dead on.
We look forward to meet you again in another post. Thank you for your time.
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