Plop!  The last bead of sweat wrung from my sodden brow hits the steaming hot black top.  It’s summer; it’s the dog days of summer – it’s the type of summer that causes climate change deniers to bury their collective heads even deeper in the sand with the hopes of finding cooler nadirs.

Doubled over, I catch my breath momentarily before the panting returns.  I’m not meant for this; I need cold beer in a semi-frozen mason jar, I need shade, I need Arsenal, I need to write.

Late afternoon walks across the car park are all like this these days. … More SMRTETA

SMRTILYTICS is a bit of a hobby of mine.  For a full explanation of this project, check out the main SMRTILYTICS page.  -OG


Week 19 – the Mid-Season Special

Hello and welcome to the Mid-Year Special of SMRTILYTICS!

I have not been as active as I’d like to be this year at posting updates but hopefully this special will make everyone forget about that – creating good spirits and joy along the way.

Before I get started, let me present a brief caveat to the data presented in this update.  This data is up to and including Game Week 19 which may look a little wonky since we already know what happened in Game Week 20. … More SMRTETA

smrtilytics-2016-thumbSMRTILYTICS is a bit of a hobby of mine.  For a full explanation of this project, check out the main SMRTILYTICS page.  -OG


Week 10

Week 10 has arrived with little fanfare and barely a whisper. It’s hard to believe we are just past the quarter mark for the season and while the League is taking shape, there’s still a lot of football to be played – if the season were a 90 minute game, we’re 23 minutes in.

One of the great things about Week 10 (or not great depending on how you look at it), is the addition of predictions to SMRTILYTICS.… More SMRTETA

Sb thumbThe following blog first appeared on A Bergkamp Wonderland on October 4th, 2016. It has been reprinted here with their permission.

Gazing upwards on a cold, clear night in early October, millions of visible stars stare back from the celestial darkness like pin pricks on some piece of carbon construction paper, held aloft to a desk lamp.  They shine back against the blackness, connected only by the billions of light years that separate them in the void of space.

Football feels like this sometimes, particularly during breaks for International games. Thirty-eight games separated by the vast distances of life and work and sleep and traffic jams and reruns of X-Factor.… More SMRTETA

smrtilytics-2016-thumbSMRTILYTICS is a bit of a hobby of mine.  For a full explanation of this project, check out the main SMRTILYTICS page.  -OG


Week 6

Welcome back to another year of SMRTILYTICS!

SMRTILYTICS is a bit of a pet project of mine here on SMRTETA.com.  It looks at a couple team statistics produced throughout the season and asks what conclusions (if any) can be derived from those stats.

Last year, it turned out to be a very enjoyable distraction and I’ve decided to bring it back for another crack.  It may change a bit as we go this season as I apply more theories for testing but in a nutshell, here’s how it works.… More SMRTETA