SDCN
From Wiki Gonzalez
SDCN stands for "Stats-Drunk Computer Nerd" (or "Stat-Drunk Computer Nerd"). It is a not-so-common synonym for stathead.
Origin
The phrase was coined on rec.sport.baseball in March 1992 by long-resident stathead antagonist Roger Maynard:
- I am finished with this thread. I should have known that explaining
- baseball fundamentals to stats-drunk computer nerds is a hopeless task.
In April of that year, pioneering stathead Sherri Nichols came up with the abbreviation:
- >WARNING: The analysis used statistics, the mathematical language of
- >random events. If you feel that any model which you do not understand,
- >or which does not explain the totality of the universe, is inferior to
- >your unaided judgment, hit what ever key moves you on to the next mail
- >message on your system.
- Maybe we SDCN* should use this as a standard disclaimer on all posts :-).
- * Stats-drunk computer nerds, of course!
rsb members, aware of the constant criticism directed at sabermetrics, spreadsheets, and sabermetricians themselves, quickly adopted the label and its abbreviation as a term of pride. "SDCN" soon became widely used across the group as a self-identifier. As newsgroup members filtered out to the WWW, including to Old Primer and early Baseball Prospectus, they carried the moniker along.
History on Baseball Think Factory
"SDCN" was first seen on BBTF in a Primer chat log of 2002 World Series Game 4. Early Primate and former rsb denizen Charles Saeger typed "/me must be too much of a SDCN" during the game, and nobody was confused.
In 2003, Vinay attested to the use of "stat-drunk computer nerd" in a Prospectus-related thread. Unfortunately, the Primer Archives Beast has apparently eaten the reference.
References
- Maynard's first known reference to "Stats-Drunk Computer Nerd" (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.baseball/msg/1da5bcdcce1b7158) - March 23, 1992.
- Sherri Nichols's "SDCN" response (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.baseball/msg/24e0242db8a7401f) - dated April 28, 1992.
- World Series Game 4 - Primer Chat (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/primate_studies/discussion/dszymborski_2002-10-24_0/) - BBTF's first sighting of SDCN. (October 24, 2002)
- when did "mind-numbingly" become en vogue (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.baseball/msg/a28f0d3e6cd71ecd) - Use of the full term on BBTF is attested. (January 23, 2003)
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