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{{Short description|American sportswriter}}
{{for|the record producer and founder of [[Beserkley Records]]|Matthew King Kaufman}}
{{For|the record producer and founder of [[Beserkley Records]]|Matthew King Kaufman}}
'''King Kaufman''' is the daily sports columnist for [[Salon.com]]. Kaufman grew up in [[Los Angeles]], lived for six years in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], and moved back to [[San Francisco]] in the summer of 2007. In addition to covering the major American sports leagues and international events such as the [[Olympic Games|Olympics]] and the [[World Cup]], Kaufman's columns often deal with issues related to the state of American sports. Some specific concerns of Kaufman include the role of race in sports and American culture, publicly financed [[stadium]]s, [[Anabolic steroid|performance enhancing substances]], the inequalities and hypocrisy in the [[NCAA]], and the poor quality of television sports announcing.
{{BLP sources|date=December 2008}}
'''King Kaufman''' is a sports journalist and former program manager at [[Bleacher Report]] and daily sports columnist for [[Salon.com]].


== Biography ==
His articles feature light-hearted humor, typically with a degree of self-deprecation. A former [[Los Angeles|Angeleno]], he enjoys relating stories of his fond memories of the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodger]] games he listened to as a child.
Kaufman grew up in [[Los Angeles]], lived for six years in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], and moved back to [[San Francisco]] in the summer of 2007. In January 2011, King left Salon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kingkaufman.com/about/| title=About King Kaufman |author=King Kaufman|accessdate=2011-02-02}}</ref>


In addition to covering the major American sports leagues and international events such as the [[Olympic Games|Olympics]] and the [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]], Kaufman's columns often deal with issues related to the state of American sports. Some specific concerns of Kaufman include the role of race in sports and American culture, publicly financed [[stadium]]s, [[Anabolic steroid|performance-enhancing substances]], the inequalities and hypocrisy in the [[NCAA]], and the poor quality of television sports announcing.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Annually, he tracks the performance of [[NFL]] prognosticators, himself included, along with his son Buster, the "coin-flippinest 3-year-old in North America", who flips coins to randomly predict the outcome of (presumably) closely contested games. Kaufman also has a 1-year-old daughter, Daisy.


His articles feature light-hearted humor, typically with a degree of [[self-deprecation]]. A former [[Los Angeles|Angeleno]], he enjoys relating stories of his fond memories of the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodger]] games he listened to as a child.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Kaufman has proposed changing the rules of nearly every organized sport, including removal of field goals from [[American football]], the elimination of free throws from [[basketball]], and the abolishment of offsides from [[soccer]].


Annually, he tracks the performance of [[NFL]] prognosticators, himself included, along with his son Buster, the "coin-flippinest 4-year-old in North America", who flips coins to randomly predict the outcome of (presumably) closely contested games.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Kaufman is a frequent critic of sports announcers who use shoddy statistics or generally do not care about the sport which they are announcing. He has particular distaste for coverage of [[Major League Baseball]] on the [[Fox Network]], including the [[playoffs]], [[World Series]] and [[All-Star Game]].


Kaufman has proposed changing the rules of nearly every organized sport, including removal of field goals from [[American football]], the elimination of free throws from [[basketball]], and the abolishment of offsides from [[soccer]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Kaufman, an admirer of [[sabermetrician]] [[Bill James]], made his own contribution to [[baseball statistics]] by creating the Neifi Index[http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/kaufman/2003/06/26/thursday/]. Named for infielder [[Neifi Pérez]], this statistic measures a player's ability to contribute to his team's success by ''not'' playing. Introduced as an award that "we, the great whiffing, grounder-booting, sedentary lifestyle-leading masses, wouldn't just have a chance of winning if we were allowed to play. We'd be a lock", the Neifi Index is the difference between a player's team's winning percentage when he does not play and when he does play. It is called the Neifi Index because when Kaufman first computed it, the [[San Francisco Giants]] winning percentage when Pérez did not play was .929, but was only .542 when he did play, thus giving him a Neifi Index of .387.


Kaufman is a frequent critic of sports announcers who use shoddy statistics or generally do not care about the sport which they are announcing.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} He has particular distaste for coverage of [[Major League Baseball]] on the [[Fox Network]], including the [[playoffs]], [[World Series]] and [[All-Star Game]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Under the stage name the King Teen, Kaufman was the singer for the Smokejumpers, "purveyors of hampster-slappin' punk rockabilly in San Francisco from 1996-2000."

Kaufman, an admirer of [[sabermetrician]] [[Bill James]]{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}, made his own contribution to [[baseball statistics]] by creating the Neifi Index [http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/kaufman/2003/06/26/thursday/]. Named for infielder [[Neifi Pérez]], this statistic measures a player's ability to contribute to his team's success by ''not'' playing. Introduced as an award that "we, the great whiffing, grounder-booting, sedentary lifestyle-leading masses, wouldn't just have a chance of winning if we were allowed to play. We'd be a lock", the Neifi Index is the difference between a player's team's winning percentage when he does not play and when he does play. It is called the Neifi Index because when Kaufman first computed it, the [[San Francisco Giants]] winning percentage when Pérez did not play was .929, but was only .542 when he did play, thus giving Neifi an index of .387.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Under the stage name the King Teen, Kaufman was the singer for the Smokejumpers, "purveyors of hampster-slappin' punk rockabilly in San Francisco from 1996-2000."{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

Kaufman was laid off by Bleacher Report in 2017, amid restructuring.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-03-08|title=Bleacher Report's credibility took years to earn, but just one month to lose|url=https://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/bleacher-report-proves-credibility-takes-years-earn-one-month-lose.html|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Awful Announcing|language=en-US}}</ref>


== External links ==
== External links ==
* [http://dir.salon.com/topics/king_kaufman/index.html King Kaufman column archive]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060813202802/http://dir.salon.com/topics/king_kaufman/index.html King Kaufman column archive]
* [http://www.kingkaufman.com/ King Kaufman's blog]
* [http://www.kingkaufman.com/ King Kaufman's blog]
* [http://www.smokejumper.com/ Smokejumpers website]


==References==
[[Category:American sportswriters]]
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufman, King}}
[[Category:Sportswriters from California]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Salon (website) people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Latest revision as of 10:41, 9 May 2023

King Kaufman is a sports journalist and former program manager at Bleacher Report and daily sports columnist for Salon.com.

Biography

[edit]

Kaufman grew up in Los Angeles, lived for six years in St. Louis, and moved back to San Francisco in the summer of 2007. In January 2011, King left Salon.[1]

In addition to covering the major American sports leagues and international events such as the Olympics and the World Cup, Kaufman's columns often deal with issues related to the state of American sports. Some specific concerns of Kaufman include the role of race in sports and American culture, publicly financed stadiums, performance-enhancing substances, the inequalities and hypocrisy in the NCAA, and the poor quality of television sports announcing.[citation needed]

His articles feature light-hearted humor, typically with a degree of self-deprecation. A former Angeleno, he enjoys relating stories of his fond memories of the Dodger games he listened to as a child.[citation needed]

Annually, he tracks the performance of NFL prognosticators, himself included, along with his son Buster, the "coin-flippinest 4-year-old in North America", who flips coins to randomly predict the outcome of (presumably) closely contested games.[citation needed]

Kaufman has proposed changing the rules of nearly every organized sport, including removal of field goals from American football, the elimination of free throws from basketball, and the abolishment of offsides from soccer.[citation needed]

Kaufman is a frequent critic of sports announcers who use shoddy statistics or generally do not care about the sport which they are announcing.[citation needed] He has particular distaste for coverage of Major League Baseball on the Fox Network, including the playoffs, World Series and All-Star Game.[citation needed]

Kaufman, an admirer of sabermetrician Bill James[citation needed], made his own contribution to baseball statistics by creating the Neifi Index [1]. Named for infielder Neifi Pérez, this statistic measures a player's ability to contribute to his team's success by not playing. Introduced as an award that "we, the great whiffing, grounder-booting, sedentary lifestyle-leading masses, wouldn't just have a chance of winning if we were allowed to play. We'd be a lock", the Neifi Index is the difference between a player's team's winning percentage when he does not play and when he does play. It is called the Neifi Index because when Kaufman first computed it, the San Francisco Giants winning percentage when Pérez did not play was .929, but was only .542 when he did play, thus giving Neifi an index of .387.[citation needed]

Under the stage name the King Teen, Kaufman was the singer for the Smokejumpers, "purveyors of hampster-slappin' punk rockabilly in San Francisco from 1996-2000."[citation needed]

Kaufman was laid off by Bleacher Report in 2017, amid restructuring.[2]

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ King Kaufman. "About King Kaufman". Retrieved 2011-02-02.
  2. ^ "Bleacher Report's credibility took years to earn, but just one month to lose". Awful Announcing. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2022-01-05.