The Guardian has an interesting read about Oakland A's GM (and diehard Tottenham Hotspur FC fan) Billy Beane, and his efforts to identify undervalued qualities in soccer players, much in the same way that he did with OBP in Moneyball.  This could have far reaching effects in European soccer, as most players are acquired by purchase in soccer as opposed to trades, and the disparities in payroll are even greater than they are in MLB.

The whole piece is worth a look, even though there is some remedial explanation of baseball to help the baseball neophytes through.

All the weekend's games in three sentences or less:

Cleveland 93, Washington 86

LeBron needs to touch the ball more often (even with 32 points he still wasn't handling it enough).  Gilbert Arenas needs to pass the ball more when Cleveland goes small.  Neither team looked very impressive.

San Antonio 117, Phoenix 115 (2 OT)

Maybe the best first round game ever.  Tim Duncan was phenomenal (40/15/5); the Spurs need to get him more help from their bench (eight minutes each from Ime Udoka and Brent Barry is not going to cut it).  If Shaq keeps passing Duncan off to Amare Stoudamire on defense, it's going to be a rough ride for the Suns.

New Orleans 104, Dallas 92

I underestimated how far Jason Kidd's ball defense has fallen.  Chris Paul made him look silly (35 points, 10 assists, 1 turnover).  Dallas needs to stop settling for jumpers, as they did in the 2nd half, or they'll be lucky to win more than one game.

Utah 93, Houston 82

Houston doesn't have an answer for Carlos Boozer (20/16).  Tracy McGrady keeps getting nicked up, and the Rockets can't bank on Shane Battier going 7-7 from the field every game.  Nice to see Andrei Kirilenko make an appearance (21/4/3).

Orlando 114, Toronto 100

T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon combined for 14 assists and zero turnovers; they also shot 4-20.  The Raptors have no one to deal with Dwight Howard (25/22).  When Keyon Dooling is putting up a +10 in the +/- category, the Magic are living right.

Los Angeles 128, Denver 114

Hey Memphis, thanks for giving the Lakers Pau Gasol for nothing and handing them a ticket to the conference finals.  Really, much appreciated, he's kinda good (36/16/8).  Kenyon Martin can't guard Kobe, and yet somehow this surprised George Karl.

Philadelphia 90, Detroit 86

The Pistons have been in 'flip the switch' mode for far too long, and it caught up with them last night.  Missed free throws, poor shot selection, and a fired up bunch of unknown Sixers leads to them giving up home court advantage.

Boston 104, Atlanta 81

No team in the playoffs needs to manage their minutes more than the Celtics.  Sunday night: Allen 35 minutes, Garnett 34, Pierce 33, Rondo 28.  Mike Bibby's five points really made it worth that deadline trade for the Hakws.

With the NFL draft just five days away, the Cincinnati Bengals found out today that their star linebacker of three years ago has been reinstated. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today that Odell Thurman has been reinstated and can return to active duty with the Bengals. After a two year suspension, Thurman will finally get the chance to step back on the field.

Goodell stated that he was pleased with Thurman's progress and that he had complied with the guidelines to be reinstated this time around. When asked about Thurman's reinstatement, coach Marvin Lewis said that, "It is now up to Odell to continue to meet all NFL guidelines, and to maintain a standard of personal responsibility that will allow him the chance to compete for a spot on our team."

With all of the angst surrounding this team including the release of Chris Henry and the headache that is Chad Johnson, this news is something that can finally bring a smile to the faces of Bengals' fans. If Thurman can get back into gameday shape quickly, assuming he's not there already, he should be able to step back into the starting MLB spot by the start of this season. In 2005, as a rookie, he led the Bengals in tackles with 148 and had one sack along with five interceptions and nine passes deflected and four forced fumbles. To say his rookie season was great would be an understatement.

Thurman had been in trouble with the law on a number of occasions, but back in 2006 he was suspended for four games for failing to show up for a drug screening. That suspension was later increased to the whole season when he was arrested for DUI charges on September 25, 2006. Up for reinstatement for the 2007 season, Thurman was denied but due to confidentiality guidelines, the league and team officials would not say why he was not reinstated back in July of last year.

The Bengals suffered without him in the middle, partly because of the amount of injuries to the linebacking position last season. Should Thurman get his starting job back, that could help set up the transition to the 3-4 defense the team has hinted at changing to recently. While it will ultimately be up to Marvin to decide if Thurman is ready to play or start again, it will be on Thurman to make sure he complies with everything the NFL is asking him to do, or more so not do. If he can keep his head up and square on his shoulders there's no doubt he will be back on the field as the starting MLB come the first game of the season.

Here is a quick look at some of the best performances from the last seven days of baseball.

Of all the pitchers to take the mound twice in the last week, none were better than John Danks of the White Sox. On Tuesday he pitched 7 2/3 shut-out innings against the A's. He followed that with 7 shut-out innings against the Rays on Sunday. He picked up the win in both games and struck out a combined 12 batters while allowing just eight hits.

Veteren pitcher Randy Wolf is enjoying life with his new team in San Diego. This week he won his two starts against the Rockies and the Diamondbacks. After blanking the Rockies on Tuesday he gave up four to Arizona on Sunday. In total he allowed just seven hits between the two games and struck out a league best 16 batters.

After a very slow start, the Tigers finally figured out a way to score some runs this week. Most of the damage was done by their newest star, Migual Cabrera. The Detroit third baseman batted .429 over the last seven days and drove in a league best 11 runners.

With his two home run performance Sunday night against the Mets, Chase Utley finished the week with five blasts, the most in the majors. The Phils second baseman also batted .391 with 8 RBI in six games. He leads the league with eight home runs this season.

No team is playing better baseball in April than the Arizona Diamondbacks. And this week no Diamondback has been hotter than Conor Jackson. In six games Jackson hit three home runs with 10 RBI while posting a .480 batting average. He also led the league with 10 runs scored.

In the last seven days we have also seen a few sluggers work their way up the Home Run ladder. Alex Rodriguez passed Willie McCovey and Ted Williams and sits alone in 15th place with 522 all-time. Jim Thome hit three bombs this week and is currently tied with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews with 512 home runs. And Manny Ramirez hit four home runs this week and is now just four from reaching 500 in his career.

But of all the future hall-of-famers still playing the game, none have had a better week than Chipper Jones. The veteran Braves third baseman batted .565 with four home runs in six games in the last seven days. He leads the majors with a .458 batting average. No other player is over .400 at this point. He is also tied for third with 6 HRs and 18 RBI. While his team has not gotten off to a great start (9-9) and are battling some injuries, Chipper is doing all he can to carry the Braves to one more pennant. But if he happens to come up short, at least he can take home the GSI Player of the Week Award.