Introduction to BoopStats

Blame it on Barkann … Or thank him.

For years, as we have come across quick, snappy pieces of statistical information on Philadelphia's sports teams, we would send them to the appropriate writers and columnists at the Daily News as well as some other people who we thought would find interest in them. Or at least pretend to.

Michael Barkann, the host of "Daily News Live" on Comcast SportsNet, was often one of the recipients.

And to a man, whenever they would use those items in print or on the air or at a party, they would kindly pass along the credit. Barkann did one better. He named them.

BoopStats.

Now, by the power vested in us by our brothers and sisters at philly.com, we'll bring them to you directly on a regular basis, along with any other number of literary and technological tools that might help make the vast world of sports statistics — and vast it is — more interesting, more clear, more fun.

The plan is to post, almost every morning, those quick, snappy stats we mentioned above, which we'll call "Eye Openers." But we will also post more specific, longer items (but not too long) on subjects such as the baseball category we have no use for. Or the one we would love to see created.

There will be charts and graphs and slideshows. The concentration will be on the Philly teams, but we won't ignore the national numbers. We'll analyze the past, examine the future, even waddle around in the present. We'll touch on all sports, even those we don't fully understand (which, come to think of it, would be all of them).

In short, we'll do anything we can to properly present the 10 things that all athletic events eventually boil down to …

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.