Hello and welcome to my Substack blog! Come on in and make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything? Nothing? Well then, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Benjamin Robinson (although some folks call me Ben, which is also fine by me). I’ve lived in some great cities all across the country, including Cincinnati, Ohio (my hometown), Pittsburgh, PA (where I attended college), Los Angeles, CA (where I pursued graduate school), and now in Washington, D.C., where I’ve lived since 2014.
Currently, I am a Senior Manager of Data Strategy & Insights at the Universal Service Administrative Company, where my responsibilities include managing the delivery of business intelligence and open data projects as well as our data science software and analytical products. However, there’s a decent chance that you might know me from my work on Grinding The Mocks, my glorious side project, as well as a data and insights company I founded. I use mock drafts, the wisdom of crowds, and machine learning to predict the NFL Draft. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to work with NFL teams, agents, and analytics companies, as well as have my work featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Football Outsiders (RIP).
At the 2025 NFL Big Data Bowl, the invited speaker was Eric Tulsky, the General Manager of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. Dr. Tulsky spoke about the importance of being inquisitive and humble as an analyst, mixing in anecdotes about his time as a proto-hockey (and football) analytics blogger who eventually caught on in an NHL front office and rose to the highest position in the organization. Listening to his talk has inspired me to jump more into writing during my “offseason” (aka from June through December) and focus more on ideas that have been brewing in my head.
