Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Meet Christopher Kamka, Chicago's Ultimate Sports Stats Guru

By Justin Breen | April 18, 2016 5:33am | Updated on April 19, 2016 10:57am
 Christopher Kamka, Chicago's sports stats guru for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
Christopher Kamka, Chicago's sports stats guru for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
View Full Caption
Christopher Kamka

CHICAGO — Christopher Kamka spends every day digging for statistical gold.

The stats coordinator at Comcast SportsNet Chicago uses his lifetime of sports knowledge with a passion for finding historical and other hidden nuggets on Chicago's teams.

"I've consumed so much sports stuff over the years, and I know what I've seen," said Kamka, 36, an Illinois Center for Broadcasting graduate. "What I want to provide is something no one else has seen."

As a child, Kamka carried a binder filled with sports cards everywhere. He had the cards organized by sport, and the sport organized by other facets: Like NHL by players' countries, NBA by players' heights.

He started as an intern at Comcast Sports Net in 2009 hoping to become a broadcaster, but realized he brought much more to the table as a provider of stats.

He sends up to 50 tweets a day, sometimes researching and double-checking the information for two hours.

"If this is something that no one else has and people would be interested to know, that extra time is well worth doing," said Kamka, of suburban Wheeling. "A lot of this comes from years of watching the games and having a knack for knowing what's rare, what's a record."

Justin Breen tells us about stats that make you go, "hmmm."

Kamka's finds are used on pre- and postgame shows for Chicago's various clubs filmed at the network's Downtown studios, and during live game broadcasts when he sometimes works in TV trucks at the parks or stadiums.

Even when he's not working, sports fill up a big portion of Kamka's life. A main photo on his Twitter page is of Michael King Kelly, a baseball star of the late 1800s who played for the Chicago White Stockings (the predecessor for the Cubs). Kamka spends much of his free time researching 19th Century baseball just for fun.

He can also thank the game for finding his fiancee, Janet. He met her on Sept. 4, 2011, after approaching her at a Wrigley Field shop. They will be married Sept. 3, a day before their five-year anniversary.

For those looking into having a career in stats or sports, Kamka has a simple message: "Find what you're good at and use it to your advantage."

Check out some of Kamka's favorite statistical tweets below:

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: