The staid drama of the games we watch--especially the major ones like baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and even motorsports--relies on certain, recognizable situations where the fans can easily identify them to use a template to interpret and enjoy the unfolding events. The cliché of the goat who becomes the hero or the one where the aging, gimpy veteran comes off the bench to rescue the team late in the game, these are like life and are how sports becomes a mirror for what we see in our lives. Like art, sports can show us lessons for life, show us beauty, and even entertain with sudden, unexpected drama when the clichés turn themselves around.
That said, there is one statistic in team sports, especially hockey, football and baseball, that irritates me every time I hear it. "The team that scores first wins 55% of the time." Or maybe it's 60% or 70%, it seems to depend on the broadcaster and the sport. Logically, it's only slightly less obvious than "the team that scores the most points wins more often". Duh!
Consider this with pure reason, if you will. First, winning teams always score more runs/points, right? Well, if the winning team scores, say 55% of the points in your sport, isn't it likely they would score first a disproportionate amount of the time? Not only that, the team who scores first only has to make the rest of the game a tie to win, right? Geez! Let's retire that piece of brilliant analysis, OK?
CDs listened to today:
- Elliott Carter: Double Concerto for Harpsichord & Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras
- Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers
- Dafnis Prieto: Absolute Quintet
- David Finko: Viola Concerto
- Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery: Bags Meets Wes!
- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 2, "Cello"
- Erich Korngold: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
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