Category Archives: Sports

CATCHING A GRAPE IN YOUR MOUTH DROPPED FROM 101 FEET HIGH.

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Philip

CATCHING A GRAPE IN YOUR MOUTH DROPPED FROM 101 FEET HIGH. Tyler Cowan on the Marginal Revolution site reports here on the feat of catching a grape dropped from 101 feet high in your mouth. The grapes were walnut sized … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Science, Sports, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

TW0 WASHINGTON SQUARE HUSTLERS PLAY THE BEST CHESS PLAYER IN THE WORLD.

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Philip

TWO WASHINGTON SQUARE HUSTLERS PLAY THE BEST CHESS PLAYER IN THE WORLD. Nick has sent me a couple chess games this week—masterpieces by Kasparov and Magnus Carlson—so I was thinking about chess when I came across this post by Michael … Continue reading →

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BIG DATA AND ROTATOR CUFF INJURIES.

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Philip

BIG DATA AND ROTATOR CUFF INJURIES. The data collection program also identified that a frequent injury for ramp workers was a rotator cuff tear in the left shoulder. A focus on these injuries showed that workers were holding their baggage … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Sports | Leave a comment

DICTEE COMPETITIONS.

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Philip

DICTEE COMPETITIONS. In her article, Lauren Collins details the difficulties presented in French by homophones. She gives this example: vert (“green), verre (“glass”), ver (“worm”), vers (toward”), and vair (“squirrel fur”) all have the same pronunciation, as do the plurals … Continue reading →

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DANIEL MURPHY’S GREAT HITTING CONTINUES.

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Philip

DANIEL MURPHY’S GREAT HITTING CONTINUES. In October of 2015, just before the World Series began, I posted here about how Daniel Murphy’s performance in the Series would be a test of whether a baseball or basketball player can have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Sports | 3 Comments

CHEATING AT THE ORIGINAL OLYMPICS.

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Philip

CHEATING AT THE ORIGINAL OLYMPICS. The Rio Olympics are about to begin. Naomi Shavin begins her article in the current Smithsonian (August 3) on cheating in the original Greek Olympics by noting that: “despite a state-sponsored doping scheme, the Russian … Continue reading →

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COFFEE IN SPORTS—WHAT CAN’T IT DO?

Posted on July 27, 2016 by Philip

COFFEE IN SPORTS—WHAT CAN’T IT DO? In an article in the Wall Street Journal (July 26), Rachel Bachman recounts the statistical and anecdotal evidence that coffee will improve the athletic performance of star athletes. She opens with the story of … Continue reading →

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IS UNANIMITY AN INDICATION THAT SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG?

Posted on July 27, 2016 by Philip

IS UNANIMITY AN INDICATION THAT SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG? I came across a link to this article by Lisa Zyga about statistics in the twitter feed on the Baseball Prospectus blog about the White Sox. (Yes, it was on a … Continue reading →

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SKI JUMPING FOR FUN.

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Philip

SKI JUMPING FOR FUN. Like many people, the appeal of spectator sports is greater for me when I have played even a distant variant of the game for fun—say, touch football or 3 on 3 basketball. Perhaps skiing jumping is … Continue reading →

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SKI JUMPING AND SOCIAL CLASS.

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Philip

SKI JUMPING AND SOCIAL CLASS. Eddie met with some resistance from other ski jumpers. Some of this was probably a carryover from the belief that amateur athletics were for the upper classes, people of leisure. Eddie was working class—a plasterer … Continue reading →

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