Category Archives: Sports

MARILYN MONROE AND JOE DIMAGGIO.

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Philip

MARILYN MONROE AND JOE DIMAGGIO. Leonard Mlodinow begins his article with a story about Joe DiMaggio, just back from World War II, going to a Yankee game with his four-year old son, Joe, Jr. The fans were soon chanting DiMaggio’s … Continue reading →

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LUCK AND THE WORLD SERIES.

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Philip

LUCK AND THE WORLD SERIES. In a short series, anything can happen. So runs a lot of thinking about baseball. Leonard Mlodinow’s article has a very helpful analysis of the role of luck in the World Series. Assume that in … Continue reading →

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BASEBALL STREAKS AND MUSCLE MEMORY.

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Philip

BASEBALL STREAKS AND MUSCLE MEMORY. I posted here on the thought that for baseball players “a swing results from a complicated series of muscular movements and sometimes hitters get it right and get their muscle memory to repeat that swing.” … Continue reading →

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DIMAGGIO DID IT TWICE.

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Philip

DIMAGGIO DID IT TWICE. There is an anomaly to Mlodinow’s contention that DiMaggio’s streak could be accounted for as the result of a random process— that there is a better than 42% chance that some major league player or other … Continue reading →

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RANDOMNESS AND STREAKS.

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Philip

RANDOMNESS AND STREAKS. Kids, people underestimate how common streaks are when the events are random. What are the chances that if you toss a coin 100 times that you will get a streak of ten or more heads or tails? … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Science, Sports | 1 Comment

BAD LINE CALLS.

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Philip

BAD LINE CALLS. I have previously posted (for example, here) on error rates for sports officials. The Wall Street Journal recently alerted me to a study of tennis line calls by researchers at the University of California at Davis (see … Continue reading →

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USEFUL PHRASES–“MISERY POKER.”

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Philip

USEFUL PHRASES–“MISERY POKER.” There were control freaks back when I was growing up, but we didn’t have a name for them. Now, calling them “control freaks” helps us recognize them. I was engaged in an e mail discussion today with … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Sports, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

WHY YOU SHOULD BOIL YOUR OCTOPUS BEFORE THROWING IT.

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Philip

WHY YOU SHOULD BOIL YOUR OCTOPUS BEFORE THROWING IT. It’s pretty well-known that fans of the Detroit Red Wings throw octopuses onto the ice at important moments in Red Wing history. This WikiAnswer tells the history of this custom and … Continue reading →

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SUBSTITUTING ALPHABETICALLY.

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Philip

SUBSTITUTING ALPHABETICALLY. I spent some time coaching a “house soccer” team. There were no tryouts. Any kid in the age group who wanted to play could be on the team. I gave every player equal time by substituting alphabetically. If … Continue reading →

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EVERYBODY IN THE INFIELD.

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Philip

EVERYBODY IN THE INFIELD. Malcolm Gladwell had an article about a girls basketball team (twelve and under) which had great success playing a full court press. The article turned out to be controversial (google new yorker gladwell basketball if you … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Sports | 2 Comments