When sports reports talk about how a team is doing, they often say something like, “This team has won/lost X of their last Y games …”
How do they pick those numbers? Every time I hear this stuff the numbers seem completely arbitrary. For example, after the Seattle Mariners won the first game of the series against Boston, I heard, “The Mariners have now won 8 of their last 12!” And then when they won again the next day I heard, “The Mariners have won 9 of their last 14!”
Basically, I’ve never been able to figure out how they decide how many games to count back to pull the number of wins/losses out of. It’s never seemed to be related to anything like a streak. It’s more like they pick a number that they can make sound the most impressive (in the case of wins) or most dire (in the case of losses).
Is there a rule of thumb, or is it indeed arbitrary?
Whenever a baseball hitter has say, a 3-4 day, and the announcer says,“Coming into today, he was 5 for his last 33.” I cynically think,“OK, he’s 8 for 37.”
This. A team that has gone exactly .500 over their past ten games can be described by your local sportswriter, depending on his/her particular mood, as “sinking fast, dropping three of their last four,” or “getting hot, winning four of their last seven.”
I’ve written these kinds of lines in sports stories many times, and it really just depends on what the most impressive number you can give is. The more games involved, the better. But the rule of thumb I always used is they have to have won at least 75% of the games stated, otherwise it doesn’t sound very good.
Recently, I saw one of the stupidest sports-related stats ever, courtesy of Canada’s TSN: “The Nashville Predators have never won a playoff series that is tied 2-2.”
Thing was, at the time the Predators had never won a playoff series period.
Yeah, or you’ll hear something like *“When the series has been tied 2-2, the Canucks have won game 5, 9 out of 12 times in playoff history.” Trying to make a point on some kind of statistical advantage.
Ya. Going back 40 years with absolutely no common denominator between any of the teams.
*completely arbitrary stats to illustrate the point.
To confirm what others have said, may I remind you of a story.
Each year, there is a challenge game between the PR Department and Engineering. This year, the Engineers has won again. The staff newspaper is written by the PR Department, and the report says-
“Once again, the PR Department has achieved second place. Unfortunately, the Engineering Department has only managed to win one game this year. . .”
A few years ago in the press notes for the hated Florida State basketball team, it said something like, “FSU is 5-0 this season when it outscores its opponents.”
