The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

Unweaving The Sporting Rainbow

20/11/2014

 
By David Butler

It is often said to me by friends that statistically analysing sports can ruin the ‘beauty’ of our games. Taking matches and competitions apart, stat by stat, leaves nothing to the imagination – objective but cold numbers replace the fun of subjective interpretations. 

This argument reminds me
Richard Feynman's ‘Ode on a Flower’ where the great scientist tells of his artist friend who blames him for taking a flower apart, making it  dull. Feynman disagrees and says that he too can appreciate the beauty of a flower, but by taking it apart he can see much more and ultimately reveal beauty at a smaller scale.

I agree with Feynman and would go cautiously further when it comes to sport. Unlike flowers, sporting contests can be controversial. As individuals create complex identities through their affiliations to particular sports, clubs or franchises, one can easily be blinded by an ideology. When two parties with opposing beliefs and motivations compete it is usually not long before disagreements occur. If we have motivations to support one particular point of view, whether it is Manchester United, Miami Heat or Cork Hurlers, we hold an outlook that can make us observe sport in a biased way. One person’s strong but fair challenge is another’s stone-cold penalty. 

The self-serving bias is a prominent finding of psychologists and has been explored by behavioural economists. Broadly defined this is a tendency for people to interpret information in favour of their own perspective. This relatively simple psychological mechanism is often forwarded as an explanation (outside of information differences) for why two parties in a negotiation fail to reach an agreement - people confuse what is fair and what benefits them. In an old study  in 1954 this bias was addressed in the context of sport.  Hastorf and Cantril showed how students at Dartmouth and Princeton had a tendency interpret the award of penalties in an American football match quite differently. Princeton students judged that Dartmouth committed twice as many clear penalties as their team. Dartmouth students were more neutral and saw more of a 50/50 split in penalties. Both sets of students however saw different matches.

For me, it is for reasons such as this that we need objective measures to address our sports – a sphere of life which is clearly important to so many. Just like Feynman’s flower, understanding the inner structure of sports can only add to our knowledge and their beauty, at times bringing a dose of clarity and objectivity. The beauty of the game and statistics I don’t think are at odds and by studying sport we are ultimately creating more questions.


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.