Everydata by John H. Johnson

Author:John H. Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bibliomotion, Inc.
Published: 2016-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

AMERICA’S PASTIME

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably seen and heard more than your fair share of cherry-picked statistics. Imagine this: it’s 1988, and you’re watching game one of the World Series. It’s the Oakland A’s versus the LA Dodgers. Bottom of the ninth, two outs. We’re just a few minutes away from watching Kirk Gibson hit one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history, when this statistic appears on your TV screen: “In the last 10 years, the team that lost game one has gone on to win 7 of the 10 series.”12

How is this cherry-picking? First of all, the broadcasters only chose to talk about teams that won or lost game one of the World Series. We suppose that’s understandable given that that’s the game being broadcast. But why would they limit the sample set to the past 10 years? Why not 5? Or 20? Or 30? Will the data still tell the same story with a different sample set?13

Take a look—or listen—for these types of cherry-picked statistics the next time you’re watching a game, listening to one on the radio, or reading the sports section of the newspaper. Are these types of stats entertaining? Absolutely. Do they help pass the time in between pitches, snaps, and passes? Of course. But are they useful? Not really. Many times, they’re shakier than Kirk Gibson’s legs were on that historic day back in 1988.

Okay, so we understand that cherry-picking statistics during a baseball game doesn’t really have much of an impact on anything. But what about cherry-picking statistics that can cost you $100,000?

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