Football thrashes other sports for excitement, scientists say

[Cheese]

Surprise secret to soccer appeal

The element of surprise elevates football above other sports

American football, basketball and baseball have millions of followers, but they can't match soccer for sheer excitement, says a team of scientists. The reason is its element of surprise, claim researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US. Football is more likely to produce an unexpected result, such as a "giant killer" win in the FA Cup. Scientists analysed results from more than 300,000 games played over the past century. They reviewed five sports: ice hockey, football, baseball and basketball in the US, and English football. The team decided to make unpredictability - how often a leading team is overcome by an opponent with a worse record - the best measure of how exciting a league is. "If there are no upsets, then every game is predictable and hence boring," co-author Eli Ben-Naim told New Scientist magazine. The results of the analysis showed that the "upset frequency" was highest for soccer, followed by baseball, hockey, and basketball. American football came last on the list, and so was labelled the least exciting sport.

But there was a twist in the tail.

When the scientists looked only at data from the past 10 years, English Premiership football and baseball swapped places. One interpretation of the finding might be that soccer has become more predictable in recent years.

Source


Predictable sport boring? Mmm, I can certainly predict the posts that will follow in this thread...

[JPaul]

Nothing to beat t'arras for thrills and spills and the unpredictable.

[maebach]

that's pretty neat.

[JPaul]

Thank you, I thought I would be succinct.

[Busyman]

unpredictable outcome = excitement

That makes some sense but the scientists have drawn a broad conclusion from that which ain't always so.

How about soccer is the most popular sport in the world and the oldest of all major sports?

The fact that they put baseball in there further adds to their error. One may point to the Yankees losing to Red Sox as backing up this this research. How about it was an amazing comeback?

I personally think soccer may be less predictable because more anarchy is allowed. Another similar sport is hockey. It's cool that when push comes to shove, one can push and shove.

I didn't know that certain soccer teams didn't dominate or have dynasties though. That's what I get from the post.

Either way I agree with the conclusion about soccer but not how they came to it. I wonder did they simply ask what sport the respondents liked/disliked?
Baseball? Fuck no! I love when scientists come to conclusions that make little sense irregardless to their research. The ending to a movie doesn't always make the entire experience exciting.

[j2k4]

The most simple reason for the popularity of soccer/football is that it is exceedingly cheap and easy for anyone to play.

Almost any ball will do; that and a bit of open space and you're in business.

Even a semi-organized effort needn't have rigid requirements as to equipment or space.

Grass-roots popularity-kids have been growing up with soccer forever.

[Busyman]

The most simple reason for the popularity of soccer/football is that it is exceedingly cheap and easy for anyone to play.

Almost any ball will do; that and a bit of open space and you're in business.

Even a semi-organized effort needn't have rigid requirements as to equipment or space.

Grass-roots popularity-kids have been growing up with soccer forever.

Ah gawd please don't go there. I was purposely staying on the excitement doohicky.

I've been talking about the simplicity of soccer relating to it's popularity for awhile now.

I can play basketball in the grass too...stay all the way on topic ffs.

I am curious whether the UK is pretty much a 3 sport country as far as ultra popularity.

I'm thinking rugby, soccer, and cricket.

Over here it's soccer (MLS), football (NFL, college), baseball (MLB), basketball (NBA, college), and hockey (NHL). Also does the UK have a national basketball team? I know many other European nations do.

edit: I also forgot about another element to surprise would be the lack of scoring in soccer. I'd burst a blood vessel when my team finally scored.
I know when I went to that POS Redskins/Giants game that tied 7-7, if the Redskins could have eeked out one more goal ftw, I'd have probably spilled my cold beer on myself with excitement and slapped the lady next to me. However it ended in a tie.

[j2k4]

That kind of excitement is too much like coaching Little League baseball.

I pretty much stopped wearing hats over such foolishness; got tired of leaving my hair in there.

[Busyman]

That kind of excitement is too much like coaching Little League baseball.

I pretty much stopped wearing hats over such foolishness; got tired of leaving my hair in there.

Wow. I never thought of it that way but it makes sense now.

When I've watched pee-wee basketball or football you are just overjoyed when the little ones do anything great because there is so much anarchy.

However, I do like soccer when there's a little Showtime in there. Like when a player fakes the fuck out of the opposition and makes him fall. I hate it though when the opposition goes for the ball and just ends up knocking the player down (tackle)...many times it seems just...to knock the player down. Then it goes back and forth, back and forth.

[j2k4]

That kind of excitement is too much like coaching Little League baseball.

I pretty much stopped wearing hats over such foolishness; got tired of leaving my hair in there.

Wow. I never thought of it that way but it makes sense now.

When I've watched pee-wee basketball or football you are just overjoyed when the little ones do anything great because there is so much anarchy.

However, I do like soccer when there's a little Showtime in there. Like when a player fakes the fuck out of the opposition and makes him fall. I hate it though when the opposition goes for the ball and just ends up knocking the player down (tackle)...many times it seems just...to knock the player down. Then it goes back and forth, back and forth.

And Little League still has the advantage of being free; to play AND watch.