The Stalwart

Exploring The Medal Count

Not surprisingly, Carl Bialik's got a good analysis of China's staggering gold medal haul so far in Beijing. The country has won 57 percent of all gold medals, which looks to be just the fourth time in history that a country has won more than 50 percent of all golds (we'll see if this holds up through track & field though...).

The other story is the Russians, and their lack of dominance. They're fourth in total medals, and way behind on golds. What happened to the traditional athletics powerhouse?

Not Really Surprising, But Interesting: Bronze Medalists Happier Than Silver Winners

It's actually pretty logical from what we know about the human brain... but it's still an interesting wrinkle in the matrix. A researcher has found that bronze medalists tend to be happier than silver medal winners. Note, one could dispute the methodology, but it's something:

Researchers Victoria Husted Medvec, Scott F. Madey and Thomas Gilovich once systematically examined the reactions of Olympic medalists after they had won a silver or bronze medal. They tracked down video footage of dozens of second- and third-place finishers in sports including swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, and track and field. They also obtained footage of medal ceremonies. The psychologists then showed the video to volunteers who were uninterested in sports and asked them to rate how happy the athletes looked.

The volunteers concluded that the bronze medalists looked significantly happier than the silver medalists.

Again, when you think about expectations and how people judge their worth in relation to their peers, it's totally logical.

 

WNBA Fact Of The Day

I'm enjoying watching women's basketball right now (USA vs. Korea) and they mentioned something about one woman being the first person ever to get called for goaltending in the WNBA. Now the league has been around for like a decade, but apparently that call first was made just this past summer:

Wiggins however, isn't far behind. The third overall selection in this year's draft trails only Parker among rookies in scoring and assists and has helped lead the young Lynx into playoff contention.Chicago's Sylvia Fowles meanwhile, etched her name into WNBA history on June 3 when she became the first player to receive a goaltending call. Unfortunately for the No. 2 overall draft choice, she injured her knee on the play and has missed over a month of action.

Don't Blame Big Media For Spoilers; Blame Your Friends

Oh jeez. Apparently some people with needlessly weak constitutions are outraged -- outraged -- that a Twitter feed from CNN gave away some Olympic spoilers. You know. They were doing so good at avoiding the results of the 100m dash, but then, alas, they saw that Usain Bolt had won it, ruining their evening. Sorry, but this complaint just doesn't resonate.

So far, every event I've had spoiled has come from my friends. I was sitting in the San Jose airport, waiting to board the redeye back to NYC, and at that point, I still hadn't seen the results of the classic 4x100m freestyle men's relay.  But when all of my friends started messaging "PHELPS PHELPS PHELPS, LEZAK, PHELPS" It became pretty clear that the US men probably one in thrilling fashion. Should all of my friends self-censor themselves because it's possible that they have friends who haven't seen the results  yet? Obv. not.

It's not just the internet and it's not just sports news. Let's say you still haven't watched the final of Top Chef. You save it on your DVR, but the next day at work, you're probably going to hear who won around the water cooler.

A few years ago, Davis Freeberg wrote that Yahoo News had ruined the surprise ending of The Apprentice for him -- an episode which he put on DVR. His conclusion: No more going to news sites while waiting to view a reality TV episode. These days, he'd really have to avoid all contact with anyone.

At the time, Davis' complaint was reasonable, but it just doesn't make sense to blame big media anymore for spoilers. These days every single contact you have  is a potential spoiler. And in a social media/one-to-many age, there are only two ways to avoid spoilers: watch it live or climb under your bedcovers until you can watch a recorded version.

Michael Phelps is great, sure...

But I'm still blown away by Usain Bolt. The video of his ridiculous 100m win should be up on NBCOlympics.com fairly soon. Could Bolt's height and speed change the entire nature of the sport?

A Good Olympics Schedule

No, this post has nothing to do with NBC's decision not to air the Opening Ceremony, or show everything on delay on The West Coast. There's plenty of other talk about that. What this is about is the challenge of creating a good, readable schedule of the games. A schedule that a user can consult to know which sports are on when.

It's a tough task. There's tons of information. It just overwhelms any typical calendar. Unfortunately, the schedule at NBCOlympics.com makes a pigs lunch out of things. It's basically unusable, at least for my brain. Other folks have I've talked to have been able to crack the cypher.

Then someone I know sent along this version from TeeVee.net. It won't win any design awards in terms of aesthetics, but it kind of works. And what they lack in aesthetics, they make up for in humor, which makes it readable.

But it looks like the gold medal goes to the New York Times for this interactive schedule. It's still a mountain of information, which can be tough to consume, but they did a great job. It's not surprising. The NYT, more than anyone else, does some great work with data visualization, as they did with that much-discussed chart of historical box office data earlier this year. NYT does a lot of good things online, but this is something they do great. Hat tip to Tom Kirkendall for pointing it out.

Ping Pong Tutor: $40/Hr.

Watching some Olympic Ping-Pong, and they just said that one NYC-based pro makes about $40/hr. tutoring kids in the spot. Not a bad gig if you can get enough hours. On the other hand, she's in the Olympics. Imagine how much James Blake could get tutoring rich kids on Tennis.

How Much Is Lochte Worth?

Apparently champion US swimmer Michael Phelps is worth millions on millions, courtesy of hard-won endorsement cash. As far as I know, competitor Ryan Lochte isn't worth nearly that much. Does he have any endorsements? Probably a couple from some swimming brands, but obviously no real national campaigns. What a great example of tournament theory and the outsize discrepancy in compensation between two guys whose talent gap can be measured in milliseconds.

The Tiger Tour?

Seems totally far fetched, but if you're interested in the business of golf and/or like Tiger Woods, ESPN The Magazine has an interesting article up on the notion that Tiger could just ditch the PGA and start his own tour.

More importantly, Woods can undo the PGA Tour's vice grip. The Tour has excelled as golf's Microsoft, building its own business while foreign tours struggle to compete. Seve Ballesteros dropped out of the PGA circuit in the '80s because of the 15-tournament minimum, and a generation of European golf pros followed his lead, torn between the opportunities of the PGA Tour and their loyalty to family and homeland (and appearance fees).

Former top-ranked golfer Greg Norman suggested a world tour in the early '90s, only to be snubbed by commissioner Tim Finchem, who later proposed the World Golf Championships. Even that fizzled, going from international in theory to American in practice. A Tiger Tour could finally grow world golf to a new level.

The History Of 100m Dash Records

Cool chart, via Wikipedia, showing the history of world records in the 100 meter dash. Click the link for the actual times.