1107: Sports Cheat Sheet

2012-09-13T01:19:07Z

108.41.53.52: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1107
| date = September 12, 2012
| title = Sports Cheat Sheet
| image = sports_cheat_sheet.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I would subscribe to a Twitter feed that supplied you with one reasonable sports opinion per day, like "The Red Sox can't make the playoffs (championship games), but in last night's game their win seriously damaged the chances of the Yankees (longstanding rival team)."
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] presents a "cheat sheet" which is a handy reference guide for something that is generally expected to be memorized or known. Cheat sheets are commonly used in mathematical applications to list important formulas or for measurement conversions; but they may also be used in other applications.

This cheat sheet allows Randall to figure out what sport other people are arguing over on the basis of the time of year the argument is occurring. The chart is based on the annual seasons (periods when the top professional and college leagues play) of each sport.

In the United States, the chart is divided among baseball, basketball and (American) football. Hockey gets no love here. The chart suggests that football is the most popular of the three sports (or at least more popular to argue about).

The {{w|NFL}} football regular season generally runs from September to December with playoffs in January and early February. Almost all of this period, sports arguments are likely to be about football. The {{w|NBA}} basketball regular season runs from late October to mid-April with playoffs in April and into June. {{w|NCAA}} College basketball starts in November but peaks in March with the NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness). According to the chart, the arguments about basketball don't begin until the football season is over. They continue through the end of April, but start again at the end of May during the playoff finals. The {{w|MLB}} baseball regular season runs from April through September with playoffs in late September and October. When the baseball season begins, arguments shift from the ongoing basketball season to the new baseball season. As mentioned, the NBA finals create some basketball arguments again for a few weeks. Similarly, the start of the NFL season in September makes it more likely arguments then will be about football. Baseball takes over briefly during the playoffs in October.

One of the punchlines is that outside the US, all sports arguments are about association football (soccer) all year round. The two types of football are noted on the chart by an icon showing the ball used in each sport.

The title text continues on the theme of this chart being for someone who doesn't know anything about sports. Randall imagines a {{w|Twitter}} feed where you receive a salient sports opinion each day, presumably so that you could repeat the opinion to your friends and appear knowledgeable about sports (Twitter is a social networking website which allows users to post short messages to anyone who follows their feed). As the feed is for those uninformed about sports, there are clarifications of important terms in brackets.

The suggested twitter message mentioned in the title text is accurate for the date of the comic. On September 11, 2012 the Boston Red Sox played the New York Yankees and won, 4 runs to 3. The Red Sox were mathematically eliminated from the play-offs (meaning they needed to win more games than remained in the season to qualify). The Yankees were at the top of the standings, but were in a close race for the play-offs with the Baltimore Orioles (both teams had a win-loss record of 79 wins to 62 losses, with 21 games each remaining to play). To be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, the Yankees must win more of their remaining games than the Orioles. Losing to the Red Sox made this task harder. Traditionally, the Red Sox and the Yankees have a long-standing rivalry, especially among fans. Many Red Sox fans consider a loss by the Yankees nearly as good as a win by the Red Sox (and the Red Sox beating the Yankees the best of both worlds). If the Red Sox can't win the World Series, then at least they can help prevent the Yankees from winning it either.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with charts]]
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1107: Sports Cheat Sheet