explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3262: Sports Commentary

2026-06-23T10:11:53Z

82.132.236.84:

F1rst p0st! I'll do this explanation. [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.22|185.36.194.22]] 04:32, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Did this example actually happen? [[Special:Contributions/47.151.65.120|47.151.65.120]] 04:33, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

This comic reminds me of [[1122: Electoral Precedent]] and [[2383: Electoral Precedent 2020]]. Generalizing coincidences.

I am not a native English speaker. What does " they've gone 0 for 2" mean? Obviously it cannot be the score, since they are already leading 2-1? Or does this refer to a previous match?
And on a more general note, I am really surprised to discover the second football themed comic strip in a few days. OK it's the World Cup, but I always thought that Randall doesn't really care about sports? --[[Special:Contributions/92.209.171.90|92.209.171.90]] 08:37, 23 June 2026 (UTC)
:I ''am'' a native English speaker, but it was also a bit impenetrable to me. In part, perhaps, because it was ''intended'' to sound impenetrable (as part of the joke). But, even if not, it may be because it's using Americanized sports-talk phrasing that just isn't (yet!) used so much in my more native Anglicised commentaries that I'm used to.
:However, I ''think'' they're saying that "in the two specific occasions in which all those other conditions occur, they won in neither of them".
:A simpler version being perhaps to state that a given team/player has gone nought-for-two in previous matches with their current opponent(s). The results of those contests might have been anything (the winner having gone to 3-2 after penalties, 6-love/6-love/6-love, a par-4 advantage or getting them all out for 178 — depending upon the sport), it's just the win/lose (or win/not-win) count thats "0 for 2".
:But this is a case of Overly Narrow Superlative (overlapping with P-Hacking), making it a dubious analysis. Starting with ignoring all the games there are in which a given svoreline was not achieved in a particular ''minute'' of play. I think part of this set-up is the difference between Gridiron 'football'/"hand-egg" having tons of points scored, whereas this football (Soccer) often turns on comparatively low scores that (one-nil can be a worthy and entertaining win/loss, and even a no-score-draw might have been fun to watch if your side isn't in desperate need for a win). These commentators, or at least the US audience they're commentating to, are used to spieling things about "the last time they were down on the forty-yard line in the fifth quarter, with two home runs and a shot from the free-throw line in hand..." (look, I {{tvtropes|GretzkyHasTheBall|know I don't know}} what they'd really say, to any accuracy, there was no point even trying!), at least to fill in the copious down-time/time-out pauses. (Which isn't actually as easy with low-scoring but more ever-moving 'soccer', where there's often much to be said about current player and ball movements almost all the time; although a five-day international cricket test match(!) commentary on the radio ''does'' rather famously lapse into 'filler' like discussing the nice cake that was sent to them by a listener, in the gaps between balls being bowled...)
:Sorry, that was a long and convoluted paragraph. (But then, so was the Explanation, before I decided to say this down here. I hope it's been tweaked since then. I'm only really guessing about the Leftpondian commentator-speak being parodied here, and ball-sports aren't really my main interest in the sprorting sphere itself. (But, regarding balls that aren't themselves spheres, I'd happily discuss Rugby League or Rugby Union, and why they're 'better'... though I would totally acknowledge Aussie Rules as a class of its own as far as such contact-sports go.)
:HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.84|82.132.236.84]] 10:08, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Closest match I can find is Germany - Curacao but there Germany took the lead in the 38th minute (not the 37th). I leave the deep dive on Germany's record against teams alphabetically before them when they have taken the lead 2-1 in the 37th/38th minute to someone else...

Talk:3262: Sports Commentary

2026-06-23T10:09:57Z

82.132.236.84:

F1rst p0st! I'll do this explanation. [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.22|185.36.194.22]] 04:32, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Did this example actually happen? [[Special:Contributions/47.151.65.120|47.151.65.120]] 04:33, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

This comic reminds me of [[1122: Electoral Precedent]] and [[2383: Electoral Precedent 2020]]. Generalizing coincidences.

I am not a native English speaker. What does " they've gone 0 for 2" mean? Obviously it cannot be the score, since they are already leading 2-1? Or does this refer to a previous match?
And on a more general note, I am really surprised to discover the second football themed comic strip in a few days. OK it's the World Cup, but I always thought that Randall doesn't really care about sports? --[[Special:Contributions/92.209.171.90|92.209.171.90]] 08:37, 23 June 2026 (UTC)
:I ''am'' a native English speaker, but it was also a bit impenetrable to me. In part, perhaps, because it was ''intended'' to sound impenetrable (as part of the joke). But, even if not, it may be because it's using Americanized sports-talk phrasing that just isn't (yet!) used so much in my more native Anglicised commentaries that I'm used to.
:However, I ''think'' they're saying that "in the two specific occasions in which all those other conditions occur, they won in neither of them".
:A simpler version being perhaps to state that a given team/player has gone nought-for-two in previous matches with their current opponent(s). The results of those contents might have been anything (the winner having gone to 3-2 after penalties, 6-love/6-love/6-love, a par-4 advantage or getting them all out for 178 — depending upon the sport), it's just the win/lose (or win/not-win) count thats "0 for 2".
:But this is a case of Overly Narrow Superlative (overlapping with P-Hacking), making it a dubious analysis. Starting with ignoring all the games there are in which a given svoreline was not achieved in a particular ''minute'' of play. I think part of this set-up is the difference between Gridiron 'football'/"hand-egg" having tons of points scored, whereas this football (Soccer) often turns on comparatively low scores that (one-nil can be a worthy and entertaining win/loss, and even a no-score-draw might have been fun to watch if your side isn't in desperate need for a win). These commentators, or at least the US audience they're commentating to, are used to spieling things about "the last time they were down on the forty-yard line in the fifth quarter, with two home runs and a shot from the free-throw line in hand..." (look, I {{tvtropes|GretzkyHasTheBall|know I don't know}} what they'd really say, to any accuracy, there was no point even trying!), at least to fill in the copious down-time/time-out pauses. (Which isn't actually as easy with low-scoring but more ever-moving 'soccer', where there's often much to be said about current player and ball movements almost all the time; although a five-day international cricket test match(!) commentary on the radio ''does'' rather famously lapse into 'filler' like discussing the nice cake that was sent to them by a listener, in the gaps between balls being bowled...)
:Sorry, that was a long and convoluted paragraph. (But then, so was the Explanation, before I decided to say this down here. I hope it's been tweaked since then. I'm only really guessing about the Leftpondian commentator-speak being parodied here, and ball-sports aren't really my main interest in the sprorting sphere itself. (But, regarding balls that aren't themselves spheres, I'd happily discuss Rugby League or Rugby Union, and why they're 'better'... though I would totally acknowledge Aussie Rules as a class of its own as far as such contact-sports go.)
:HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.84|82.132.236.84]] 10:08, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Closest match I can find is Germany - Curacao but there Germany took the lead in the 38th minute (not the 37th). I leave the deep dive on Germany's record against teams alphabetically before them when they have taken the lead 2-1 in the 37th/38th minute to someone else...

Talk:3262: Sports Commentary

2026-06-23T10:08:41Z

82.132.236.84:

F1rst p0st! I'll do this explanation. [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.22|185.36.194.22]] 04:32, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Did this example actually happen? [[Special:Contributions/47.151.65.120|47.151.65.120]] 04:33, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

This comic reminds me of [[1122: Electoral Precedent]] and [[2383: Electoral Precedent 2020]]. Generalizing coincidences.

I am not a native English speaker. What does " they've gone 0 for 2" mean? Obviously it cannot be the score, since they are already leading 2-1? Or does this refer to a previous match?
And on a more general note, I am really surprised to discover the second football themed comic strip in a few days. OK it's the World Cup, but I always thought that Randall doesn't really care about sports? --[[Special:Contributions/92.209.171.90|92.209.171.90]] 08:37, 23 June 2026 (UTC)
:I ''am'' a native English speaker, but it was also a bit impenetrable to me. In part, perhaps, because it was ''intended'' to sound impenetrableb (as part of the joke). But, even if not, it may be because it's using Americanized sports-talk phrasing that just isn't (yet!) used so much in my more native Anglicised commentaries that I'm used to.
:However, I ''think'' they're saying that "in the two specific occasions in which all those other conditions occur, they won in neither of them".
:A simpler version being perhaps to state that a given team/player has gone nought-for-two in previous matches with their current opponent(s). The results of those contents might have been anything (the winner having gone to 3-2 after penalties, 6-love/6-love/6-love, a par-4 advantage or getting them all out for 178 — depending upon the sport), it's just the win/lose (or win/not-win) count thats "0 for 2".
:But this is a case of Overly Narrow Superlative (overlapping with P-Hacking), making it a dubious analysis. Starting with ignoring all the games there are in which a given svoreline was not achieved in a particular ''minute'' of play. I think part of this set-up is the difference between Gridiron 'football'/"hand-egg" having tons of points scored, whereas this football (Soccer) often turns on comparatively low scores that (one-nil can be a worthy and entertaining win/loss, and even a no-score-draw might have been fun to watch if your side isn't in desperate need for a win). These commentators, or at least the US audience they're commentating to, are used to spieling things about "the last time they were down on the forty-yard line in the fifth quarter, with two home runs and a shot from the free-throw line in hand..." (look, I {{tvtropes|GretzkyHasTheBall|know I don't know}} what they'd really say, to any accuracy, there was no point even trying!), at least to fill in the copious down-time/time-out pauses. (Which isn't actually as easy with low-scoring but more ever-moving 'soccer', where there's often much to be said about current player and ball movements almost all the time; although a five-day international cricket test match(!) commentary on the radio ''does'' rather famously lapse into 'filler' like discussing the nice cake that was sent to them by a listener, in the gaps between balls being bowled...)
:Sorry, that was a long and convoluted paragraph. (But then, so was the Explanation, before I decided to say this down here. I hope it's been tweaked since then. I'm only really guessing about the Leftpondian commentator-speak being parodied here, and ball-sports aren't really my main interest in the sprorting sphere itself. (But, regarding balls that aren't themselves spheres, I'd happily discuss Rugby League or Rugby Union, and why they're 'better'... though I would totally acknowledge Aussie Rules as a class of its own as far as such contact-sports go.)
:HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.84|82.132.236.84]] 10:08, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Closest match I can find is Germany - Curacao but there Germany took the lead in the 38th minute (not the 37th). I leave the deep dive on Germany's record against teams alphabetically before them when they have taken the lead 2-1 in the 37th/38th minute to someone else...

1452: Jurassic World

2026-06-23T09:01:21Z

82.132.236.84: /* Transcript */ First just the "om" typo, then tweaked a few other things for better reading.

{{comic
| number = 1452
| date = November 26, 2014
| title = Jurassic World
| image = jurassic_world.png
| titletext = Hey guys! What's eating you? Ha ha ha it's me! Oh, what fun we have.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip refers to ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', the then new ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'' movie, and the titular theme park. [[White Hat]] explains to [[Megan]] that, in their park, they have genetically engineered a better {{w|Tyrannosaurus}}. Megan doesn't feel that the historic Tyrannosaurus can be improved upon, but White Hat insists they've created an even more terrifying, smarter ''Tyrannosaurus'' for this new park.

White Hat refers to ''Tyrannosaurus'' as "two decades old", referring to the T-Rex in the original Jurassic Park, and that they improved it by further genetic engineering. Megan comments that she is fairly certain it is older than two decades, suggesting that she is referring to the actual Tyrannosaurus that lived millions of years ago.

In the third panel, White Hat gestures to introduce the "new" ''Tyrannosaurus'', only seen in a zoomed-out fourth panel, who is immediately recognizable as the green ''Tyrannosaurus'' from {{w|Ryan North|Ryan North's}} ''{{w|Dinosaur Comics|Dinosaur}} [http://www.qwantz.com/ Comics]''; specifically, from the last panel of said webcomic - which in turn is from [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/interview-with-ryan-north-creator-of-dinosaur-comics-15523444/ clip art]. Anyone who has read so much as a handful of ''Dinosaur Comics'' will know that its ''Tyrannosaurus'' character "T-Rex" is about as far from smart and scary as it is possible for a ''Tyrannosaurus'' to be (see [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2739 this example] from the day this comic was released).

The title text is an example of what T-Rex (the character) would say to a couple of humans, and it's a poor joke which would only be funny when it's a talking T-Rex saying it. Despite his goofy mannerisms, he is still a carnivore who attacks (or at least accidentally steps on) humans, as can be seen in panel 3 and 4 of his own native webcomic.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat holding one hand up in front of him and Megan are walking together.]
:White Hat: In ''Jurassic World'', we've used genetic engineering to create a ''better'' dinosaur.
:Megan: Tyrannosaurus is the most charismatic animal that ever lived, and you think you'll ''upstage'' it?

:[White Hat now holds both his hands up in front of him as he and Megan walk on.]
:White Hat: ''Tyrannosaurus'' was cool, but it's two decades old!
:Megan: I think it's a ''little'' older than that.

:[In this frame-less panel White Hat points onwards and upwards as they continue to walk.]
:White Hat: We took ''Tyrannosaurus'' and we ''improved'' it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter.
:White Hat: Look–there it is!

:[Characters appearing to be a Cueball and a version of Megan are seen dwarfed in the bottom left corner as they are standing and staring up at a facsimile of the green T-Rex from ''Dinosaur Comics''. They only reach T-Rex to it's knees.]

==Trivia==
*In the last panel [[Randall]] may have forgotten to draw White Hat's hat so that he looks like [[Cueball]]. On the other hand, the 'Megan' in the longshot panel also has notably distinct hair from her appearances alongside White Hat, and neither are walking (or gesturing up), so it is plausible that these are two entirely new characters already present (to better indicate scale) by the time the two main characters' walk brings them just close enough for it for White Hat to make the dramatic reveal to Megan (and ourselves), but still remaining outside the last frame itself.
**Note that in the two other comics with T-Rex, Randall put in a small Cueball under the foot of T-Rex in the fourth panel of [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]], and in the T-Rex [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd story line] from [[1350: Lorenz]], he also forgot to drawn [[Hairy|Hairy's]] hair, thus also there including Cueball though like here by mistake...
** If it was a mistake, it might be explained by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFinNxS5KN4 the trailer] for the Jurassic World movie having been released a day before this comic, so Randall most likely created this comic on very short notice.

*The entire ''Dinosaur Comics'' was parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]], where Randall copied the drawings himself, and T-Rex has appeared in one of the story lines in [[1350: Lorenz]] (see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example story line] and the Dinosaur section under [[1350:_Lorenz#Themes|Lorenz themes]]), where the actual images from the first three panels of Ryan's comic are used, just like here where it is the last panel which is used. Later, T-Rex appeared in [[3012: The Future of Orion]].

*Unlike the surrounding comics, this comic does not have a 2x scale version. This is likely because T-Rex already appears at the highest resolution here, though [https://qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4005 a higher-resolution render may exist].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]

1452: Jurassic World

2026-06-23T08:56:50Z

82.132.236.84: Reinstating Cueball's categorisation, as there is a (low-res) Cueball featured. Together with an 'off-hairstyle' Megan alongside him, it seems more trivial to consider these two as new 'background' characters, rather than a leap of time and bad drawing.

{{comic
| number = 1452
| date = November 26, 2014
| title = Jurassic World
| image = jurassic_world.png
| titletext = Hey guys! What's eating you? Ha ha ha it's me! Oh, what fun we have.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip refers to ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', the then new ''{{w|Jurassic Park}}'' movie, and the titular theme park. [[White Hat]] explains to [[Megan]] that, in their park, they have genetically engineered a better {{w|Tyrannosaurus}}. Megan doesn't feel that the historic Tyrannosaurus can be improved upon, but White Hat insists they've created an even more terrifying, smarter ''Tyrannosaurus'' for this new park.

White Hat refers to ''Tyrannosaurus'' as "two decades old", referring to the T-Rex in the original Jurassic Park, and that they improved it by further genetic engineering. Megan comments that she is fairly certain it is older than two decades, suggesting that she is referring to the actual Tyrannosaurus that lived millions of years ago.

In the third panel, White Hat gestures to introduce the "new" ''Tyrannosaurus'', only seen in a zoomed-out fourth panel, who is immediately recognizable as the green ''Tyrannosaurus'' from {{w|Ryan North|Ryan North's}} ''{{w|Dinosaur Comics|Dinosaur}} [http://www.qwantz.com/ Comics]''; specifically, from the last panel of said webcomic - which in turn is from [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/interview-with-ryan-north-creator-of-dinosaur-comics-15523444/ clip art]. Anyone who has read so much as a handful of ''Dinosaur Comics'' will know that its ''Tyrannosaurus'' character "T-Rex" is about as far from smart and scary as it is possible for a ''Tyrannosaurus'' to be (see [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2739 this example] from the day this comic was released).

The title text is an example of what T-Rex (the character) would say to a couple of humans, and it's a poor joke which would only be funny when it's a talking T-Rex saying it. Despite his goofy mannerisms, he is still a carnivore who attacks (or at least accidentally steps on) humans, as can be seen in panel 3 and 4 of his own native webcomic.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat holding one hand up in front om him and Megan are walking together.]
:White Hat: In ''Jurassic World'', we've used genetic engineering to create a ''better'' dinosaur.
:Megan: Tyrannosaurus is the most charismatic animal that ever lived, and you think you'll ''upstage'' it?

:[White Hat now holds both his hands up in front of him as he and Megan walk on.]
:White Hat: ''Tyrannosaurus'' was cool, but it's two decades old!
:Megan: I think it's a ''little'' older than that.

:[In this frame-less panel White Hat points up as they continue to walk.]
:White Hat: We took ''Tyrannosaurus'' and we ''improved'' it. Made it scarier, deadlier, smarter.
:White Hat: Look–there it is!

:[Characters appearing to be a Cueball and a version of Megan are dwarfed in the bottom left corner as they stare up at a facsimile of the green T-Rex from ''Dinosaur Comics''. They only reach T-Rex to it's knees.]

==Trivia==
*In the last panel [[Randall]] may have forgotten to draw White Hat's hat so that he looks like [[Cueball]]. On the other hand, the 'Megan' in the longshot panel also has notably distinct hair from her appearances alongside White Hat, and neither are walking (or gesturing up), so it is plausible that these are two entirely new characters already present (to better indicate scale) by the time the two main characters' walk brings them just close enough for it for White Hat to make the dramatic reveal to Megan (and ourselves), but still remaining outside the last frame itself.
**Note that in the two other comics with T-Rex, Randall put in a small Cueball under the foot of T-Rex in the fourth panel of [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]], and in the T-Rex [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd story line] from [[1350: Lorenz]], he also forgot to drawn [[Hairy|Hairy's]] hair, thus also there including Cueball though like here by mistake...
** If it was a mistake, it might be explained by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFinNxS5KN4 the trailer] for the Jurassic World movie having been released a day before this comic, so Randall most likely created this comic on very short notice.

*The entire ''Dinosaur Comics'' was parodied in [[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]], where Randall copied the drawings himself, and T-Rex has appeared in one of the story lines in [[1350: Lorenz]] (see this [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f2b12f1e-bbae-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd example story line] and the Dinosaur section under [[1350:_Lorenz#Themes|Lorenz themes]]), where the actual images from the first three panels of Ryan's comic are used, just like here where it is the last panel which is used. Later, T-Rex appeared in [[3012: The Future of Orion]].

*Unlike the surrounding comics, this comic does not have a 2x scale version. This is likely because T-Rex already appears at the highest resolution here, though [https://qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4005 a higher-resolution render may exist].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]