Who Will Win The Big Game?
It being Super Bowl week, and all, this WSJ report caught my eye.
Carlton Chin and Jay Granat have actually written a new book on this topic – it’s called “Who Will Win the Big Game? 50 Championship Characteristics – A Psychological & Mathematical Method for Identifying Winning Players, Teams & Coaches.”
Per Amazon:
The Big Game Events like The Super Bowl, The World Series, A Championship Fight, The Masters, Wimbledon, The US Open, The Stanley Cup, The World Cup, The Olympic Finals, The BCS Championship, a State Championship, and a Club Championship evoke special interest and a wide range of emotions for both the fans and the participants. Some people collapse under the pressure and others thrive in the spotlight and relish these big moments. What determines which teams, athletes and coaches will succeed when they are in the big game? And what determines who will fail to perform to their potential? This book will address the psychological forces which contribute to winning and to losing. -Why do some athletes excel in the big game? -What causes others to choke when the pressure is on? -What role does psychology play in determining the outcome of sporting events? -Can psychological factors determine how well an athlete or a team performs on a particular day? -What are the key psychological, sociological and emotional variables that impact the way teams, athletes and coaches perform under pressure? -What causes losing streaks and what causes winning streaks? -Why can some coaches win with many different teams and players? -What allows some athletes to play in the zone when the pressure is on? -What causes some athletes to choke and perform poorly? -Why do some athletes seem to always win while other equally talented players seem to always lose in the big game? -What percentage of sports is mental? -What are some of the secrets to winning the big game?
And, here’s a snip from one of the reviews that quotes the Times:
A study of concepts of sport psychology, backed by a statistical analysis of major sports championships, can help predict the winner of the Super Bowl and other championships. After analyzing the championship games or series of the N.F.L., N.B.A., Major League Baseball and N.H.L., and the major finals in golf and tennis, the authors identified 50 championships characteristics for their book.
Psychology and Stats? Holy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Batman! Sounds yummy.
I won’t dismiss this book out of hand but I always take these kinds of studies with a grain of salt because I find their claims very hard to prove.
@ MJ:
Not only that, but I’m sure their findings could apply to other teams that were in the playoffs as well as teams who didn’t make the playoffs.
I find it hard to believe that a team that is the class of their league during the regular season somehow loses it’s way during the postseason, over the span of a smaller period of games.
Raf wrote:
Completely agree. It’s a very fine line between the presumptive champion choking and simply being outplayed on a given day or over a series.
Did the 2007 Patriots choke in Super Bowl XLII or did the Giants just play their best game? The Patriots were clearly the class of the league that season and, arguably, one of the best teams in NFL history. That they didn’t win may or may not have been due to “choking” but this study would try to prove psychological aspects of the Patriots’ upset loss which I’m not convinced of.