Blogs / Cosmic Variance

So a lot of visitors have been coming to CV to read Mark’s post on the Physics of Beckham. What’s more, the rest of the blogosphere is thick with commentary on the World Cup — 3 Quarks Daily has Alex Cooley reporting and Jonathan Kramnick grumbling, the Volokh Conspiracy has David Post enthusing and Todd Zywicki critiquing, and Crooked Timber has been hosting rollicking open threads. Who would have thought that people were interested in soccer? It’ll never be as popular as string theory, but there’s definitely some interest there.

Actually, philistine American though I may be, I love the World Cup. And I myself was doing Beckham blogging long before it had become fashionable. The World Cup is everything the Olympics should be, but isn’t. It’s a spectacle of true international importance, featuring a sport that people care about even in the off years, full of compelling personalities and a rich history, in which a country can’t dominate simply on the basis of a superior entertainment-industrial complex. And I have no desire to change the rules of the game to suit my uneducated predelictions. Even though basketball is my sport of choice, I have no problem with the paucity of scoring; just as I can appreciate the ebb and flow of the scoreboard and the drama of big runs and quick turnarounds in hoops, I can also savor the exquisite rarity of goals in soccer, with the attendant ebb and flow of anticipation as scoring chances are mounted and frustrated. I have no problem with the offside rule, nor would I want to see the goal size increased. Nor am I one of those postmodernists who would turn the whole thing into hockey. I don’t even have any problem with the idea that the world’s best team has a star named Kaka, or that the French think they can compete by fielding exactly the same players that won the Cup eight years ago.

That is to say, I am not a hater. So let’s nevertheless admit that there are a couple of things that everyone, from the most clueless newbie to the most knowledgeable expert, can admit are dramatically wrong with the game. And, perhaps, easily fixable.

The first is the refereeing. Not something Americans can feel culturally superior about, as the refereeing in the NBA or NFL is just horrible. But still, the quality in the Cup thus far has been atrocious, and not just because the USA was jobbed against both Italy and Ghana. (Against the Czechs they got what they deserved.) For one obvious thing, there is only one guy out there, expected to police every hidden elbow and maliciously-aimed foot? The notion is absurd on the face of it, and it’s hardly surprising that the difference between an innocent tackle and a game-altering penalty kick is basically a coin toss. (Has anyone before me noticed that the home-field advantage is really quite considerable in these games? They have? Okay, good.) And then you give to these subjective judgments an absolutely tournament-altering power — red cards not only send off a player, but keep him out for the next game, and force the team to play shorthanded for the rest of the match? The situation ensures that the amateur-thespian histrionics after a touch foul for which the Italians are infamous will always be amply rewarded. It’s not an admission of weakness to try to improve this mess somehow; surely nobody wants NFL-style reviews of the calls, but there must be ways (more referees, more latitude with the severity of sanctions) to make the games more fair.

But the real travesty, which I am absolutely convinced must be roundly despised by everyone in their right minds, is the shootout. I mean, come on. Some of the world’s best athletes run themselves ragged for over an hour and a half, with half the planet hanging breathlessly on the result, and it’s decided by a few free kicks from the penalty mark? That’s just insanity. The first World Cup final that I watched live (on TV) was Brazil-Italy in 1994, featuring a scoreless tie after regulation and extra time, the excitement of which was thoroughly destroyed by the shootout decision. This is embarassing, and has to stop. Especially because there is a completely obvious solution: let them keep playing! Sudden-death overtime. Some folks might worry that such an overtime period would just drag on forever. So, fine, let it! It won’t really go forever, because the players will get tired (and their number will be declining due to red cards!), and the ensuing sloppiness will make goals increasingly likely. And the excitement level would be amazing, adding to the drama of the world’s greatest sporting tournament rather than completely undermining it.

So come on, FIFA, do the right thing. Adjust a few knobs here and there on this World Cup thing, you may actually have something.

I had a great time in England, visiting my parents and catching as much of the World Cup as was reasonable. On Tuesday night we watched England as they managed a draw against Sweden to finish the first round at the top of their group, ensuring a second round match-up against Ecuador on Sunday. I’ll be watching that one back in the U.S., since I flew back yesterday, and although I’ll enjoy it, it won’t be quite the same as watching the game back in England.

Despite his reputation, David Beckham hasn’t really been pulling his weight in my opinion. Nevertheless, there have been a few moments of that wonderful Beckham touch, such as the one that led to the very first goal in England’s first game against Paraguay.

For those of you unfamiliar with Beckham’s specialty, it is the perfectly weighted curving ball, sometimes used as a direct shot on goal from a free kick, and other times used from a corner to land precisely on the head of a waiting striker. Since in both cases Beckham strikes the ball from a stationary position (the ball that is, not Beckham, I should point out in uncharacteristically David Foster Wallace-like style) after other players have positioned themselves strategically (a set piece), he is often referred to as a “dead-ball specialist”. The extent to which the path of the ball curves is particularly impressive, and is the source of the title of the well-known 1998 2002 movie Bend it Like Beckham.

Here’s a clip to show you what it looks like.

Anyone who plays football knows instinctively (by which I mean through extended practice and through watching experts do it) how to curve a ball. The trick is to put an appreciable amount of spin (or “english” for all you American pool players) on it, while being sure to strike the ball hard enough so that it goes some distance over which the spin can have its effect.

But the kids out there (and most of the adults, I’m guessing), have no idea why this works. So if you fall into this category, or you know someone who does and you’re looking or a resource to help explain it to them, SoccerBallWorld has the site for you.

The site contains an online version of a wonderful article that was first published in Physics World magazine, June 1998 pp25–27.

You can read over the FAQs about the physics of soccer balls. For example, you might be interested in the whether atmospheric pressure affects how soccer balls fly – an important question given the very different places World Cup finals are held. You’ll be told that

The atmospheric air pressure (the air surrounding the ball) also plays a role in how far a ball travels. At lower pressure, there’s less air friction. You can compare it to kicking the ball in a tank of water to kicking the ball on the moon. Balls go farther at high altitude because of the reduced drag from the air, which is thinner as you go higher up. So there’s a case where “reduced” air pressure makes the ball go farther.

But let’s face it, you’re almost certainly there because you feel in your bones that England will win the World Cup (OK, you always feel this way, but surely it’ll be different this time, won’t it?), and want to understand the physics behind Beckham’s contributions. Right?

If so, then you’ll want to start off reading about the aerodynamics of soccer balls; Bernouilli’s principle; the Magnus effect; the lift force and the drag force; and laminar flow.

Once you’ve absorbed that, then you might want to read on about the work that Japanese researchers at Yamagata University performed using finite-element analysis to simulate how people kick footballs. Finally, at this point, you should have a decent understanding of the Physics of Beckham.

Having done your solemn duty as a physicist, you are now free to sit back and watch England play Ecuador in the second round at 11am EST on Sunday.

I love the World Cup.

[Update: Jorge Pullin pointed me to this very cool site (in Spanish) about the physics of football. (Also, England won against Ecuador.)]

Hot from the news wires: Tonight, Albert Pujols became the fastest player in major league history to reach 19 home runs during the start of the season. He has 19 home runs in 37 games, breaking the record set by Mickey Mantle in 1956 by 3 games. Can’t wait to see the rest of his season! Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, eat your heart out – records are made to be broken. (BTW: for the uninitiated, this is serious baseball.)

It wouldn’t feel right if one of us didn’t do a post noting that today is what many people (or at least me and JoAnne, I think) consider the unofficial start of summer – Opening Day of the 2006 Major League Baseball Season. Even better for me, the Cleveland Indians (my team, since I grew to love baseball while living in Cleveland) are playing in the opening game against last year’s World Series winners, the Chicago White Sox.

I’ve had the game on while exercising and doing a little work. I’ve groaned as I saw the Indians’ star starter C.C. Sabathia hurt himself within the first three innings and the White Sox take a 3-0 lead, and I’ve perked up as the Indians came right back and tied the game 3-3 in the top of the 4th inning.

But torrential rain came in just after that, and the game is still in rain delay, so I won’t have time to report on how it ends even if they do eventually resume play.

Nevertheless, as far as I’m concerned – summer is here

It’s been a long time since we’ve busted out the Friday iChing, in which we use songs from our iTunes playlist as Tarot cards to tell the future. Fortunately Steinn has kept the tradition alive, but it’s time we step up to the plate. Also, substantive blogging is hampered by my travel schedule at the moment — and wouldn’t you know, I fly all the way to southern California just to get rained on.

Since it has been a while, and we don’t know when it will happen again, we should take advantage of the situation to ask a question of great magnitude and import: Will the plucky #2-ranked Villanova Wildcats and their scrambling four-guard lineup be able to charge through March Madness to win the NCAA basketball tournament? We point and click and the randomizer whooshes… The key explains each of the cards.

1. The Covering: Madeleine Peroux, This Is Heaven To Me
2. The Crossing: Thelonious Monk, Epistrophy
3. The Crown: Bob Marley, Keep On Moving
4. The Root: Vladimir Horowitz, Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2
5. The Past: Von Freeman, I Love You
6. The Future: Leonard Cohen, Tower of Song
7. The Questioner: Yohimbe Brothers, Psycopathia Mojosexualis
8. The House: LL Cool J, Jingling Baby
9. The Inside: Ute Lemper, But One Day
10. The Outcome: Squeeze, I Want You

Well, sometimes the Oracle speaks pretty clearly, even if it doesn’t tell you what you want to hear. The Covering simply restates the obvious: it would be great to win the national title. The Crown, explaining the best that can be obtained, is “Keep On Moving,” which I take to imply that we can at least expect some advancement into later rounds. Vonski’s “I Love You” represents the past, an obvious allusion to Nova’s spectacular upset of Georgetown to win the 1985 national title in one of the most thrilling basketball games of all time. The Inside implies that we fans hope/expect to win it one day again — but the Outcome, “I Want You,” while again stating the obvious nevertheless seems to promise something other than complete fulfillment. So, either the iPod is just teasing us, or it’s going to be close-but-no-cigar for the valiant Wildcats this year.

That’s okay, so long as it’s not Duke, we can all be happy.

You know who I would not want on my baseball team? A. J. Pierzynski.

Google the phrase clubhouse cancer and the first two results will be stories about Chicago White Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski. Teammates and members of the media use those words and others—unprofessional, immature, arrogant, aloof—to describe him. His baseball misdemeanors are legion: chirping at the opposition, bitterly contesting balls and strikes (very stupid for a catcher, who must win goodwill for his pitcher), and venting his frustrations on opposing first basemen. “He doesn’t have a lot of baseball etiquette,” says one ex-teammate. “He’ll deliberately step on your foot at first base, then say, ‘Man, I didn’t mean to do that!’”

The most telling of the many, many (seriously, you wouldn’t believe how willing people were to talk about this guy) Pierzynski anecdotes we heard took place during spring training in 2004. Pierzynski, crouched behind the plate, took a pitch to the groin. Rushing to his aid, trainer Stan Conte asked him how he felt. “Like this!” Pierzynski grunted, then savagely kneed Conte in the balls.

“You just want to choke him,” says the ex-teammate, who has also played against him. “You want your pitcher to hit him in the head.”

Via Gapers Block.

The wrecking ball hit Busch Stadium in St. Louis this week. It was watched by many. It’s a somber time for Cardinals fans and the 4 decades of children who grew up in this stadium. I can’t help wondering why a perfectly good stadium is being dismantled and then rebuilt. Surely there are schools or libraries or musuems that could use the investment.

I’ve been keeping quiet on this topic, or at least mentioning it only in hushed tones to those close to me who are in the know. But I can’t stay silent any longer. My home town soccer team – Wigan Athletic – which only became a real professional team when I was ten or so, are currently second in the Premier League and less than two games behind leaders Chelsea.

As described on premierleague.com

Wigan Athletic are in the Premiership for the first time in their history, having made a remarkable rise in the last decade under owner and chairman Dave Whelan. While Manchester United were winning the inaugural competition in 1993, Wigan were being relegated to the new Third Division, and the following year they finished 19th, their lowest ever league position. But everything changed when JJB Sports supremo Whelan took over in 1995. The former Blackburn Rovers player immediately signalled his intent by signing the so-called ‘Three Amigos’ – Isidro Diaz, Jesus Seba and Roberto Martinez. Under former Norwich City manager John Deehan they won promotion to the Second Division in 1997, clinching the title on goals scored from Fulham, and in 1999 they left Springfield Park for their impressive new home, the JJB Stadium. A dramatic play-off final defeat followed the next season, as Gillingham scored twice in the final seven minutes to snatch a 3-2 win. In 2001, goalkeeper Roy Carroll signed for Manchester United and manager Steve Bruce left to join Crystal Palace after just six weeks in charge. Former player Paul Jewell was installed as his replacement. Nathan Ellington joined from Bristol Rovers for a club record fee in 2002, and Wigan stormed to the Second Division title in 2003 by 14 points, amassing 100 points in the process. After just missing out on the play-offs in 2004, Wigan completed their astonishing climb to the top flight in 2005, securing promotion from the Championship with a 3-1 win over Reading in the final game. Strike duo Ellington and Jason Roberts, who were both named in the Championship Team of the Season, scored 45 goals between them as the Latics finished second behind Sunderland.

You don’t have to take my word about their recent success. Here’s the current league table.

I must say; I’m truly amazed by this start to the season. I thought I’d comment now, since upcoming fixtures are against Arsenal, Spurs, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester United, and could lead to something of a correction to the above table. I grew up as a Liverpool fan, but went to watch Wigan play several times after they made it into the fourth division. I have no option but to support them now though, even when they play Liverpool at Anfield on December 3rd.