Tuesday, January 29, 2008

For Football (Soccer) Fans

From the Freakonomics 2008 Calendar:

An analysis of soccer penalty kicks found that kicking the ball down the middle is a more effective strategy than kicking it either to the left or right. But in game situations, players rarely go for the middle of the net. Why? Because if you kick it down the middle and don't score, the embarrassment factor is unacceptably high.

I love Steven Levitt.

I think this also might be faulty correlation. Maybe because so many players kick to the sides, that goalies aren't expecting goals down the middle. I don't know.

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