Reading Goal: Read and analyze a text that is challenging,
and something other than an article on a popular news page. Also, read about a
topic that I may not necessarily enjoy, but one that could definitely appear on
the AP exam.
Writing Goal: Go more in-depth with my analysis so it goes
full circle and relates back to the purpose of the text. Also, choose
rhetorical devices that are essential to the argument of the essay, not just
whatever I can find easily.
Throughout the world of sports, there
is an apparent edge that playing in front of your supporting fans gives teams,
called home field advantage. Yet, many sports analysts and statisticians have
long wondered what actually gives teams this edge over their opponents when
playing at home. Do supporting fans really have the power to change the outcome
of a game? A group of statisticians, consisting of Alina Bialkowski, Patrick
Lucey, Peter Carr, Yisong Yue and Iain Matthews, answered this question in their
essay “Win at Home and Draw Away,” which has been nominated as one of the top
essays at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. In the essay, the
co-authors effectively use an experimental writing structure and supplemental
images to prove that the 20 soccer teams that play in the English Premier
League are more likely to win at home because they play far more aggressive and
offensive-minded when playing in front of their home supporters.
Throughout
the well-crafted essay, it is clear that the group of authors closely followed
a scientific design, logically ordering their experimental evidence and
results. In the introduction of the piece, they first state the problem, or in
this case, what gives home teams an advantage over their visiting counterparts.
Shortly after, they introduce their hypothesis, which says: “home teams had
significantly more possession in the forward-third which correlated with more
shots and goals” as a result of, “1) the formation the team played, and 2) the
manner in which they executed it” (1). Finally in the body of the essay, the
statisticians analyze gameplay evidence from the 20 EPL teams in order to prove
their hypothesis and make a conclusion. By using this structure, readers are
easily able to follow the thought process of the five statisticians that
contributed to the essay. The evidence given by the authors flows in a logical,
analytical order and is supported with an array of statistics, which are
explained in a way so the reader easily understands them. Such evidence and
statistics are proven by experiments, and, therefore, cannot be argued by the
reader. In the end, a concise conclusion takes into account the experimental
and makes it clear that increased aggression and offensive play are the main
contributors to better play at home.
To further
prove their hypothesis, the authors include multiple images, charts, and graphs
that visually aid readers understanding of the experimental results. Many
readers, specifically ones like myself who are not qualified enough to attend
this conference, may not understand the authors’ use of complex statistical
processes such as “Expectation-Maximization” (4) and the “Hungarian algorithm”
(4). So, the authors display results and statistical processes using images and
charts that are easily understood by someone not so well versed in the world of
statistics. In addition, they make sure to create individual graphs for each team
in the EPL, which assist their conclusions because they clarify the differences
between the results of home and away matches.
With the
use of a logical experimental structure and relevant graphs and charts, the writers
of “Win at Home and Draw Away” masterfully demonstrated that winning on one’s home
field is attributed to the increased offensive aggression when playing in front
of supporting fans. As lacrosse season starts this week, I know I will find
myself thinking about this essay, and, hopefully, find it as motivation to play
hard both home and away.
article- http://www.sloansportsconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014_SSAC_Win-at-Home-Draw-Away.pdf
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