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Sports Commentary

|< < Prev #3262 (June 22, 2026)

Title text: The plural of anecdote may not be data, but the singular of data is anecdote.

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Explanation

This is incomplete: This page was created at a statistically insignificant time. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

P-hacking is the academically problematic practice of attempting to come up with a question for which the data offers a significant p-value (probability value). This is in contrast to correct scientific analysis, in which a question is formulated clearly and then answered with data. A common way of doing p-hacking is analyzing subgroups to attempt to find significance when the full dataset does not yield statistically significant results; for instance, restricting the analysis of medical data to male subjects to derive a significant p-value when including female subjects would make the p-value insignificant, when the scientific question is largely gender-independent. Sports commentators do a form of p-hacking in which they cite a fact that's made to sound more significant by restricting the situations it applies to. Randall satirizes this with an example in which the restriction uses very specific criteria largely irrelevant to gameplay patterns in order to narrow down the subgroup sample size to a measly two games. Obviously the 0-2 record reflects random noise much more than any significant insight. As well as being irrelavent to gameplay, their P-Hacking also makes the game sound like confusing jargon, which would be quite difficult to understand-Ironic given a sports commentator's job is to explain matches and suchlike-Rather than making them harder and more vague!

This comic was published 11 days into the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup was also the subject of another comic published the Wednesday before: 3260: Messi. Sports commentary was also the subject of 904: Sports.

Transcript

This is one of 28 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Cueball and Ponytail are sitting at a table, looking at the wall behind them. On the wall is a screen showing a soccer field with some unreadable score information above it.]

Cueball: They could be in trouble. Over the last 36 years, they've gone 0 for 2 when they've scored in the 37th minute to lead 2-1 against a team whose country comes before theirs alphabetically.

[Caption below comic:]

I wish sports commentators hadn't discovered p-hacking.

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Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

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This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 12:22) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

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yum yum [citation needed]

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

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<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello ​ does​this​work (yes​it​does) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

‮hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)‭

Hello 107.1.219.44 19:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
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Recent comments:

23 June 2026

		N    11:53	Talk:3262: Sports Commentary‎‎ (13 changes | history) . . (+4,366)‎ . . [TheusafBOT‎; GSLikesCats307‎; 92.209.171.90‎; 47.151.65.120‎; 84.73.89.202‎ (2×); 185.42.250.189‎ (2×); 185.36.194.22‎ (2×); 82.132.236.84‎ (3×)]
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			06:45 (cur | prev) . . (-141)‎ . . 185.42.250.189 (talk) (fixed links)
			06:43 (cur | prev) . . (+264)‎ . . 185.42.250.189 (talk) (Other comics generalizing coincidences)
			04:33 (cur | prev) . . (+115)‎ . . 47.151.65.120 (talk) (Added comment)
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		N	03:46 (cur | prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk | contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3262)

08:23

Talk:3260: Messi‎ (diff | hist) . . (+487)‎ . . 2a02:26f7:ec54:6606:0:c000:0:15 (talk)

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Talk:668: Pandora‎ (diff | hist) . . (+180)‎ . . 138.217.175.202 (talk)

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Talk:655: Climbing‎ (diff | hist) . . (+220)‎ . . 138.217.175.202 (talk)

22 June 2026

		20:52	Talk:3261: Side Effect‎‎ (3 changes | history) . . (+409)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 198.54.129.215‎ (2×)]
			20:52 (cur | prev) . . (0)‎ . . 198.54.129.215 (talk) (adding my name)
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		11:11	Talk:85: Paths‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+945)‎ . . [85.76.106.78‎; 82.132.237.137‎]
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		10:55	Talk:328: Eggs‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+164)‎ . . [RG‎; 82.132.237.137‎]
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21 June 2026

		20:15	Talk:3261: Side Effect‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+553)‎ . . [Nitpicking‎; Jjj‎]
			20:15 (cur | prev) . . (+420)‎ . . Nitpicking (talk | contribs) (Gravity waves: not just for dinner. Or black holes.)
		m	06:26 (cur | prev) . . (+133)‎ . . Jjj (talk | contribs) (Add a reply)

13:12

Talk:2219: Earthquake Early Warnings‎ (diff | hist) . . (+279)‎ . . 2600:100a:b030:ad34:d4c2:7dff:fe22:a665 (talk)

20 June 2026

		22:28	Talk:1172: Workflow‎‎ (3 changes | history) . . (+331)‎ . . [2.103.204.172‎; SteveTheNoob‎ (2×)]
			22:28 (cur | prev) . . (-179)‎ . . 2.103.204.172 (talk) (Undo revision 414956 by SteveTheNoob (talk) This unsigned comment was later readded. This time with a (sort of) signature, which I am also improving, 'free of charge'.)
		m	20:32 (cur | prev) . . (+275)‎ . . SteveTheNoob (talk | contribs)
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Talk:1757: November 2016‎ (diff | hist) . . (+181)‎ . . 85.76.116.103 (talk)

		17:31	Talk:1166: Argument‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+454)‎ . . [81.179.199.253‎; 129.222.167.252‎]
			17:31 (cur | prev) . . (+156)‎ . . 81.179.199.253 (talk) (Looks like three separate comments posted at the same time, none of it properly signed but (differently) pseudo-signed. So adding the same 'unsigned' on each.)
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		17:26	Talk:142: Parody Week: Megatokyo‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+160)‎ . . [81.179.199.253‎; 129.222.167.252‎]
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19 June 2026

14:50

Talk:3016: Cold Air‎ (diff | hist) . . (+432)‎ . . 2a02:908:d72:3a60:53bb:2461:6a3b:5cbd (talk)

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Talk:3260: Messi‎ (diff | hist) . . (+176)‎ . . 173.188.194.118 (talk)