Nice sign, but er, where are the lanes?!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Tendulkar, Thin Slicing & Umpiring
I'm watching the 7th ODI between India & England from the early overs. That typically means India would lose! Such is my luck :(. Few minutes back, Tendulkar was given out to a bad umpiring decision. Umpiring must be really hard, especially in a game like cricket where a single bad decision can cost the game for a team. Umpires have to make a split second decision using their senses of vision and hearing. In this particular case, Dar had definitely heard a sound, but it was the wrong one, one where the bat hit the pad. Using that, he had to thin-slice and determine that it was a knick. And probably, his aural senses overwhelmed the visual, as he missed to see no deflection in the course of the ball.
In case you are wondering what the heck is "thin-slicing", it is a term I learned from a book called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. It is a really fascinating book I'm currently finishing up on my train commute. In a nutshell, it means an instinctive, non-analytical decision we make, especially when pressed for time. Umpires should also be experts at mind reading too, as the batsman or bowler involved typically knows what exactly happened, and would try to fake it to get the umpire's favor.
It is humanly impossible to get it right all the time, but I do believe having a human umpire is definitely needed. However, technology advances can certainly complement umpiring, as the Collingwood decision showed. That's why I think having a certain number of coach's challenges, similar to that in NFL would help. As I finish writing this, the third umpire has given the benefit of doubt to Powar. See what I'm saying?
Two minutes and a few balls later.. Oh crap, the spinning bat says he is out! It's not looking good for India.
In case you are wondering what the heck is "thin-slicing", it is a term I learned from a book called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. It is a really fascinating book I'm currently finishing up on my train commute. In a nutshell, it means an instinctive, non-analytical decision we make, especially when pressed for time. Umpires should also be experts at mind reading too, as the batsman or bowler involved typically knows what exactly happened, and would try to fake it to get the umpire's favor.
It is humanly impossible to get it right all the time, but I do believe having a human umpire is definitely needed. However, technology advances can certainly complement umpiring, as the Collingwood decision showed. That's why I think having a certain number of coach's challenges, similar to that in NFL would help. As I finish writing this, the third umpire has given the benefit of doubt to Powar. See what I'm saying?
Two minutes and a few balls later.. Oh crap, the spinning bat says he is out! It's not looking good for India.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Paradox
Saw this interesting note on a blog comment - "But then again... what in life is not a paradox... that the more you love someone, the more you'd be taken for granted."
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