OT: Random Kudos on the use of "Recency Bias"

[PatsFanInVa]

I wish I remembered which commentator on one of the networks used this... but he off-handedly said, correctly, "Look, we all have recency bias." (Maybe it was an MVP conversation or a "greatest ever" conversation, I dunno.)

Recency bias is a real thing. It's exactly what it sounds like, or pretty close: The most recent thing in your memory is disproportionately represented in your memory. It's one of a ginormous list of biases we should be on the lookout against, but aren't, as thinking animals. (And we're even less on guard as fans, because "fan" means "fanatic." That's why some people in SF still think Montana is the GOAT.*)

But as good as some commentators are with the Xs and Os (and that's rare), it's special when one of them understands terms underlying other fields of study, no matter how basic.

Now I'm not saying he's Norman Einstein or anything... but kudos!

(PS... "It's not rocket science...")

* SF fans think this because of confirmation bias; to show how tricky this gets, part of their confirmation bias involves accusing all other fans of recency bias.

 

[XLIX]

There are 2 prominent examples of extreme recency bias we see regularly:

1) The obscene propensity of mediots (especially ESPN mediots) to constantly label something that jut happened as the best/greatest of all time. For example, yesterday’s Minnesota win was very exciting but to call it the best of all time shows a phenomenal ignorance of history.

2) Any time you see a college poll. Doesn’t matter so much in hoops but is way way way too significant in football.

 

[The Brandon Five]

There are 2 prominent examples of extreme recency bias we see regularly:

1) The obscene propensity of mediots (especially ESPN mediots) to constantly label something that jut happened as the best/greatest of all time. For example, yesterday’s Minnesota win was very exciting but to call it the best of all time shows a phenomenal ignorance of history.

It was the first walk off TD in the history of NFL playoffs. It's at least in the conversation.

 

[XLIX]

It was the first walk off TD in the history of NFL playoffs. It's at least in the conversation.

Um, I can remember 5 walk off touchdowns from NFL playoffs without even batting an eyelash, none the least of which is a little game I like to call Super Bowl 51.

 

[dannydyn]

Um, I can remember 5 walk off touchdowns from NFL playoffs without even batting an eyelash, none the least of which is a little game I like to call Super Bowl 51.

Or the game-ending interception in SB49.

 

[nabwong]

Um, I can remember 5 walk off touchdowns from NFL playoffs without even batting an eyelash, none the least of which is a little game I like to call Super Bowl 51.

Genuinely curious, any examples?

 

[Former Fan]

Um, I can remember 5 walk off touchdowns from NFL playoffs without even batting an eyelash, none the least of which is a little game I like to call Super Bowl 51.

You have to add "with no time left in regulation." OT TDs do not count.

 

[XLIX]

Genuinely curious, any examples?

Besides SB 51? There’s the 1958 NFL Championship, I remember 10 or so years ago the Packers beat the Seahawks on a pick 6 (the “we want the ball and we’re gonna win!” Hasselbeck game), the Panthers walked off against the Rams in the same year we would later beat them in SB38, and I remember good ole’ Flipper Anderson running off the field straight into the locker room in the Meadowlands one year.

 

[Steve102]

just found this.
Every walk-off touchdown from the last decade

 

[XLIX]

You have to add "with no time left in regulation." OT TDs do not count.

Um, since when does an overtime touchdown not count as a walk off touchdown?

 

[Former Fan]

Or the game-ending interception in SB49.

Was that a TD?

These have to be walkoff TDs in regulation, folks.

 

[Former Fan]

Um, since when does an overtime touchdown not count as a walk off touchdown?

I'm just saying, the OP left that off. Without that, it's not the "first" or "only", but with it, it is.

 

[XLIX]

I'm just saying, the OP left that off. Without that, it's not the "first" or "only", but with it, it is.

Fair enough, but I think it is silly to consider a game significantly better because they scored with 0:00 left as opposed to an *extremely* small amount of time, such as the Immaculate Reception, Music City Miracle, the original Hail Mary, the Ice Bowl, SB23, or Dwight Clark’s “The Catch.”

 

[Former Fan]

Fair enough, but I think it is silly to consider a game significantly better because they scored with 0:00 left as opposed to an *extremely* small amount of time, such as the Immaculate Reception, Music City Miracle, the original Hail Mary, the Ice Bowl, SB23, or Dwight Clark’s “The Catch.”

I agree with you. I just happened to have seen on some show or other the whole "first walk off TD in regulation in playoff history" declaration, so I was clarifying. Nothing more.

I found it to be exciting, but the "blown play" aspect, to me, disqualifies it from being in the convo for best ever, IMO. Might be tops for fluky/quirky high-leverage plays, though.

 

[XLIX]

I agree with you. I just happened to have seen on some show or other the whole "first walk off TD in regulation in playoff history" declaration, so I was clarifying. Nothing more.

I found it to be exciting, but the "blown play" aspect, to me, disqualifies it from being in the convo for best ever, IMO. Might be tops for fluky/quirky high-leverage plays, though.

IMHO, the greatness of the play and game rests largely on what happens next. If Minnesota goes on to win the Super Bowl, that play becomes an all time classic which defines a magical season. If they lose to Philly, it becomes a footnote, fun to watch every once in a while but nothing historic.

 

[nabwong]

Besides SB 51? There’s the 1958 NFL Championship, I remember 10 or so years ago the Packers beat the Seahawks on a pick 6 (the “we want the ball and we’re gonna win!” Hasselbeck game), the Panthers walked off against the Rams in the same year we would later beat them in SB38, and I remember good ole’ Flipper Anderson running off the field straight into the locker room in the Meadowlands one year.

Just a technicality but aren’t all these overtime victories? I think they meant during regulation.

 

[GodBrady]

1) The obscene propensity of mediots (especially ESPN mediots) to constantly label something that jut happened as the best/greatest of all time. For example, yesterday’s Minnesota win was very exciting but to call it the best of all time shows a phenomenal ignorance of history.

I notice recency bias a lot in baseball, where a player will make a spectacular catch. Then, a news network will compile a list of "greatest catches ever", lump the recent one in there, and hold a poll -- somehow, the recent one will get a significant amount of the votes. It never fails.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Back in my day people didn't have recency bias, now I see it all the time.

 

[n6249c]

just found this.
Every walk-off touchdown from the last decade

Lots are in OT, many are not. Did not look for playoffs vs regular season, but seems common enough from that to make it moot.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Or the game-ending interception in SB49.

That's not a walk-off TD and didn't end the game.