Sports

1 in 11,500 The odds an MLB game will be a perfect game are 1 in 11,500 (US and CA, 1901 – 2009).

1 in 3,109 The odds an adult Cubs fan has seen the Cubs win a World Series are 1 in 3,109 (US and CA, 2008).

This week’s NFL playoff schedule features a very peculiar scenario. Three of the four games are between teams matching up for the second time in seven days. Talk about your ultimate scouting report. So, what are the odds of that? The odds 3 of 4 NFL wild card games will feature rematches from week 17 are … Read more

Book of Odds reporter Zachary Turpin recently sat down with Bradley Trevor Greive—author of Why Dogs Are Better than Cats—on a sunny beach on the Tasman Sea and discussed, over smoked salmon and vodka gimlets, what it is that makes canines so special to us. OK, almost none of that happened. The interview was, in fact, … Read more

1 in 195,200,000 The odds a Powerball entry will win the jackpot are 1 in 195,200,000 (US, 1/7/2009 – 10/7/2009).

With Tiger Woods’ personal life among the most talked about tempests in the public teapot, we have been asked by many sources about the odds of car accidents, golf accidents, and above all, male marital infidelity. Leaving aside the question of whether those in the public eye cheat more or less than others, and frankly, … Read more

An exploration by Professor Dan Myers (Notre Dame) of the shortest possible game of Monopoly® inspired this post. Below are the absolute shortest possible versions of popular games—board game or sport, actual or theoretical. Baseball—28 pitches. At the start, I’d hoped the shortest possible baseball game would be “super-perfect,” a perfect game in which a pitcher throws 81 … Read more

Recreational fishing is one this country’s most cherished and profitable pastimes. According to the American Sportfishing Association, the country’s 40 million anglers generate almost $50 billion in retail sales. A 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation by the Outdoor Foundation lists recreational fishing as the most popular outdoor activity in the United States in terms of participation rate. Nearly … Read more

If Scott Norwood had been born later, the former Buffalo Bills kicker would have had a better chance of being remembered as a hero who won Super Bowl XXV in 1991, rather than the kicker who blew it. That’s because the odds of kicking a successful field goal in the NFL have improved over time. … Read more