"That walking behavior is not a detachment from the match but a conscious action to move through empty spaces of value and claim the control of valuable space. "Messi does this very effectively, placing him near the top of players in terms of space gained during the whole match, despite the lack of active gain.""
"I tend to watch with an eye toward what the tactical system could be, or whether the data that's being collected is miscapturing what's going on, or that the data might capture the core components but our models will miss what's going on. It has kind of ruined sports for me."
"It's a little exhausting watching every game so analytically. It's hard to turn off that part of your brain, but you still want to be a fan and you want to enjoy."
Player tracking technology makes walking behavior measurable as a quantifiable skill. Research finds Messi among the best walkers in soccer, with slow movement that can disrupt defenses. The behavior is framed as conscious action to move through empty spaces of value and claim control of valuable space. Messi is reported to rank near the top in space gained across matches despite lacking active gain. The piece also describes how soccer analytics changes viewing habits for analysts, who watch for tactical system fit and for whether data or models misrepresent events. This analytical focus can be exhausting and difficult to switch off while still enjoying the sport.
Read at WIRED
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]