Two Sarah Lawrence Boys Walk into a Sports Bar

It has been great catching some minutes of the World Cup’s group phase with the blog’s editor-in-chief. How do nerds discuss the games? With Nate Silver’s predictions and The Guardian’s analyses, for example. And S. Sandrigon has a vintage Côte d'Ivoire jersey. Zut alors!

Here’s something for discussion. This year’s ball is very sexy. But, like most hotties, it doesn’t perform very well.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

“In constantly refining the ball – making it worse, many players claim – Adidas stays in pursuit of making a sleeker version. In 1970, the Adidas ball had 32 panels. By World Cup 1990, it had been reduced to 20 panels. In 2006, down to 14. And now there's the Jabulani, as it's called, with just 8 panels.

The effect? Less excitement. In 1970, the World Cup had an average of 3.0 goals per game. It was down to 2.2 in 1990, 2.3 in 2006, and it was 1.6 this year through the tournament's first week.”

I personally think 2010 has been very exciting. Low-scoring games are the best. But I've been watching soccer longer than the average NYT journalist, perhaps.