Foul Balls & OODA Loops
Last week, I caught a foul ball at a Spring Training baseball game. OK...not on the fly, and not quite off the first bounce. But I grabbed it before it came to a rolling stop. That still counts, right? *** Before the baseball game started, I turned to my kids and told them we were in Foul Ball Territory -- the sections in the stands where batted foul balls were likely to land. And be caught by fans! How did I know this? Or less arrogantly: What made me believe this? Because I've watched enough baseball games to know where a high percentage of foul balls land. It's a pattern of batted ball behavior. Garnered from decades of experience from playing, watching, and attending games. Where we at the epicenter of Foul Ball Territory ? I'm not sure. But we could (dis)prove it. What if we had the data to plot against the stadium seating chart? We could feasibly create a heat-map of where foul balls landed. *** Professional sports is filled with data. Here are a few examples, wi