Who had the term "field goal" first, basketball or football?

Dear Sports Fan,

I was surprised to learn that there are field goals in basketball as well as football. What’s up with that? Who had the term “field goal” first, basketball or football?

Thanks,
Ivan

Dear Ivan,

The term field goal refers to one way of scoring in both football and basketball. As we covered in our How does scoring work across sports post, in football, a field goal is when a team kicks the ball between the uprights not directly after a touchdown. In basketball, it’s a more general term that covers the majority of shot attempts. The only way to score in basketball that doesn’t count as a field goal is the free throw, an undefended shot awarded to a team that has been fouled in particular circumstances. As for which sport had the term first, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to that question but the smart money is on football as having had it first.

Basketball has a very distinct creation story. The sport was invented by James Naismith, a gym teacher at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891. His 13 rules of basketball are become a treasured document in the sports history. Nowhere in those rules does the term field goal show up, but he uses the word field to refer to the area of play and goals to refer to made baskets. The leap to using the term field goal to refer to a subset of the goals is not a big one, particularly because he did carve out goals that would be awarded in a different way. In the original rules of basketball, a team that was on the receiving end of three straight fouls from the other team would be awarded on goal.

Football is an older sport and came about in a more evolutionary way than basketball. I don’t know exactly when there were first more than one way to score in football but by 1883, safely eight years before basketball was invented, one of the pioneer rule makers, Walter Camp, was already tinkering with how much different types of scoring should be worth, including the field goal. He settled on “four points for a touchdown, two points for kicks after touchdowns, two points for safeties, and five for field goals.”

The only article I could find explicitly addressing your question was this one by Mark Lieberman on the University of Pennsylvania’s Language Log blog. The article is well worth reading, as is the discussion in the comments section.

In terms of why the distinction matters in basketball, one main reason that it helps generate the commonly used statistic of field goal percentage. Field goal percentage is roughly the number of shots made divided by the number of shots attempted. This stat is a traditional one used to express how efficiently a player scores. Free throws (which are not counted as field goals) are excluded from this calculation. On one hand, this makes the statistic more useful because it isolates one skill (shooting within the flow of the game) from another (converting free throws.) On the other hand, points from free throws are worth just as much as points from other shots, and a possession that ends with a player being fouled is usually thought of as an offensive success, but in terms of field goal percentage would not show up at all. This type of gap between statistic and reality is why we have had so many new statistics invented in the past ten years.

Thanks for reading,
Ezra Fischer

What are bench points in basketball?

Dear Sports Fan,

What are bench points in basketball? Sounds like they earn points for quietly sitting on the bench?

Thanks,
Amshula

Dear Amshula,

Bench scoring is a statistic that expresses the number of points scored in a basketball game by players who did not start the game. As with any statistic, the questions we want to answer to understand it are: how is it calculated, what is it meant to express, how well does it express it, and what can we learn about the sport, in this case basketball, from the statistics existence.

In basketball, as in other sports, when the game starts, only some of the players on each team are on the court. Others sit on the bench at the start of the game, prepared to play, but not playing yet. These players may be called substitutes or bench players. During the course of the game, they may play or they may not — it’s entirely up to the coach who makes his decision based on an understanding of his players’ strengths and how the game is going. Any points these substitute or bench players score will be added together to create the cumulative statistic of bench points.

Bench points is meant to express the relative strength of a team’s substitutes. This is an important thing to try to measure, even in basketball where the strength of individual players is so influential to the game’s outcome. Unfortunately bench scoring only does a moderately good job of expressing this. Part of the problem is that pure scoring is not as important as scoring more than the other team. A team’s bench may score 40 points but if they allow 60 points while they are doing it, that’s not very good. Another troubling element is that the statistic doesn’t necessarily compare apples to apples. There are no rules about how much a coach needs to play his starters or his substitutes. For some teams, the starters might play virtually the whole game. On other teams, the substitutes may play close to half the game. Comparing the bench points between a team whose starters play the whole time and a team whose starters only play a little more than half is patently unfair. Although it may seem ideal to have the best five players start each game, on some teams that is not possible or not desired. A team may have two very good players who play identical positions. Bringing one of those players off the bench might be better than trying to play two incompatible players. Some teams may tactically prefer to have their third best scoring option play as a substitute so that there’s never a time when all three of their best scorers are resting simultaneously. That’s the case with the current Boston Celtics who bring two of their best offensive players, Isaiah Thomas and Kelly Olynyk of the bench.

The existence of the bench points statistic gives us a glimpse into one of the most important debates in basketball. Is winning in basketball about having the best player or the best team? For proponents of the best player approach, bench points would be an almost meaningless statistic. Who cares which team’s sixth through tenth best players score more than the others, these folks might think, what matters is whether my top dog is better than yours. People who believe that basketball games are inevitably decided by which group of players plays better together might point to bench points as a helpful way of expressing which team is deeper and more playing more collectively.

Keep watching and questioning,
Ezra Fischer

 

Sports Forecast for Monday, April 20, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on: In today’s segment, I covered:

  • MLB Baseball – Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, 11 a.m. ET on regional cable.
  • Running – Boston Marathon, 7 a.m. ET to 3 p.m. ET on regional cable and streaming live at CBSBoston.com.
  • NHL Hockey – New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • NBA Basketball – New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
  • And more!

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

NBA Playoff Companion, April 18, 2015

The playoffs are a wonderful time in sports but they can be hard to follow, even for the most die-hard fan of a playoff team. They’re virtually impossible for a non-fan or casual observer! No matter who you are, Dear Sports Fan’s Playoff Companion can help. Sign up to get text updates each day for your favorite team or teams or just for the team or teams you feel you need to know about in order to be able to have a decent conversation with your wife, husband, son, daughter, parent, colleague, or friend.

Toronto Raptors vs. Washington Wizards — Game 1, 12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN — Series is 0-0

Toronto Raptors fans – We’ve got the best home-court advantage in the league. Time to use it.
Toronto Raptors interested parties – After five years without playoffs, Raptors fans went nuts last year when their team made it. This year should be no different.

Washington Wizards fans – Time to wipe the slate clean. Ignore the last few weeks/months of terrible play. This team can flip the switch, right?
Washington Wizards interested parties – The Wizards started the year off playing great and have steadily looked worse and worse. Fans will be hoping they can return to their winning ways.

Golden State Warriors vs. New Orleans Pelicans — Game 1, 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC — Series is 0-0

Golden State Warriors fans – Time to get back in gear after a coupe weeks of meaningless games.
Golden State Warriors interested parties – After an incredible year in which the Warriors won the most games in the league by far, the slate is wiped clean for the start of the playoffs.

New Orleans Pelicans fans – We can’t match up with their guards but they can’t match up with our Brow. Let’s steal game one.
New Orleans Pelicans interested parties – Virtually any scenario that leads to the unlikely upset of the Warriors begins with a win today.

Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks — Game 1, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN — Series is 0-0

Chicago Bulls fans – Forget about all the injuries and struggles this year. The team is healthy today and that’s all that matters.
Chicago Bulls interested parties – If you had told a Bulls fan before the year that they would enter the playoffs healthy facing Milwaukee, they would have taken it. Although the season has been a struggle with lots of injuries, the team got where it was trying to go.

Milwaukee Bucks fans – We’re the best kept secret in the league. And that secret is about to be broken over the backs of the Bulls.
Milwaukee Bucks interested parties – The Bucks are underdogs in this series but they’re a dangerous type of underdog — young, gifted, and athletic.

Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks — Game 1, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN — Series is 0-0

Houston Rockets fans – There’s really no reason to be worried about the Mavs, so why do I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach?
Houston Rockets interested parties – Rockets fans should be confident, but there’s always something about playing a veteran team that’s had success like the Mavs had to make you uneasy.

Dallas Mavericks fans – The first game will tell us a lot. If Rondo can slow down Harden, then all his nonsense might have been worth it.
Dallas Mavericks interested parties – The Mavericks gambled mid-season by trading for Rajon Rondo. So far it hasn’t seemed like a good trade but the playoffs will be the true test.

Stanley Cup Playoff Companion, April 17, 2015

The playoffs are a wonderful time in sports but they can be hard to follow, even for the most die-hard fan of a playoff team. They’re virtually impossible for a non-fan or casual observer! No matter who you are, Dear Sports Fan’s Playoff Companion can help. Sign up to get text updates each day for your favorite team or teams or just for the team or teams you feel you need to know about in order to be able to have a decent conversation with your wife, husband, son, daughter, parent, colleague, or friend.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators — Game 2, 7 p.m. ET on CNBC — Series is 1-0

Montreal Canadiens fans – Ignore the game outside the rink, all that matters is another win tonight.
Montreal Canadiens interested parties – This series has exploded into controversy thanks to a slash by Canadiens P.K. Subban that broke an opponent’s wrist. The controversy is fun but winning would be better.

Ottawa Senators fans – Vacillating between seeing red and wanting to keep calm and play on.
Ottawa Senators interested parties – Senators fans are up in arms about a slash that broke the wrist of winger Mark Stone. Anger mixed with disappointment is the cocktail of the day.

Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders — Game 2, 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network — Series is 0-1

Washington Capitals fans – Time to even it up. No excuses, no tomorrows.
Washington Capitals interested parties – Having a better record than your playoff opponent means you get the first two games of the series at home. This is usually an advantage but if you lose the first game, as the Capitals did, it really puts the pressure on to win the second.

New York Islanders fans – There’s nothing better than being a road team in game two after stealing game one. It’s literally all upside.
New York Islanders interested parties – The traditional goal of a road team in a playoff series is to win one of the first two games on the road. The Islanders already did that, so the pressure is taken off this game in a big way.

Nashville Predators vs. Chicago Blackhawks — Game 2, 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network — Series is 0-1

Nashville Predators fans – Time to wipe the disappointed memories of double-overtime out of our heads. The positives will outweigh the negatives… if we win tonight.
Nashville Predators interested parties – Only the slimmest of margins separated the Predators from their opponents in game one. Fans will be hoping for the same kind of game with just a tiny bit more luck tonight.

Chicago Blackhawks fans – Win, rinse, repeat.
Chicago Blackhawks interested parties – The Blackhawks have been so successful over the past five years, that winning has become, if not expected, at least habitual. Spirits are high heading into game 2.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames — 10 p.m. ET on CNBC — Series is 0-1

Vancouver Canucks fans – Breath easy, relax, project confidence. Try to ignore your stomach starting to creep up into your throat.
Vancouver Canucks interested parties – It’s only been one game, but the pessimistic streak that typifies the true Canucks fan may already be starting to run rampant.

Calgary Flames fans – As long as the kids keep winning, maybe they won’t notice (and no one else will notice) that they’re in a bit over their heads.
Calgary Flames interested parties – The Flames are a young team that’s playing better than expected. Fans will be thrilled but with a tiny bit of reserve held for the moment things start going badly.

New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins — Rest Day — Series is 1-0

New York Rangers fans – See? The Penguins are soft. Oh sure, they made a game out of it, but they don’t have our discipline or depth.
New York Rangers interested parties – The Rangers should have won and they did. Today is a good day for Rangers fans. Game two is Saturday night.

Pittsburgh Penguins fans – Oh no! Same old, undisciplined, mentally lapsing Penguins. Although they did look good for the other 58 minutes…
Pittsburgh Penguins interested parties – Your Penguins fans may seem either unusually affected or unaffected by last night’s loss. Both responses are normal.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Detroit Red Wings — Rest Day — Series is 0-1

Tampa Bay Lightning fans – Every fear we had about the Wings came to fruition in one night. Still, the hope is to wear them down.
Tampa Bay Lightning interested parties – A game one loss won’t dampen a Lightning fan’s enthusiasm… yet.

Detroit Red Wings fans – The Magic Man’s got a little bit of magic left. All hail Pavel Datsyuk.
Detroit Red Wings interested parties – A perfect road playoff game for the veteran Red Wings have their fans strutting just a little bit today.

St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild — Rest Day — Series is 0-1

St. Louis Blues fans – Not the start we were looking for, but all roads to Rome weren’t paved in a day, right?
St. Louis Blues interested parties – Encourage the Blues fan in your life to take the longer view of things. The first game didn’t go well, but were they really expecting to go 16-0?

Minnesota Wild fans – Never a doubt! The Blues may be more accomplished, but our team is a bad matchup for them.
Minnesota Wild interested parties – The Blues were a scary opponent for Wild fans but now that game one went so well, a little bit of confidence will be creeping in. That’s good, nurture it.

Anaheim Ducks vs. Winnipeg Jets — Rest Day — Series is 1-0

Anaheim Ducks fans – One down, one to go. The best way to mute the Winnipeg crowd is to beat their team twice in California.
Anaheim Ducks interested parties – The Ducks looked very strong in their first game and win of the postseason.

Winnipeg Jets fans – Doesn’t matter, let’s steal game two!!! GO JETS!!! Although, I will admit that the Ducks looked strong.
Winnipeg Jets interested parties – Losing game one will barely have an affect on the near-berserker levels of enthusiasm of the Jets fans in your life.

What happened on Friday, April 17, 2015?

  • Wild pun and win: You can write your own pun — it was a “wild start” or whatever. The fact is that the Minnesota Wild jumped on the St. Louis Blues early last night and never let up. They led from the three minute mark on and never gave up the lead. The final score was 4-2 but three of those goals, two by Minnesota and one by St. Louis were scored in the last two minutes of the game.
    Line: As a neutral observer, I feel for St. Louis, who always seems to just not quite have the answer in the playoffs, but I want Minnesota to win. Minnesota is such hockey country, they should have some NHL success.
  • Glass half full or totally empty?: That’s the question fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins will be asking themselves this morning after their team gave up a goal in the first 30 seconds of their first playoff game of the year last night against the New York Rangers. That early lapse turned out to be fatal. They were never able to catch up to the Rangers once they spotted them that early goal and lost 2-1. The optimists will say that other than that, the Penguins played well against the favored Rangers. The pessimists will point out that there’s no margin for error when you’re an underdog in the playoffs and then probably tell you that the sky is falling.
    Line: You can’t make mental mistakes and hope to win in the playoffs. The sky is falling!!
  • Back and forth, back and forth, for 12 innings: It’s virtually impossible to predict which games are going to be great and which are going to be mundane. That’s actually one of the things about sports that drives fans to watch so many games. You never know, but you want to be watching when something extraordinary happens, so you just watch a lot. A great baseball game broke out last night between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to push the game into overtime (called extra innings in baseball.) Then both teams scored in the tenth. Neither team scored in the eleventh. And finally, both teams scored in the twelfth inning, but the Diamondbacks scored more. Arizona won, 7-6.
    Line: Making baseball faster is a hot topic but there are no complaints when an extra innings game breaks out. I guess that’s the exception that proves the rule.

Sports Forecast for Friday, April 17, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on: In today’s segment, I covered:

  • MLS Soccer – San Jose Earthquake at New York Red Bulls, 7 p.m. ET on UniMas.
  • NHL Hockey – Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET on CNBC.
  • MLB Baseball – Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals, 8:10 p.m. ET on regional cable.
  • And more!

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Stanley Cup Playoff Companion, April 16, 2015

The playoffs are a wonderful time in sports but they can be hard to follow, even for the most die-hard fan of a playoff team. They’re virtually impossible for a non-fan or casual observer! No matter who you are, Dear Sports Fan’s Playoff Companion can help. Sign up to get text updates each day for your favorite team or teams or just for the team or teams you feel you need to know about in order to be able to have a decent conversation with your wife, husband, son, daughter, parent, colleague, or friend.

New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins — Game 1, 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network — Series is 0-0

New York Rangers fans – Better record, deeper team, more reliable goalie. No need for cockiness but lots of reasons for confidence.
New York Rangers interested parties – The Penguins have the two best players in the series, but the Rangers may have the next ten. In hockey, the better team should win.

Pittsburgh Penguins fans – After years of cruising into the playoffs only to come crashing down, maybe backing into them is going to be good luck?
Pittsburgh Penguins interested parties – These Penguins are not like the Penguins of the last five years. They’re a distinct underdog in this series.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Detroit Red Wings — Game 1, 7:30 p.m. ET on CNBC — Series is 0-0

Tampa Bay Lightning fans – Don’t get spooked by seeing the winged wheel. Our team won seven more games than the Red Wings this season. We’re better.
Tampa Bay Lightning interested parties – Tampa Bay has had some history of success but nothing approaching the traditionally powerful Detroit Red Wings. This year though, the Lightning have the better team.

Detroit Red Wings fans – Mrazek over Howard. In Babcock we trust.
Detroit Red Wings interested parties – The biggest story coming into the playoffs is the coach’s decision to start 23 year-old goalie Petr Mrazek over veteran Jimmy Howard.

St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild — Game 1, 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports — Series is 0-0

St. Louis Blues fans – Dubnyk has been unbelievable for the Wild… but he used to be on the Oilers, how tough could he be?
St. Louis Blues interested parties – The Blues have had one of the most complete teams for the past five years but have never won the cup. Could this be their year? It starts tonight.

Minnesota Wild fans – The Blues are an intimidating opponent but I think we can get to their goalie. At least it’s not the Blackhawks.
Minnesota Wild interested parties – The Wild are a good team but they can’t match up player for player with the Blues and not come out looking worse, except at goalie, which is the most important position… so they have a shot.

Anaheim Ducks vs. Winnipeg Jets — Game 1, 10:30 p.m. ET on CNBC — Series is 0-0

Anaheim Ducks fans – Games 1 and 2 at home are almost must wins because Winnipeg is going to be CRAZY for 3 and 4.
Anaheim Ducks interested parties – The Ducks are in the unenviable position of playing against the sentimental favorite Winnipeg Jets, who haven’t made the playoffs in 19 years.

Winnipeg Jets fans – Yes! YES! ARRRGHH*#%#@!!!!
Winnipeg Jets interested parties – Yes! YES! ARRRGHH*#%#@!!!!

Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators — Rest Day — Series is 1-0

Montreal Canadiens fans – It wasn’t pretty but it doesn’t have to be. Game 2 is on Friday, let’s hope Subban doesn’t get suspended before then.
Montreal Canadiens interested parties – The Canadiens won the first game, so today’s a time to nervously celebrate and relax… a little.

Ottawa Senators fans – Stone. Microfracture. Okay, so we’re not going to win, but let’s kill them all.
Ottawa Senators interested parties – Montreal’s strategy seemed to be to injure the Senators best players and it worked. News just broke that Mark Stone, an important forward has a broken wrist.

Washington Capitals vs. New York Islanders — Rest Day — Series is 0-1

Washington Capitals fans – Oh no, not again. I know it’s just one game, but it feels like another collapse is coming. Ughhhghgh.
Washington Capitals interested parties – The Capitals are notorious for collapsing in the playoffs, so Caps fans quite reasonably, may assume the worst after game one.

New York Islanders fans – Home ice advantage gained. Mission accomplished. Game two is all gravy.
New York Islanders interested parties – After a win in game one, the Islanders now have the advantage.

Nashville Predators vs. Chicago Blackhawks — Rest Day — Series is 0-1

Nashville Predators fans – Get through it. Overtime happens. And when it happens again, it could happen for us.
Nashville Predators interested parties – Game one went into double overtime before the Predators lost. Today would be a good day to get your Predators fan an extra cup of coffee and a smile.

Chicago Blackhawks fans – And THAT’S how the playoffs work!
Chicago Blackhawks interested parties – Winning a game in double-overtime has some luck to it but also experience and determination, both qualities the Blackhawks have in large quantity.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames — Rest Day — Series is 0-1

Vancouver Canucks fans – Slow and steady wins the race. Game one wasn’t what we wanted but the Flames will sputter the longer the series goes.
Vancouver Canucks interested parties – The Canucks lost game one but there’s no reason to panic yet.

Calgary Flames fans – The Canucks can’t hang with us! Keep the Sedins off the scoreboard and we’ll keep winning.
Calgary Flames interested parties – Winning your first playoff game in six years is worth a celebration. Enjoy the moment with the Flames fan in your life!

What happened on April 15, 2015?

  1. The hockey playoffs start of with a boom: There is nothing more exciting, nerve-wracking, and pulse thumping than watching overtime in a Stanley Cup playoff game. Hockey fans were treated to two overtimes on the first night of the playoffs, both in the game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators. A defenseman, Duncan Keith, finally scored in the second overtime to win the game 4-3 for the Chicago Blackhawks but the story of the night was the ‘hawks backup goalie, Scott Darling, who came into the game in relief after their starter let in three goals, and proceeded to shut the Predators out for the remainder of the game.
    Line: There’s a reason why overtimes where the first team to score, wins, are called sudden death… it’s because watching them makes you feel like you’re going to have a heart-attack!
  2. Barcelona dazzles: Barcelona has such freakishly talented players that sometimes it seems as if they’re the Harlem Globetrotters and their opponents are the hapless Washington Generals. There were a few moments that felt that way yesterday in Paris during Barcelona’s Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain that ended 3-1.
    Line: Barcelona can not only beat you, they can make you feel silly for having shown up. 
  3. The U.S. Men’s National Team… wins: Okay, so… truth be told, the game between the United States Men’s National Team and Mexico was not nearly as good an exhibition of soccer as the previous game. It was, at times, downright ugly. But, the U.S. did win, so hooray if you’re a fan of the team. The star of the night was Jordan Morris, a college kid getting his first start on the national team. He looked nervous during the anthems before the game, but once play started, he looked right at home. He scored the first goal of the game and of his career after snatching an unlucky bounce off a Mexican defender.
    Line: A win is a win, no matter how sloppy.
  4. The Pacers (and Thunder) fade to summer vacation: After 81 games, all the Pacers needed to do was win one more and they would have made the NBA playoffs. They couldn’t do it. They lost to Memphis 95-83. Because of that, the Brooklyn Nets get the last playoff spot in the East and the chance to (probably) lose to the first ranked Atlanta Hawks. A similar scenario played out in the West where the New Orleans Pelicans eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder from playoff contention.
    Line: Although it hurts now, not making the playoffs this year probably won’t turn out to be so bad for Thunder and Pacers fans. Their teams weren’t likely to win much in the playoffs anyway.

Sports Forecast for Thursday, April 16, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on: In today’s segment, I covered:

  • NHL Hockey – Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues, 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
  • MLB Baseball – Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants, 10:30 p.m. ET on regional cable.
  • And more!

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.