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Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

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Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#31

Post by juunpp »

I am no statistician, but all they did was a linear regression on an extremely small population and concluded that, somehow, correlation = causation.

> "Our outcome of interest is Soccer Prowess, which counts the number of players, born in a given country, nominated to the Ballon d’Or in the period 2016 to 2019"

An extremely small population.

> "The estimated coefficient on Meat Consumption is smaller when we include the full set of control variables, but remains positive and statistically significant."

Doesn't mean anything?

They somehow also conveniently ignored all the players who eat meat and don't make it. And the cocaine.

I am not sure what this is about.

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#32

Post by smcl »

squarefoot wrote: post #29
smcl wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wanted to check this because my memory was that while he did self-sabotage in various ways, I did remember him having long enough career that was largely quite successful. So his time in Europe finished in 1993 (aged 33) with a relatively unsuccessful period at Sevilla (26 games, 5 goals) - which is as I thought. But I had NO memory of him playing four more years until 1997, and at Newell's and Boca no less! Incred…

I'm old enough to have seen playing live at the stadium Zico, Platini and Maradona. They were all excellent players, but of course Dieguito was out of this world. Unfortunately his inner weakness turned him into a victim of the sharks that very often approach young successful sportsmen in order to bring them into their shitty corrupt world luring them with parties, luxury homes, fast cars and lots of girls.

Wow seeing him live must have been something, not least beside Zico and Platini! The closest I got to him was watching him manage Argentina vs Scotland in a friendly @ Hampden (they won 1-0), but he's a very popular figure in Scotland so it was almost like a home game.

I suspect that if you come from a poor, vulnerable ubringing and you're thrust suddenly into this world of plenty and wealth where you are basically a god then you're going to fly off the rails somehow. It's happened quite a few times by now.

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#34

Post by UIUC_06 »

wumpus wrote: post #18
ravi_m wrote: post #7

I am surprised they emphasize "development of the cognitive functions required to excel in soccer" but not physical development from meat (and hence higher protein) consumption

> and hence higher protein There are a ton of professional athletes who don't eat meat and apparently get plenty of protein.

> There are a ton of professional athletes

How many can you name?

Or, since that would be anecdotal: what surveys have been done of professional athletes' diets?

And if there are any, is the percentage of vegetarians higher than a comparable group in the same age bracket?

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#35

Post by smcl »

borroka wrote: post #20
smcl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Population is something that as a Scot mystifies me. We have a population similar to Croatia, yet they’ve been an incredible force in international football while we have languished in mediocrity, missing out on most major tournaments in the last 30 years. At a club level there’s no contest - our domestic leagues are usually ranked higher in the UEFA coefficient than Croatia’s and traditionally we’ve had greater succ…

The relative success of one country vs another is multifactorial, mysterious, and I would have a lot to say about it, or better, to speculate about, but for now I will simply say that Scotland is a small country, therefore with a limited number of candidates for international-level football, and is losing part of their talent pool to the sport of rugby. Most of the backs and some flankers would definitely be good can…

I would strongly disagree that we're losing players to rugby. While rugby is (IMO[0]) the second sport in Scotland far more youngsters play football than rugby, and in practical terms the potential for making a career out of rugby is more unlikely than football. So I don't think that we're spreading ourselves more thinly than Croatia are, I think there's something more to it than that.

[0] - I actually read a while back that Cricket had more registered players than Rugby in Scotland, but I take this with a pinch of salt. But make no doubt about it, our sporting focus is roughly similarly focussed on Football to Croatia's.

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#36

Post by UIUC_06 »

If we consider baseball or football prowess instead of soccer:

The Dominican Republic is vastly over-represented in the population of pro baseball players. I think you could easily find countries in Latin America to use as a control (same income level, same population, etc.)

The answer is most likely not diet, but the first-mover effect: a lot of Dominicans became baseball players, so American teams started scouting them more, pouring more into player development, etc. Young kids started seeing it as a way out of poverty.

I think American Samoa is also over-represented in the population of NFL players.

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#38

Post by jhap »

juunpp wrote: post #31

I am no statistician, but all they did was a linear regression on an extremely small population and concluded that, somehow, correlation = causation. > "Our outcome of interest is Soccer Prowess, which counts the number of players, born in a given country, nominated to the Ballon d’Or in the period 2016 to 2019" An extremely small population. > "The estimated coefficient on Meat Consumption is smaller when we include…

No causation reported

Re: Making a Maradona: Meat Consumption and Soccer Prowess

#40

Post by FredPret »

borroka wrote: post #20
smcl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Population is something that as a Scot mystifies me. We have a population similar to Croatia, yet they’ve been an incredible force in international football while we have languished in mediocrity, missing out on most major tournaments in the last 30 years. At a club level there’s no contest - our domestic leagues are usually ranked higher in the UEFA coefficient than Croatia’s and traditionally we’ve had greater succ…

The relative success of one country vs another is multifactorial, mysterious, and I would have a lot to say about it, or better, to speculate about, but for now I will simply say that Scotland is a small country, therefore with a limited number of candidates for international-level football, and is losing part of their talent pool to the sport of rugby. Most of the backs and some flankers would definitely be good can…

Pro rugby players and pro soccer players usually look like they're barely from the same species - I'd be amazed if anyone has the opportunity of choosing a first class career in both sports
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