In sports, a scorigami (a portmanteau of score and origami) is a final score that has never happened before in a sport or league's history.[1] The term was originated by sportswriter Jon Bois for American football scores in the National Football League (NFL) and is primarily used in this context.

An NFL scorigami board. The winning side's score is plotted left to right, the losing team's score top to bottom (ties correspond to the diagonal). Black squares indicate scores that cannot occur, and green boxes indicate scores that have occurred at least once. White squares indicate scorelines that are possible but have never occurred and are therefore potential "scorigamis".

Overview

edit

In an 2014 article for SB Nation, Jon Bois defined Scorigami as "the act, and art, of producing a final score in a football game that has never happened before."[2] In football, points can be scored by touchdowns (6), field goals (3), and safeties (2), with teams able to score 1 or 2 points on extra-point attempts after touchdowns. This uneven distribution, and their differing frequencies in play, means that some scorelines are more probable than others.[3][4] Bois charted the history of scorelines in the NFL and noted gaps in the chart for various scorelines that have never occurred, dubbing these potential "scorigamis".[5] As an example, the Seattle Seahawks' 43–8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII was scorigami, as no prior NFL game had ever finished 43–8.[6]

Since the term's inception, a Twitter bot has tracked scorigamis in the NFL.[7] Bois and other media observers noted the tendency of the Seattle Seahawks under former head coach Pete Carroll to create scorigamis;[8] Bois dubbed Carroll "the wizard of modern Scorigami, without question".[9] From 2011 to 2018, the Seahawks had exactly one scorigami per season.[10][11] Carroll himself has acknowledged his team's frequent scorigamis, joking to reporters after another game with a unique score, "That's ridiculous. I don't know how that happens. I'm thrilled that that happened again, for no reason. It's just something we've been working on in the offseason."[12]

Scorigamis in other sports are occasionally noted. On September 9, 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) had its first scorigami in 21 years, a 29–9 victory by the Atlanta Braves over the Miami Marlins—the previous scorigami for an MLB game had been a 24–12 win by the Cincinnati Reds over the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999.[13]

The concept has also been extended to weather, with first-time occurrences of combinations of daily maximum and minimum temperatures at a location being termed "weathergami".[14][15]

References

edit
  1. ^ Rogers, Joshua (September 6, 2021). "What Does Scorigami Mean in the NFL and Where Does It Come From?". HITC. United Kingdom. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  2. ^ Bois, Jon (September 8, 2014). "Chart Party: Exploring 'scoragami,' the art of inventing new final scores". SB Nation. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  3. ^ Molski, Max (September 10, 2024). "What is scorigami? Explaining the NFL scoring phenomenon". NBC Sports Bay Area. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  4. ^ Palattella, Henry (March 28, 2024). "What Is A Scorigami In The NFL Super Bowl?". Forbes. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  5. ^ Pavlović, Svetozar (September 23, 2023). "What scores have never happened in the NFL?". AS USA. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  6. ^ Whitney, Ched (January 31, 2019). "Will Super Bowl Scorigami Happen Again?". Gaming Today. Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Day, Lewin (January 22, 2020). "Scorigami Bot Charts NFL History In The Making". Hackaday. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  8. ^ Alexander, Mookie (October 2, 2022). "Seahawks Rediscover the Art of Scorigami". Field Gulls. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
  9. ^ Bois, Jon (December 7, 2016). "Chart Party: Scorigami, or the Story of Every NFL Final Score that has Ever Happened". SB Nation. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Musgrove, Kole (December 3, 2018). "Seahawks Continue Bizarre 'Scorigami' Streak Under Pete Carroll". USA Today. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  11. ^ Alexander, Mookie (January 18, 2020). "The "Scorigami" Streak is Over for the Seahawks". Field Gulls. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  12. ^ "Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll Jokes about Scorigami: 'It's Something We've Been Working on in the Offseason'". National Football League. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  13. ^ Werle, Andy (September 10, 2020). "For 1st Time Since '99, a Score Not Seen Before". Major League Baseball. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  14. ^ Kahl, Jonathan D. W. (October 16, 2023). "Weathergami". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 104 (10): E1790–E1798. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0035.1. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  15. ^ Ingraham, Christopher (November 9, 2023). ""Weathergami" charts paint new portrait of Minnesota climate". Minnesota Reformer. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
edit