I think it was about fifteen years ago or so that scoreboards for major sporting events here in the US started displaying the tenths of a second during the final minute of play. Given all the difficulty in determining final-second plays (and the advent of instant replay rules), this was a pretty wise decision.

However, nearly every scoreboard I have seen has the same flaw to it. When these scoreboards get down to the final minute, they display "1:00" for a second, then switch to "59.9" after that second is up. There's actually a whole nine-tenths of a second added to the game at this point. The scoreboard should either flash "1:00" for a tenth of a second and then go to "59.9," or it should stay at "1:00" for a second and then drop to "59.0." (The scoreboard at Maple Leaf Gardens did the latter, making it the only scoreboard I know of that got it right.)

I realize that nine-tenths of a second isn't exactly a large period of time, and that human error in starting and stopping the scoreboard at referees' signals probably causes more variance in a period of any given game than the nine-tenths of a second. Still, for all of the games that have been played since scoreboards started counting tenths of a second, you have to believe that at least a handful of games have had different outcomes than they would have if the scoreboards counted the time properly. More to the point, I kind of worry that children watching sports on television could get an incorrect idea of the passing of time by having this gaffe occur on nearly every televised sporting event.

Comment by  joepet at 22/2/07 17:55:
How do you know that the scoreboard doesn't flash to 1:00 when the time is actually 1:00.9? Perhaps the start time (20:00 for NHL hockey I believe?) is only displayed for a tenth of a second before moving to 19:59? (which would actually be 19:59.9 when the display switches)

 

Comment by  Sean at 22/2/07 18:37:
Joe: The problem with that possibility is that, from the looks of things (again taking the NHL as an example), at least a whole second passes between when the puck is dropped and when the scoreboard drops to 19:59. However, the possibility exists that it really IS just a tenth of a second passing, and that the extra time is simply human error on the part of the person who starts and stops the time on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately, since the display only flips over to showing tenths of a second in the final minute (showing seconds where the minutes used to be and the tenths where the tens digit of the seconds was), it's not possible to tell exactly. You may be right, though.

 

Comment by  joepet at 22/2/07 20:29:
I suppose if they really wanted to improve time keeping, they could set up a sensor that would automatically start the click when the puck hit the ice, and stop the clock when the ref blows a whistle set to a certain frequency. But the selling point in sports is not pinpoint accuracy, but the human element. They could probably eliminate fighting if they gave the instigator a red card and forced his team to play short handed for the rest of the game...but would the popularity of hockey increase if fights no longer took place?

I would guess that the controversies that arise over any timekeeping issues ultimately keep people more emotionally vested in hockey, and thus ultimately keep more fans and bring in more revenue for the NHL.

 

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