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This past Friday, after witnessing a disappointing glut of English wickets leaving our ashes hopes hanging by a thread I texted the #sportsvizsunday team to vent my frustrations. "How can we let so many opportunities pass us by?" was the general theme. Well, a Friday afternoon of hitting by Mark Wood and Ben Stokes and then a gloomy Saturday evening with some exceptional bowling has once again given England an opportunity to win a test match that some (including me) thought impossible at one time. Will they? With this series, who knows? What I am fairly certain will happen is that we will lose early wickets, then form a partnership to get us close to the target, and then? Well, who knows?
Before that excitement and the fortnightly Max Verstappen procession (also known as the F1 World Championship: British GP edition) take place, let us turn our attention to this weeks round-up.
We are deep in the middle of the Tour De France and while it's not an event I follow closely I have the hugest amount of admiration for the competitors and teams in this hugely strategic and captivating spectacle. To celebrate, Tableau has pulled together a collection of cycling vizzes. There are some absolute stunners here, well worth a look.
And continuing with "the tour" the team at Flourish has visualised the various altitudes for each of the 21 stages. While the red stages look especially daunting, having 30 exceptionally difficult climbs is really going to stretch even the toughest riders. Stage 7 looks to be about my level!
While the 4th of July is arguably most renowned for American independence it also marks the annual Nathan's hot dog eating contest. Curiously, two of our regular #sportsvizsunday participants have visualised this annual event. First up, Zach Bowders has chosen to focus on how the competition has evolved, looking back at past champions and visualising how the metrics Hot Dogs Consumed By Minute have changed. Although, I have to confess, putting the buns in water and then 'drinking' them down doesn't sound like the nicest way to consume one.
Bo McCready chooses to look closely at the overall number of hot dogs (and buns) eaten. The colours and fonts used are right on point and as the number of hot dogs eaten continues to trend upwards we all must ask ourselves "what is the limit?". Currently at 76 in ten minutes (that's one every eight seconds!) will it go higher in future years?
Last up this week, if you haven't seen some of the stunning sports related designs being showcased at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance exhibition then do check out what's been coming out from their Twitter feed over the last week. One such example, shared by CJ takes a look at the Biathlon.
Finally, if you are into your tennis but always wondered how the scoring system and language originate then check out this thread from Kit Yates which explains all. Fascinating reading.
That's it for this week folks, enjoy whatever sport you manage to catch and I hope results go the way you hope.
Simon & the SportsVizSunday team