Recency Bias: The Bane of Sports

The old saying goes, "What have you done for me lately?" Often said in a joking manner, the implied meaning is that it doesn't matter what you did days, or weeks, ago. The only thing that matters is what you have just done.

This can often be defined as recency bias, which is simply defined as remembering something that happened recently and comparing it to something that happened farther in the past. It doesn't matter if the sample sizes are not equal. New is always better, and some cases can spell doom or gloom in regards to the future of a franchise in sports.

While NFL is an acronym for the National Football League, one of the sarcastic alternatives is Not For Long. When a new coach is hired to lead a franchise, it is often wondered if he will have enough time to turn a franchise around. A recent study showed that between the four major American sports showed the average years for coaches range from 2.1 to 3.4. There are outliers of course because not everyone is like Bill Belichick or Gregg Popovich. These two men have been with their respective franchises for a combined 41 seasons.

It can be a awfully daunting task for a new coach, or front office, to try to fix the mess of a franchise. More often than not the fruits of their labor will not be seen until their replacements are taking over.

The common fan will not know the names of Sashi Brown or Sam Hinkie. Who are they? The men led the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively, during disastrous times for the franchises. The Browns and 76ers seem to have righted the ship with hope replacing despair. Both turnarounds happened with them, but the likelihood of them getting credit is very little.

Some may call it unfair, but there are others who would argue the other side. The one whose opinion matters more than anyone else's is the owner. This person needs to know if they are getting a good return on investment.

Is 100 million+ dollars they are spending being used to build the right team? Is the team seeing more nationally televised and prime time games? Is the team making money?

The best question, that covers all others, is simple: Is the team a winner?

Let's face it, people love winners. Sure, there are the underdogs and some fans are die hard. Sure, you get exceptions to the rule.

For example, I have loved the Carolina Panthers since they first began play in 1995. I've supported this team through 1-15 in 2001, and 2-14 in 2010. I cried when they lost Super Bowl 38, and loved 2015.

I'm not the one owners want to attract. They want to attract the casual fan who keeps up with the team. They want to bring in new fans that live across the country and world. They even want to attract fans of franchises who are giving up because the one they pull for is stuck in a miserable cycle with no hope of getting out.

If this isn't happening, ownership inevitably will look for a fresh face that will attempt to right the ship. These positions are highly competitive. Across the 4 major American sports there are a combined 123 head coaching positions, with the NFL having the most at 32.

It's understandable how there can be a high turnover. Owners, and fans, are in a continual state of win-now mode. It doesn't matter what you did before. Signs of struggle and the seat starts to get warm.

This isn't just towards coaches and the front office. This can be directed at players too. 99% of the time, the frustration and demands for getting rid of a player come from the smartest people of all: Armchair GMs, aka the fans. These are people who believe they have a say in the roster moves of their beloved franchise. However, they have no say in the management, and thankfully they don't.

Why? Because these people only see the team from a distance. They don't handle day-to-day operations or know what is going on behind the scenes. They're basically sitting in a chair watching the game and thinking with emotions rather than logic.

I saw no better example of this than after the Panthers won Sunday. People were immediately jumping on the Kyle Allen bandwagon. A lot were ready to simply toss Cam Newton off to side and forget about him.

Why? Why would you want to get rid of arguably the best QB the Panthers have had in the 25 years of being a franchise? If you look at recent trends, it hasn't been pretty.

Going back into last season, the Panthers have been 0-9 with Cam as the starter. He's all but abandoned running, which made him one of the most exciting players in the league. Since injuring his shoulder last season, and foot in the preseason, Cam has noticeably been a shell of himself.

People fail to remember how he was having a career year last season before he injured his shoulder in Week 10. He still finished with a career best completion percentage at 67.9%. Before he aggravated his foot injury against Tampa Bay, where I think he fell trying to convert a 4th Down, Cam had completed seven of eight passes.

So, I can't see where the talk of Carolina finally having a QB that can throw the ball is coming from. I really don't care to speculate where the vitriol is coming out towards Newton.

I mean, no one talked about him being a bad QB as he led the Panthers to a 15-1 record, and trip to the Super Bowl in 2015. No one was talking about it as the Panthers were 6-2 going into the Week 10 match up against the Steelers.

No one wanted to talk about how he could simply be injured as the team struggled at the start of this year. He was a small dot in the rear window as Kyle Allen carried the Panthers to its first win of the season.

People need to understand Cam is the starting quaterback, and Allen is his backup. If Cam is 100%, I'm sure he'll be back to his ways of causing mayhem on the field. Allen, now has two starts in the NFL: against a team resting for the playoffs in 2017, and one of the worst defenses in the NFL that just had the first pick the NFL Draft.

I'm not a Cam apologist, nor an Allen hater. I mean, I've lived through seasons of Weinke and Clausen. I just want the Panthers to win. I've seen Cam do amazing things on the field, and Allen was awesome on Sunday, I didn't see it coming. So, whether it's a healthy Cam, or his backup Allen, I just want to see the team win. There is too much talent across the board.

With Cam battling a Lisfranc injury that will keep him out for an extended period of time, we'll get to see if Allen can continue what he did on Sunday. Few people remember how not many wanted him on the team due to his struggles during the preseason.

But, like I said, recency trumps anything else. Let's see what people are saying after Sunday's game at Houston.