Scorigami
{{Short description|Previously unrecorded final score}}
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".|thumb|220x220px]]
{{use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/06/what-does-scorigami-mean/|title=What Does Scorigami Mean in the NFL and Where Does It Come From?|language=en-GB|date=September 6, 2021|access-date=June 27, 2022|work=HITC|first1=Joshua|last1=Rogers|location=United Kingdom}} 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; it has also been applied sparingly across other sports leagues.
Overview
In an 2014 article for SB Nation and subsequent 2016 YouTube video on their Secret Base channel, Jon Bois defined Scorigami as "the act, and art, of producing a final score in a football game that has never happened before."{{cite web |last1=Bois |first1=Jon |title=Chart Party: Exploring 'scoragami,' the art of inventing new final scores |url=https://www.sbnation.com/2014/9/8/6110147/pete-carroll-seahawks-scoragami-weird-nfl-scores |website=SB Nation |access-date=16 September 2024 |language=en |date=8 September 2014}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Molski |first1=Max |title=What is scorigami? Explaining the NFL scoring phenomenon |url=https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nfl/scorigami-explained-nfl-scoring-phenomenon/1780255/ |website=NBC Sports Bay Area |access-date=16 September 2024 |date=10 September 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Palattella |first1=Henry |title=What Is A Scorigami In The NFL Super Bowl? |url=https://www.forbes.com/betting/football/nfl/what-is-a-scorigami-in-the-super-bowl/ |website=Forbes |access-date=16 September 2024 |date=28 March 2024}} 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".{{cite web |last1=Pavlović |first1=Svetozar |title=What scores have never happened in the NFL? |url=https://en.as.com/nfl/what-scores-have-never-happened-in-the-nfl-n/ |website=AS USA |access-date=16 September 2024 |language=en-us |date=23 September 2023}} As an example, the Seattle Seahawks' 43–8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII was a scorigami, as no prior NFL game had ever finished 43–8.{{cite web|url=https://www.gamingtoday.com/news/will-super-bowl-scorigami-happen-again/|title=Will Super Bowl Scorigami Happen Again?|language=en|date=January 31, 2019|access-date=December 14, 2020|work=Gaming Today|first1=Ched|last1=Whitney|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230823004352/https://www.gamingtoday.com/news/will-super-bowl-scorigami-happen-again/|archive-date=2023-08-23|url-status=deviated}}
Bois also notes in the 2016 video that American football is the largest sport in the U.S., and perhaps the world, where unique scores still regularly occur, as the vast majority of common sports will only allow points to be scored one at a time, such as soccer, baseball, or hockey, or in much smaller multi-point increments as in the case of basketball. While still possible elsewhere, professional American football remains the most common place to see these unique scores.
Scorigami tracking is also done for American college football. Multiple issues affect scorigami tracking in the college game, including a much longer history, disparity in team quality, and changes in scoring systems in the earliest decade of the sport, which means that the range of scorigamis is much broader, including a 222–0 football game and several 1870s and 1880s games in which the losing team scored one goal, something that has never happened (and, for some score combinations, is mathematically impossible) in the NFL.{{Cite web |title=College Football Scorigami |url=https://cfbscorigami.com/home/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=cfbscorigami.com}}
Since the term's inception, a Twitter bot has tracked scorigamis in the NFL.{{cite web|url=https://hackaday.com/2020/01/22/scorigami-bot-charts-nfl-history-in-the-making/|title=Scorigami Bot Charts NFL History In The Making|language=en-US|date=January 22, 2020|access-date=December 14, 2020|work=Hackaday|first1=Lewin|last1=Day}} Bois and other media observers noted the tendency of the Seattle Seahawks under former head coach Pete Carroll to create scorigamis;{{cite web|url=https://www.fieldgulls.com/2022/10/2/23384033/seahawks-rediscover-the-art-of-scorigami-nfl-stats-jon-bois|title=Seahawks Rediscover the Art of Scorigami|language=en|date=October 2, 2022|access-date=October 2, 2022|work=Field Gulls|first1=Mookie|last1=Alexander}} Bois dubbed Carroll "the wizard of modern Scorigami, without question".{{cite web|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2016/12/7/13856392/chart-party-scorigami|title=Chart Party: Scorigami, or the Story of Every NFL Final Score that has Ever Happened|language=en|date=December 7, 2016|access-date=December 20, 2020|work=SB Nation|first1=Jon|last1=Bois|author1-link=Jon Bois}} From 2011 to 2018, the Seahawks had exactly one scorigami per season.{{cite web|url=https://seahawkswire.usatoday.com/2018/12/03/seahawks-continue-bizarre-scorigami-streak-under-pete-carroll/|title=Seahawks Continue Bizarre 'Scorigami' Streak Under Pete Carroll|language=en-US|date=December 3, 2018|access-date=December 14, 2020|work=USA Today|first1=Kole|last1=Musgrove}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fieldgulls.com/2020/1/18/21072023/scorigami-streak-seattle-seahawks-nfl|title=The "Scorigami" Streak is Over for the Seahawks|language=en|date=January 18, 2020|access-date=December 14, 2020|work=Field Gulls|first1=Mookie|last1=Alexander}} 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."{{cite web|url=https://www.nfl.com/videos/seattle-seahawks-head-coach-pete-carroll-jokes-about-scorigami-it-s-somet-287701|title=Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll Jokes about Scorigami: 'It's Something We've Been Working on in the Offseason'|language=en|access-date=December 20, 2020|work=National Football League}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/marlins-braves-first-mlb-game-with-29-9-score|title=For 1st Time Since '99, a Score Not Seen Before|language=en|date=September 10, 2020|access-date=December 14, 2020|work=Major League Baseball|first1=Andy|last1=Werle}} The 2024-25 NBA regular season featured 20 scorigamis, including a 145-111 win by the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Utah Jazz on April 11, 2025.{{Cite web |title=NBA Scorigami on X/Twitter |url=https://x.com/nba_scorigami_/status/1910900710889160980?s=46}}
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".{{cite journal |last1=Kahl |first1=Jonathan D. W. |title=Weathergami |journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society |date=16 October 2023 |volume=104 |issue=10 |pages=E1790–E1798 |doi=10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0035.1 |url=https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/104/10/BAMS-D-23-0035.1.xml |access-date=28 November 2023|doi-access=free }}{{cite news |last1=Ingraham |first1=Christopher |title="Weathergami" charts paint new portrait of Minnesota climate |url=https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/11/09/weathergami-charts-paint-new-portrait-of-minnesota-climate/ |access-date=28 November 2023 |work=Minnesota Reformer |date=9 November 2023}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l5C8cGMueY Every NFL Score Ever | Chart Party] on YouTube.
- [https://www.sbnation.com/2014/9/8/6110147/pete-carroll-seahawks-scoragami-weird-nfl-scores Chart Party: Exploring 'scoragami,' the art of inventing new final scores], a 2014 article.
- [https://www.sbnation.com/2016/12/7/13856392/chart-party-scorigami Chart Party: Scorigami, or the story of every NFL final score that has ever happened], a 2016 article.
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fetmw85jgiw Scorigami: Final Scores that Have NEVER Happened Before] by NFL Films, featuring Bois.
- [https://nflscorigami.com/ NFL Scorigami], a website tracking occurrences of Scorigami.