The Perfect Improper Percentage

Sports coaches and players are fond of announcing that they'll "give 100%" in their upcoming match.

The 100% figure used to be consistent. However, inflation, oneupmanship and globalisation have resulted in a variety of figures now being used, with 100% and 110% being the most popular, but ranging as high as 1,000%, with even the occasional 1,000,000% being promised.

Pedants quibble that it's impossible to give more than 100%, and that sportsmen who claim they'll do so are talking out of their gluteal cleft.

Yet they haven't considered the possibility that the act of uttering such powerful statements as, "Yeah, Brian, well, obviously, we're gonna go out and, like, give it 110%, you know?" fuel the speakers with such added desire and willpower that they actually become capable of giving more than they could otherwise have. Or perhaps it's the reverse - if a coach promises his team will give "a billion per cent," his players' laughter and disbelief might actually impair their performance.

I propose to create a computer program that searches online media and other websites for examples of the Improper Percentage used in a sports-related context. The percentages proffered are then compared with the results of the matches in question.

The results will allow us to establish what the ideal percentage is, what a sports player or coach should offer in order to achieve maximum sporting success.

Future studies will extend our findings into the fields of business and politics.