Pattern Matching

[dr_tectonic]

I sometimes take online IQ quizzes, and there's this particular flavor of question that often shows up that asks: "which of the following 5 things doesn't belong?" These always bother me, because if you're good at finding patterns in things, you can find lots of ways in which 4 of the 5 match, so the question isn't so much about finding the mismatched item, as it is about reading the test designer's mind to figure out which mismatch they thought was obvious.

Anyway, I mention it because someone sent the following list to a mailing list I'm on today, asking which of the 5 doesn't belong:

> joe montana
> pele
> babe ruth
> tiger woods
> michael jordan

Among the answers that have been proposed, so far:

Babe Ruth -- he's dead.
Pele -- he's the only one with a one-word name.
Tiger Woods -- he plays golf, which only has one syllable.
(Golf is also the only listed sport without the word "ball" in its name, assuming you're an English-speaking non-American).
Tiger Woods -- he plays the only non-team sport.
Joe Montana -- he's the only one that wasn't clearly the best in his sport at his peak.
Babe Ruth -- he didn't have huge ad endorsements
Pele -- he's the only one who's not an American citizen.
Pele and Babe Ruth -- Montana, Jordan, and woods are all places.
Michael Jordan -- he's the only one with his own cologne. Or shoe line for that matter.

And the list goes on...