How’s This for a Coincidence?

I was on an airplane yesterday, and when I landed I saw that there were about 4 million e-mails on my Treo. This meant, I figured, that Levitt had run some kind of quiz on the blog. And indeed he had — this one, asking what his wife and LeBron James had in common.

The airport I landed at was Cleveland (where James plays for the Cavaliers), and from there I traveled by car to give a lecture at the University of Akron. Akron used to be best known for rubber manufacture; these days, it is best known as the hometown of … LeBron James.

So how weird is that? I had never before been to Akron in my life. Now, on the very day I go there, the quiz question on our blog concerns a man whose name has never before been mentioned on our blog, but who comes from Akron.

This struck me as especially weird considering that Levitt blogged just the other day about the improbability of two events: Florida beating Ohio State in this year’s NCAA football and basketball championships, and the economists Emily Oster and Josh Levin growing up on the same block.

Anyone care to calculate the odds on the Akron connection?