This information was always apparent. It existed in plain sight. But random sampling of the bouts might have failed to reveal it. Even though it relied on basic statistics, without knowing what to look for, one would have no idea what sample to use. In contrast, Levitt and his colleague uncovered it by using a far larger set of data—striving to examine the entire universe of matches. An investigation using big data is almost like a fishing expedition: it is unclear at the outset not only whether one will catch anything but what one may catch.