Salary Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Salary Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Salary Survey data.

It's finally time to put the Big Data Salary Survey from our summer issue to bed. We've sliced and diced the information that came in, and viewed it from this angle and that. There's almost certainly more that we could do, but time marches on, and it's already October, and there's a new issue of the magazine and a new survey to consider.

So this is one of those grab-bag posts where we gather up a few odds and ends (usually data from the Not-So-Serious section of the survey) and present them for your amusement and (ideally) appreciation. And speaking of amusement and appreciation, one of the pastimes the provides both for many individuals is watching professional sports.

(It's probably worth noting that the first definition of "amuse" in most English dictionaries is "to hold the attention of (someone) pleasantly; entertain or divert in an enjoyable or cheerful manner." Although, yeah, we wouldn't have had to mention that if fewer people thought first of the "to cause mirth, laughter, or the like, in" definition.)

Believe it or not, even some in the IT crowd enjoy professional sports spectating. Although, yeah, we wouldn't have put it quite that way if there weren't a notable group that doesn't seem to have much use for professional sports. (Or at least not for professional sports dominated by American leagues and teams.) Here's how things turned out:

Question: The pro sports acronym that mater most to me is:

Aren't these all American sports leagues? What about the rest of the world? — 34.7 percent
I don't sports. — 22.8 percent
NFL (National Football League) — 11.9 percent
NBA (National Basketball Association) — 8.9 percent
MLB (Major League Baseball) — 8.9 percent
NHL (National Hockey League) — 5.9 percent
ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) — 5 percent
MLS (Major League Soccer) — 1 percent
PGA (Professional Golfers' Association) — 1 percent

On a separate note, we also asked survey respondents a general health and fitness questions. In many first-world nations, and especially in the United States, public health analysis has been literally weighed down for decades now by runaway obesity. Whether stemming from poor nutrition, lazy eating habits, or some combination of these and other factors, weight is a problem.

Part of the problem is a question of perception. If people don't believe that they are overweight to begin with, then they are almost certainly less likely to pursue any weight loss course of action that could otherwise improve health and wellness. Now, in the absence of any direct information about people's actual weight, there's not much value in knowing what they think about it.

On the other hand, there is a lot of general data about what people actually weigh. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States found in 2013 and 2014 that 38 percent of U.S. adults are obese, and that a further 33 percent are overweight. In light of that sobering data, here's what we learned from survey respondents:

Question: How comfortable are you with your current weight?

I could stand to lose a few pounds. — 40 percent
Entirely comfortable — 35 percent
I gotta get things under control. My diet starts next week! — 8 percent
Deeply uncomfortable — 8 percent
I am the picture of health. Why worry about what I weigh? — 6 percent
No one lives forever. Why worry about what I weigh? — 3 percent