Team Speed Kills: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Around SBN: Check out our NFL Scoreboard: scores, schedule and blogs Bar-right-arrows



The SEC on SBN // 11.14.08

Yeah, but overgeneralizations are a problem, too. hooper over at Rocky Top Talk presents a great breakdown on the difference between using statistics -- WARNING: INVOLVES NUMBERS -- and misusing statistics.

Remember, statistics tell you where to look, not what to conclude.

Try telling this to baseball sabermetricians, and you will be accused of wanting to manufacture runs, which is a mortal sin. Ah, but I'm overgeneralizing there, something that hooper (a blogger I like, by the way) would never ...

This is common with journalists and is usually a result of seeking a word limit or a quick turnaround on an article. The logistics of the profession often create pressure to skp over relevant pieces of information.

Look, I'm not going to try to defend the mathematical abilities of journalists. We are -- ahem -- somewhat limited in that regard. But, I think it's worth point out that some of us (self included) try to be a bit more careful when using numbers and try to fit caveats in where possible. (Or where not sliced by copy editors, which is another problem entirely.) If you don't at least try, I would argue you're not a good journalist. (It's also worth distinguishing between researchers that journalists quote and journalists themselves, but that's another discussion entirely.) Just a bit of sticking up for my profession; overall, it's a good piece.

Jarrett Lee, someone's on your side. If, by on your side, one means admitting that you were terrible but saying you could have some potential if the numbed brain of Ryan Perrilloux hadn't put you in this situation.

I'm not enjoying this because not only are the games not close this year, I don't enjoy watching Lee sink deeper into this pit of helplessness. It's like watching a guy's career go up in smoke in front of your eyes.

This is actually a very good question: When does throwing a guy to the wolves (and let's face it, SEC defenses are about as close to wolves as you can get) benefit a player and when does it hurt? The problem coaches have is that it has to be handled differently for each QB, and it's hard to tell if you've hit the right balance until it's too late.

Northeasterners play college football? Who knew? Not actually SEC-related, but SBN's newest college blog is Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, a Syracuse blog that your humble correspondent enjoyed even before it moved over to the network.

Nuneslogo_medium
But who is an Absolut magician?

Welcome to Troy ... or Troy Nunes ... or Troy Nunes is ...

Welcome to the new SBN blog.

0 recs | Comment 2 comments

Read Related

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Numbers tell you nothing on their own. It is your interpretation of them that gives them meaning. That’s why it’s not right to blame statistics, the proper route is to criticize interpretation of them.

Also, a lot of people also underestimate the relatively random nature of football and the fact that chance does play a big factor. Take Florida for instance – they are right at the top in turnover margin, having turned it over just eight times in nine games. Sounds great, they must never give games away!

Except that three of them came in the same game, and they were a prime factor in Florida losing. That kind of clumping can kill a team in a game, although clumping does make for some great cat litter.

by Year2 on Nov 14, 2008 8:25 AM EST   0 recs

Amen on the cat litter, my man

It’s the same way with penalties – it’s as well attested as anything can be that penalties are meaningless in the aggregate, but we’ve all seen how one false start can turn the result of a given game.

by peachy rex on Nov 14, 2008 6:04 PM EST to parent up   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the SEC

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Gabalogo2_small
Basketball Blogging?
Cigar_small
Welcome From Your Friends up North

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini


Managers

Gabalogo2_small cocknfire

Editors

Gator-f__custom__small Year2

14563741_small JCCW Jerry

Big_small Truth About It

Small ghostofchucky

ad

Site Meter