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.
But who is an Absolut magician?
Welcome to Troy ... or Troy Nunes ... or Troy Nunes is ...
Welcome to the new SBN blog.