Stat-friendly and stat-unfriendly baseball writers

I said a sequence of events could lead to Florida making the title game. And the statistical possibilities weren't a stretch -- other than Auburn would have had to beat Alabama. But hell, Texas A&M went up 20-0 at Alabama so anything was possible. Washington beat Stanford. Weird shit happened this season.

This is the worst USC team I've ever watched. I don't care if they're 7-5 because it goes so much farther than the record or stats that suggest its better than any of Hackett's teams or whatnot. It's awful from the head coach to the awful discipline to the softest of underbellies I've ever seen from a Trojans team. So that's what I'm really saying when I say it's the worst team in 30 years.

Come on, boys, keep throwin' 'em my way. My PAPiP (Post Average for Posts in Play) is rising furiously tonight!

 

And yeah, I embiggened the greatness of Devean George!

I was wrong about Devean George

 

You just said: "it goes so much farther than the record or stats" - that means you're going completely with your gut. Worst team means worst team, and they weren't. Also, saying something will happen based on the possibility of weird shit happening is not the work of someone relying on quality statistical data. Your making sense average is falling quite precipitously.

 

Vlade Divac is better than Kevin Garnett.

 

No, I spelled out how a 1-loss Florida could make it to the title game over 2-loss Alabama and 2-loss Georgia. It's not like it was a 1 in a million longshot. I wasn't gutting out a Florida title game because I hate Florida.

And the first part of your response is exactly the problem with this discussion when it comes to your stats-gut perception.

USC scored 50-something on Oregon. Really? They gave up 60-something. Did you see who led America in penalties this season? That would be USC (and so many of them were of the sheer stupidity variety). Remember the sequence of plays Kiffin called on the goal line series against Notre Dame?

*That* is my statistical data every bit as much as the stats you hang onto (PPG, record, whatever) would suggest that it's not the worst USC team in 30 years. Because in the grand scheme of things, it's the same thing. That isn't my gut saying USC sucks. No, it's evidence saying USC sucked. Just not the evidence you think is legitimate.

Posted after JC: I'll still take Vlade. I'll never be wrong about that. You could have put (same age) Vlade onto that '08 team and the C's win the title.

 

I'm going to stop belaboring the point as your own posts stand up as solid arguments against your premise.

 

Garnett's defense was the key to that title. Divac can't spell defense. There is absolutely nothing Divac does better than Garnett. It is a ridiculous statement. Anyways we've gone through this before, no need rehashing it all

 

No, you're unwilling to see anything other than A-B-C. Is 7-5 worse than 4-8. No. Does that make you happy?

Great, record-wise 2012 USC was not the worst USC team in 30 years.

I'll also suggest you didn't watch more than 10 minutes of a USC game this season.

 

You would be wrong. But again, this is your eyes and your gut leading your argument - as usual. You can say you're a guy a big-time stat guy until your keyboard runs red, but it won't be the case.

 

How about putting your board membership at stake, needing Hawaii to beat Georgia in a BCS game in order not to take a six-month board vacation?

 

WTF is this thread about?

 

Says the guy (dre) who adamantly told me that I was wrong for saying UNC didn't rally from 27 down to 6 against Butler, only I told you it happened because I watched it happen, yet you still didn't believe me until I showed you the story -- only then you said you just didn't remember it happening.

The point being, I could write ABCD and you'd find a reason to say I wrote ABDC.

USC was lucky even to be 7-5 because 3 of those wins (Syracuse, Utah, Washington) weren't really secured till late -- and 4-8 was just around the corner. But that's just my gut speaking.

dooley: I had fun with that, but I factored in a few things to pick Hawaii: 1) 12-0 with Colt Brennan leading a high-scoring offense 2) It's Georgia we were talking about -- hadn't won shit since '80 and 3) It was the era when Boise was beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl and Utah was beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. There was some real legitimacy in western and mountain football those years.

LTL: It's about stats and guts and Vlade.