Why you shouldn't utilize Tim Beckman logic, why Northwestern's defense is better than you think, why the broad claims we're reading about Minnesota aren't accurate, and why that still doesn't mean the Gophers will win big (or win at all).
UPDATE, 2:05 PM 10/7/14: The post was updated after it's initial posting to better identify the author of each of the articles I linked to. One additional update related to what one of the Inside NU writers meant with one of his quoted statements has also been included.
I must confess I've been left feeling a little confused this week. In a week where the cliche joke is to pretend we're all Ogre and scream NEEEEEEEEERDS really loudly (or perhaps more appropriately,communicate the same sentiment via GIF) I've watched the fans of the more exclusively academic collegiate sporting club go out and use Ogre math to validate their favorite team. What's even more baffling is that I don't think it's needed to make their case the result is that the good arguments get lost behind the bad ones.
At first this seemed to come from a rush of fan euphoria following two unexpected wins, so I wasn't too concerned. After all, we've all been there. Seriously, I'm pretty sure if you looked hard enough you could find examples of almost every fan and most fan bloggers ---myself included--- resorting to the "if only" line of thinking. In fact, I can guarantee I've used it in previous years to explain away problems against Iowa (#FREEFLOYD!). As someone who tries to look at evidence over "gut feelings" I'm not proud of that but I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen.
Nothing however, prepared me for the pairing of these two stories. (Click on the link below to read the rest.)
http://www.thedailygopher.com/2014/...tern-statistics-the-danger-of-acting-like-tim
UPDATE, 2:05 PM 10/7/14: The post was updated after it's initial posting to better identify the author of each of the articles I linked to. One additional update related to what one of the Inside NU writers meant with one of his quoted statements has also been included.
I must confess I've been left feeling a little confused this week. In a week where the cliche joke is to pretend we're all Ogre and scream NEEEEEEEEERDS really loudly (or perhaps more appropriately,communicate the same sentiment via GIF) I've watched the fans of the more exclusively academic collegiate sporting club go out and use Ogre math to validate their favorite team. What's even more baffling is that I don't think it's needed to make their case the result is that the good arguments get lost behind the bad ones.
At first this seemed to come from a rush of fan euphoria following two unexpected wins, so I wasn't too concerned. After all, we've all been there. Seriously, I'm pretty sure if you looked hard enough you could find examples of almost every fan and most fan bloggers ---myself included--- resorting to the "if only" line of thinking. In fact, I can guarantee I've used it in previous years to explain away problems against Iowa (#FREEFLOYD!). As someone who tries to look at evidence over "gut feelings" I'm not proud of that but I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen.
Nothing however, prepared me for the pairing of these two stories. (Click on the link below to read the rest.)
http://www.thedailygopher.com/2014/...tern-statistics-the-danger-of-acting-like-tim
