10-02-2009, 08:40 AM
If stats told you everything you needed to know, there would be no need to play the games. We would have won the WS on paper in 2008.
No offense, KB, but I don't need to be told that I hate stats. I use them EVERY day in my job. I rely on them, but they only go so far because no formula is ever perfect. You have to take into account for the human element. These aren't robots we're observing.
Also, certain stats are wonderful for the hard sciences, but not so much when observing social sciences and sports. You have to have a healthy amount of skepticism regardless of whether people claim that their hypotheses are sound. Again, sports are not a hard science.
No offense, KB, but I don't need to be told that I hate stats. I use them EVERY day in my job. I rely on them, but they only go so far because no formula is ever perfect. You have to take into account for the human element. These aren't robots we're observing.
Also, certain stats are wonderful for the hard sciences, but not so much when observing social sciences and sports. You have to have a healthy amount of skepticism regardless of whether people claim that their hypotheses are sound. Again, sports are not a hard science.