Stats section working
(Written by kencraw)
Just an FYI that the stats section is working. It wasn’t working right away because the place I get my stats from changed their formatting and I had to rework my scripts to parse everything differently. Now I have to do some additional future proofing work, as well.
For those who haven’t used it, the reason I do my own stat page is because I get opponent stats for comparison’s sake. So, let’s say you’re looking at, oh I don’t know, Nevada, and you want to know whether their nation leading 592 yards a game is impressive. Or perhaps the Bears nation leading defensive yards. How do we know if it’s meaningful?
Well one way is to see how many yards Nevada and Cal’s opponents have been giving up or putting up respectively. When you see that Nevada’s opponents are giving up nearly 500 yards a game, it takes a little bit of the heft out of their stats, as for that matter does the fact that Cal’s opponents are only gaining 209 a game.
Really these stats mean more 4+ weeks in when there are more opponent numbers to balance things out, but even now, it gives a comparison point, albeit a bit weak, to work from.
Check it out by clicking on the “Stats” link on the header or going to http://excusemeformyvoice.com/statistics
September 16th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
You know, I’ve seen that stats tab, but I’ve never checked it out before. It’s a very cool feature!!
One thing: it appears you first developed this back in 2007, because your introductory write-up indicates the 2007 season and how proud you were that there were only two I-AA opponents on the Pac-10 schedule “this year”.
Perhaps while you’re proofing all your scripts, a little updating in the text is in order?
Outdated intro aside, I appreciate the ability to get a truer indication of what the stats mean and where we stand up against our opponents.
This site just keeps getting better!
September 16th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
You’d think that it wouldn’t take 3 years for someone to notice that the dates/text are out of date. š
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve already fixed it.
September 17th, 2010 at 5:53 am
Very nice feature. I’m a stats junkie, too. I believe that all analysis should start with looking at the numbers and then adding in subjective issues.
This is very true of economics. Unfortuntely, our political system undervalues real facts shown through statistics. It’s amzaing how economists have been so quiet during the recession.
If the political media would use stats as much as sports junkies do, our economy would be much better.