Semi-OT - Stats Chat

Submitted by canzior on

Any thoughts on which stats are the most meaningless in sports? Super Bowl victories for a qb?  Titles won in team sports perhaps? All star game appearances when voted on by the fans?

also/or

Are there any stats used in one sport that you'd like to see done in another?  (I'd like to see  WAR for football)

 

 

bluinohio

May 7th, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^

Any stat where they say something like, "he's the first player ever to score 40 points and grab 20 rebounds on the Monday after cinco de mayo, between the hours of 8 and 12 while there was a solar eclipse, in the modern era"

LSAClassOf2000

May 7th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^

As for baseball, I usually find such things - however meaningless - at least amusing or chuckleworthy, but when people say "in the modern era", THAT sets me off. I mean, the "modern era" started a century ago, so that makes it even more meaningless than it already was. 

NittanyFan

May 7th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^

anyone who watches the Celtics knows what I'm talking about.

Wins for pitchers - especially relief pitchers.  I don't think losses for pitchers are a completely useless metric though.

Punting average has to be the most useless statistic in football.  A simple average tells nothing about (1) return yardage and (2) field position at the time of the punt (all 45 yard punts are not equal).

reddogrjw

May 7th, 2018 at 5:26 PM ^

the people who point out Joe Montana went 4-0 or whatever in Super Bowls and this is somehow better than Brady's 5-3 because losing on a fluke pass to the NYG is worse than getting blown out 45-3 in the first round

Indy Pete - Go Blue

May 7th, 2018 at 5:34 PM ^

Historically, this has been a fun stat to document an outstanding all-around performance in a game. 

However, the stat hunting that we have seen in recent years for triple doubles has reached eye-rolling levels.  Watching star players play in the fourth-quarter of blowouts to try and get that 10th assist or rebound is getting old. I'm looking at you Russell Westbrook.

LBSS

May 8th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^

I was very pro-Westbrook-for-MVP last year because it's objectively rad and worth recognizing when a player does something that hasn't been done in 50 years. Like Miggy for MVP over Trout a few years ago when he won the Triple Crown. Sure, Trout was a better and more valuable player that year, but fuck that TRIPLE CROWN.

This year, shine wore off. Not sure why, really. It's not like players haven't been gunning for triple doubles forever whenever they get close. But I'm with you.

Monkey House

May 7th, 2018 at 6:47 PM ^

plus im not sure what a pump fake has to do with my take. if a running back goes back 5 yards, crosses the field to a open hole, he doesnt get credit for running back to the either side of the field.

ndekett

May 7th, 2018 at 6:21 PM ^

I think batting average is an outdated concept. If you want to know the expected bases gained in a particular at-bat, it's useless. If you want to know the probability of not getting an out in a particular at-bat it's not good at that either since it "thinks" walks just never happened, which is completely ridiculous.

jbrandimore

May 7th, 2018 at 8:21 PM ^

For those that dont pay attention, this stands for “Fielding Independent Pitching” the idea being that it gives a rating equivalent to ERA for pitchers that takes fielding out of the equation. The formula is: FIP = ((13*HR)+(3*(BB+HBP))-(2*K))/IP + constant You will note that in the denominator the IP appears. IP, or innings pitched can be expressed as IP=(strikeouts+outs recorded by fielding)/3 How the hell you can name a stat as fielding independent, yet have roughly 2/3rds of it value literally coming from that factor that is supposedly discarded is beyond me, but thats the stat I’m sick of.