Comments on: SAGARIN IS POT-CLANGING INSANE

By: CNB

CNB — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:30:01 +0000

Apologies for the glancing reference to a different, hated sport around here, but this does also seem to explain another group that is often reviled for their valuing system: http://www.baseballwriters.org/

By: sb

sb — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:21:43 +0000

kernel @ #20…touche! But if you’re gonna be a dork, be a good, well used one. I hope, for your sake, that you have attained that honor.

Ladies and gentlemen, at 4:20 est, it is martini time. May yours be crisp, well-shaken and satisfying. Go Gators!

By: cbd

cbd — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:06:52 +0000

The real insanity here is Sagarin’s strength of schedule rankings. No frickin’ idea where those numbers come from.

By: Rawk

Rawk — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:01:54 +0000

@19, ten-minute time out for intelligent discourse. Go listen to a PTI podcast and come back here in a more drone-like and agreeable mood.

So JMU is #25 in the official BCS Sagarin rankings? They are one other computer putting them in the top 25 away from appearing in a hypothetical list of BCS also receiving points teams? Freaky. I refuse to believe that my brother’s alma mater has a football team that belongs on a list that I want to see my team on.

By: DC Trojan

DC Trojan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:29:14 +0000

kernel @ 20 – you intrepid ibex, you.

By: Larry Langolier

Larry Langolier — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:25:02 +0000

If your point of reference is the Earth, then the sun does indeed revolve around the Earth.

By: Ears Whitworth

Ears Whitworth — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:01:13 +0000

@18: Wilbon isn’t an AP voter. The Post doesn’t allow its sportswriters to vote on any awards or in any polls.

By: Kernel

Kernel — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:44:22 +0000

sb @10

Not a kid . . . just marginally less a dork than you, apparently.

By: DC Trojan

DC Trojan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:32:38 +0000

@ meatybob – much as I would like to offer a snappy comeback, it has to be said: Wilbon doesn’t know shit about college football. Admittedly, he’s starting with a handicap of having gone to Northwestern, but still.

As for the computers, I think it’s this: voters are inept because they are trying to come up with a quantitative ranking system against several small non-comparable populations – it’s statistically impossible. Software based ranking systems do the same thing faster with better data recall. The problem is trying to bring statistical rigor where it can’t be applied (see, most statistical studies in the social sciences…)

By: meatybob

meatybob — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:44:11 +0000

All in all, is the Sagarin rating system really any worse than AP voter Michael Wilbon, who said that USC is the best looking 1-loss team in the country, even after the offensive abortion that was USC vs. Arizona. I don’t think he even bothers watching football, he already knows it all.

In sum, its not that the machines don’t suck, its just that the voters are really no better.

By: yoyofutbawl

yoyofutbawl — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:40:29 +0000

I think we should lock Time Cube guy in a room with Cap’n Leach for an hour. Birds of a feather.

By: KYGator

KYGator — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:13:21 +0000

What would happen if you locked the Time Cube guy in a room with the Fixed Earth guy? I believe that their debate would be resolved, because either the universe would implode or Armageddon would occur.

By: now_a_hoo

now_a_hoo — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:07:03 +0000

You know how we know ND would “crush” JMU? Because of all the non-crap teams ND has beaten this year.

By: Saltbagel

Saltbagel — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:00:58 +0000

Actually those are the ratings that Sagarin himself doesn’t believe in. The blue ratings are the ones he believes in, which are based very heavily on margin of victory, and are the ones he uses to handicap. There are still some strange results, but they generally make more sense.

The red ratings are the ones that the BCS forces him to use, because they don’t allow the computer ratings to factor in scoring. The purple ratings are a synthesis of the two.

The real Sagarin ratings would have JMU as a 3 point dog to the Golden Pears.

By: Mich-Placed Gators

Mich-Placed Gators — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:47:11 +0000

You mean there’s actually people out there that think the earth is MOVING and NOT FLAT?

Idiots….everyone can see it’s flat, and can you feel it moving? NO

DUH….stupid people amaize me