Journalism

Input versus Output: An Ongoing Battle that No One Knows About

Garret Hohl NHL Topical Analysis Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

http://xkcd.com/904/

XKCD comics is written by Randall Munroe, a physicist who probably doesn’t know what  hockey underlying numbers (ie: #fancystats or advance statistics) even are, let alone supports them… yet – for the most part – he gets it.

Mainstream sports commentary is full of poor analysis when it comes to using numbers appropriately. Most of this comes from a lack of understanding between the difference between inputs versus outputs and how much a player can control certain factors. (It should be noted that this is a broad generalization; not everyone falls into this category).

Benjamin Wendorf displayed a bit of these factoids in his recent article Why The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell is Wrong About Alex Ovechkin, but Campbell still didn’t get it.

What happened:

For those that do not know, here is a quick summary of Campbell’s article:
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Journalism in the Prairie Provinces: Gary Lawless Goes for Dustin Byfuglien’s Jugular

Benjamin Wendorf NHL Topical Analysis Tags: , , , , 7 Comments

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Photo by John Slipec, via Wikimedia Commons

In case you missed it at 1 am this morning, Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press decided to add to a chapter in his future collection, Gary Lawless Gets Tough – Online Version (CD of Lawless Gets Tough – Radio Version coming soon!), by declaring Claude Noel needs to reduce Dustin Byfuglien’s minutes. The chapter, titled “Black Players,” is the longest of the book, filled with relentless reminders of how the players in-question aren’t anything like Gary Lawless.

The spark for the uproar, uproar being a requisite thing in the sports talk world where blowhards and mittenstringers are made to look hard-hitting and important, was an admittedly bad weekend for Byfuglien, who made a few costly errors that contributed to Jets losses. I get that “admission” from Byfuglien himself, as he’s quoted in the Lawless column: “Not playing my top. Something I have to figure out myself. Slow down and play the game I should be. Keep it simple. I might be playing a little too fast for myself right now. Tighten it up.”

That explanation, for Lawless, is “a refusal to be responsible with the puck.” But that’s just the beginning.

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