I like them.  I always have liked them.  I used to keep stats for Little
League, wiffleball, golf, sex, grades, time to drive to work, you name
it, I kept it.  I'm happy to see stats quoted in the UPA finally, but I
am a little worried that there may be too many meaningless numbers
tossed around, thereby scaring people off.  Nobody is interested in
hearing how this baseball player is batting on Thursday in cities that
are also state capitals when they just played a lefthander the day
before, because we all realize that that stat means nothing.  Even
useful stats often get buried underneath a pile of background noise.  To
take an example from the recent UPA Newsletter, offensive efficiencies
were given for each team.  This didn't consider whether it was the
defensive squad out there, whether they were going up or downwind, who
they were playing, etc.  If a team has a defense that has trouble
scoring, then their overall offensive efficiency is hurt by that, even
if they score every time they receive the pull.  Additionally, the
offense is more likely to have to try to score upwind if the defense
allows the other team to score upwind.  I've tried to address some of
these concerns by breaking down the Nationals stats based on whether the
<a href="offense.stat"> offensive </a> or the <a href="defense.stat">
defensive </a>team started the point.  Even there is much meaningless
info, but some teams could find some use from it.  For example, looking
at columns A and D in the defensive stats, I see that Rhino had a
respectable overall defensive efficiency but did significantly worse at
preventing the other team from scoring that point.  To them I would
suggest putting in more offensively minded players on their defense so
they can score once they get a turnover.  The best defense in the world
is no good if they can't score.  Anyway, if you have any suggestions on
stats you would like to see, let me know.<p>
<p>
<a href=stats.html> Back to stat page.</a><p>