Most worthless stat in sports?

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

Slightly worse than GWG. The +/- stat in hockey measures a player individually but is really an indication of the entire line of players on the ice, not just that player's individual performance.

I hate +/-.

While I will agree it is flawed, itself better than GWG.

The flaw with +/- is using it across teams, rather than comparing players on the same team.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Only semi-related, but a good example of ridiculous stats.

Last night, Carolina brings in goalie Mike Murphy late in the third period while trailing Calgary 6-3. It's 6-4 when he ends up getting pulled for an extra attacker with a minute left. The Flames score an empty netter to make it 7-4. Carolina then almost pulls off the miracle comeback, scoring twice in the final minute. Final score is Calgary 7, Carolina 6.

The end result: Because of the comeback, the Flames' seventh goal (into an empty net) becomes the "winner". And because Murphy was the goalie of record, he takes the loss even though he was on the bench when it was scored.

The kicker is that it was his NHL debut, making him the first (and let's just assume only) goalie in NHL history to lose a game before ever giving up a goal.

This is wonderful. The only other scenario I can think of where that could happen is a first-appearance goalie who carries a shutout into the shootout and loses there.

[Logan]

We talked about this in the MLB thread, but virtually every "most career/4th highest/top 10 XXs in postseason history" stat is worthless by way of the changes in the number of potential games played over the years.

[BYU 14]

Quality starts in Baseball for sure, time of posession in Football, +/- in hockey and laps led in racing.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Quality starts in Baseball for sure, time of posession in Football, +/- in hockey and laps led in racing.

Thread title says "sports".

[korme]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

So a pitcher losing 1-0 deserves the L? A pitcher loses 10-0 but all the runs are unearned and he still deserves the L?

those are not the case of a pitcher sucking, the great adjective i used to describe that situation

[korme]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

                POS MIN  FG-FGA  FT-FTA  3P-3PA ORB-TRB AS ST BL TO PF  TP
Earl,Acie         C  44  13-23   14-19    0- 1    4-12   3  0  2  6  3  40

this is real? there was a game in which Acie Earl took 23 FGs and dropped a 40-12? The Bucks go wild

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by korme

this is real? there was a game in which Acie Earl took 23 FGs and dropped a 40-12? The Bucks go wild

Indeed. December 4, 1996. A dark, dark day for mankind.

04/12/1996 NBA Box Score at BOS - basketballreference.com

As a side-note (and the only reason I'm aware of this game), Acie Earl was like Shaq in his brief time downunder.

[AgustusM]

ALL of them

Statistics in sports generally suffer from low sample size, lack of context, and are considerably influenced by team, weather, coaching, style, etc, etc.

Some measures make sense - a basketball player who scores 25 points a game is probably better then one who scores 5 points and game. But to say a guy who averages 25.3 is better then a guy at 23.4 is absurd and doesn't take into account all of the above factors.

Likewise a RB who gains 1,500 yards is better than a guy at 500 - but again 1,500 compared to 1,300 doesn't tell you much.

I do understand we need something to help us understand what has happened in all of these games we never saw - but I believe as a sports culture we have gone way overboard in using numbers in an attempt to justify our inherent biases.

Now excuse me while I go check the PER numbers on the latest CP3 to the Warriors rumor while I pour over the box scores from one of my many text sims.

[Groundhog]

Drew Gooden proves your point. I remember when the Cavs got him I hadn't seen much of him at all and looked at the numbers he had put up, and I was excited. Now it still puzzles me at times how a guy can score and rebound like he often does and still hurt his team on both ends of the court at such a high and consistent rate.

Then he gets traded to the Bulls, their fans get excited, and so on and so on.

[Neon_Chaos]

PPG/48min

[stevew]

Defensive Rebounds are pretty questionable as a stat. It's pretty close to the quintessential "getting a stat for something you're supposed to do" stat. You want credit for that?

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by LastWhiteSoxFanStanding

A quality start is 6 IP 3 ER which equals a 4.50 era.

I've read a lot of analysis on this and the reality is rarely does a guy go 6 IP with 3 ER. As a rule, the teams and pitchers who have the most quality starts are the best in the game. And the guy with a 4.5 ERA doesn't have a lot of quality starts. When you look at quality starts stats, you can see certain things that jump out quickly.

For example, the Pirates finished with the 17th best ERA in the game last year. They had only 78 quality starts (average in baseball was 87) That tells you that those 78 quality starts were REALLY good. And when they didn't get that quality start, they were incredibly poor.

Texas finished 13th in MLB in ERA, but had 99 quality starts. The staff kept them in most games, which is all they really needed with that offense.

[CraigSca]

Any stat that doesn't provide context.

For instance, they'll sometimes post a stat like, "The Colts are 1 for 5 this year when going for it on 4th down." Is that good? Is that bad? Let me know what the median is for the league so I can at least put the thing in context.

Also, "loaded" statistics, like the inevitable, "The Stink Rats are 15-1 when Joe Runningback runs for 100 yards are more." This is useless because the statistic itself is influenced by what it's trying to measure.

[Danny]

Home Runs

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Logan

Thread title says "sports".

Angry NASCAR fans in 3, 2

[EagleFan]

Drunk NASCAR fans in 3..2..

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Drunk NASCAR fans in 3..2..

What is the alternative?

[Young Drachma]

WAR.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Indeed. December 4, 1996. A dark, dark day for mankind.

04/12/1996 NBA Box Score at BOS - basketballreference.com

As a side-note (and the only reason I'm aware of this game), Acie Earl was like Shaq in his brief time downunder.

Ollie Miller, Acie Earl, Pervis Ellison ... wow, it's like the Convention of Pretty Crappy Centers I Still Watched and Cheered For From My Youth

[Groundhog]

Yah, looking at the lineups in that game, I mean... wow, what a dark era for the NBA.