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Friday, December 31, 2010

The Stat Smacks

The UConn women were unbeaten in the last 90 games. Stanford ended that.

Some people, and by that I mean UConn coach Geno Auriemma, have been stomping around, upset that women aren't getting their due. Auriemma's team broke the UCLA men's team's record of 88 consecutive wins. The week they did, he demanded some R E S P E C T. "And all the miserable bastards that follow men's basketball and don't want us to break the record are all here because they're pissed," he said.

I wondered why the coach felt he needed to get that off of his chest. Probably he knows that it's hard for the men's basketball fan to respect Globetrotter-General type scores for most of UConn's schedule. Geno is thinking about a number; what about the championship in April?

A lot has been made of Tom Brady avoiding throwing a pick this season. He broke the all-time record for attempts without an interception. Having seen every New England game this season, I remember at least five catch-and-drop interceptions out of Brady's hand. The pick-less streak is more impressive on paper. Those dropped interceptions that left my mouth hanging were good fortune on Brady's part, not proof of his skill.

Then again, a dropped pick is meaningless. Almost only counts in horseshoes and nuclear weapons. I'm on the East Coast, and CBS usually shows Pittsburgh or New England on Sunday. That's it and that's that. They know what draws numbers, better than I ever will, and those two teams attract the people.

We like statistics. More than that. We simply like those numbers. Numbers can be dangerous. They don't lie. We do.