Friday, November 13, 2009
Chicagoland / Sports Lies, Damned Lies, and Night-Game Statistics
Posted by Whet Moser on 11.13.09 at 01:22 PM
Honestly, I didn't wake up this morning expecting to spend the day sort-of defending Jay Cutler, but justice demands it. David Haugh:
Between now and the evening kickoff Nov. 22 against the Eagles, can the Park District petition to close Soldier Field after dark so the game can be played at noon? We can call it the Cutler Decree.He is worse at night than a solar watch.
This was mentioned last night during the game or in the aftermath. So I checked his career split stats for day/night QB rating:
09: 80.8/59.9
08: 83.0/103.3
07: 81.9/105.3
06: 93.2/62.3
Career: 83.2/90.5
The problem, clearly, is not that he's bad at night, but that he's bad at night in years divisible by three.
Worth a read: the S-T's Brad Biggs does a fair pick-by-pick analysis of Cutler's very bad night.
Update: Rick Morrissey, in an otherwise reasonable article:
If somebody can explain why he plays poorly in night games, the Bears would love to hear from you. From his four-interception game in Green Bay to his two-interception struggles in Atlanta to Thursday's head scratcher, the guy seems to have an aversion to the darkness. I say this because he has taken to wearing a garland of garlic around his neck.
CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION. I AM GETTING THAT TATTOOED TO MY FOREHEAD.
Comments (2)
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Your fact-based observations will not be tolerated by the mainstream Chicago media.
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I stopped reading pretty much every sports columnist years ago. By and large, they have never cared the slightest bit about whether their arguments are based on facts or even whether they make sense. They figure that as long as they can come up with clever phrases and that they can tap into the anger and/or conventional wisdom of the fans then they will be popular. And unfortunetely, to a certain extent they are right. I'm sure there are some good ones. I think Rick Talender is pretty reasonable. The little I have read of Rick Morrisey indicates he might be as well. But I long ago lost patience reading all the crap from the bad columnists to really pay attention to whether there might be someone in the sports section worth reading.
