Quote:
|
*EDIT* Upon further reflection, I now wonder how useful it is to be both a competent observer of the sport and a trained statistician. I am now starting to think that certain benefits would follow from an entirely blind system of data processing. How much does one's own expectations and intuitions actually interfere with statistical results?
|
That's the rub and explains why there's such an acrimonious debate over using statistics in hockey among alot of fans. Stats try to remove bias from the interpreter. All of the best analysts I read try their best to let the numbers talk to them before their eyes. This is anathema to many observers like Simmons and alot of fans who want to construct narratives about teams, players, systems, coaches to weave an understanding of the game.
I would tell you though that no analyst would be hired to a team if he wasn't first a numbers interpreter and second a story teller. Anyone with an iota of understanding of the value of statistics wouldn't make that first fundamental mistake.