Cathy Hart wrote:
>
> Okay, beat me up as much as you like, but for me penalties ARE important.  It
> gives me a much more complete view of the game.  It's another factor in the
> picture that comes through from all the rest of the stats.
 
I'm sick of this argument -- if you guys want to continue to find
meaning in penalty stats, go ahead -- I think you are all barking up the
wrong tree.  As has been pointed out, a list of penalties can often be
more misleading than actually helpful.
 
> If I look down at
> the penalties and see, say,  5-5, then I can pretty well assume somewhere
> there were some even up calls, and if I see, say, 5-1, then it was either a
> homer or a fairly called game.
 
This is EXACTLY the kind of quantum leap of faith opinion that is being
made unnecessarily by a list of penalties.  First of all, you say either
"homer" or "fairly called" -- aren't these two totally opposite things.
So, by the list of penalties, you have determined that it's either black
OR white.  Great.  Been narrowed down a lot.
 
Second - to think for a second refs are homers, is another beauty I just
love hearing.
 
And how does an even amount of penalties assume there were calls made
just to even things up.  Seems like an incredible assumption if you
weren't at the game.
 
 
> I also believe firmly that you can get a
> pretty good idea who the aggressive players are for each team via this stat.
 
Or maybe just guys who take dumb penalties.  Or maybe guys who always
take the smart penalty -- or maybe a guy with a bad reputation but he's
not as bad anymore, but he still gets calls against because of his
reputation.  OR a million other things.
 
AW
 
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