On Wed, 13 Jan 1999, Paul Gentile wrote:
 
> Huh?
>
> Maine has won 14 of 16 games not decided by tie for a .875 winning
> percentage.
>
> Factor in a "half-win/half-loss" for each tie and it drops to .800. (I
> believe that this the common practice which consequently punishes winning
> teams for tying and benefits losing teams for ties)
>
> Princeton has won 11 of 15 games not decided by tie for a .733 winning
> percentage and with the common application to ties their percentage drops to
> .719.
 
 
 
I must disagree with Paul here.  A "Winning Percentage" should be a
"percent" of the total number of games that you "Win" (and hence "winning
percentage").  When we talk about "Unbeaten streaks" we are referring to
the number of games in a row in which a team has "not lost" which could
then include ties (see Maine's record this year for example with 4 ties).
 
There are times in any sport in which a coach/team should IMHO "Play for
the Tie", but I don't think it is reasonable to count ties in a "Winning
Percentage".
 
Marcus
 
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