First let me congratulate Keith and Erik on the great job they've
done with their computer rankings...
 
NOW...
 
The connectivity stinks, which is not your fault guys... (gee, that's
big of you, they said)
 
What would really help put the computer rankings in perspective
would be some connectivity info... for example:
 
1. a 2D table showing interleague games BETWEEN LEAGUES...
 
2. Some sort of intra- vs. inter-league metric, such as
pct. of intra- vs. inter-league games
 
3. the same 2D table as in 1., but by team...
 
4. the computer ranking algorithm applied just within each league
just to interleague games...
 
5. Some sort of "sensitivity" study, giving greater and lesser
weight to the connective material (the inter-league games)
 
I would like to think we, the "knowing", keep these rankings in
perspective, but numbers like the above are a strong reality check...
 
MAYBE...
 
because of this "lousy" connectivity, we, the "knowing", should be
discussing a set of qualitative metrics that should be used in
order to keep the qualitative polls "honest" (which they seem to
be doing a good job of already...)
 
Go Blue (and as long as Maine keeps blowing away the opposition
in the ratings, you'll get no argument from me...)
Larry Latour
UMaine