Simple math can solve home run debate

[Bearcat729]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060530/cm_usatoday/simplemathcansolvehomerundebate;_ylt=ApAmLqFeY6vzEedK6l8rZHqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-

Opinion
Simple math can solve home run debate

Tue May 30, 6:44 AM ET

While Barry Bonds' accomplishments with a bat clearly rival Babe Ruth's, his boorish demeanor is more akin to the reviled Ty Cobb. With rumors of Bond's steroid abuse rampant, it appears as if he will never receive the recognition he thinks he deserves, especially if his records are saddled with the dreaded asterisk. Fortunately, I have a solution ("Passing Babe, even for No. 2, is a big deal," Sports, May 22).

Let's simply recalculate all records using a weighted multiplication system. To recognize that Bonds might have used chemicals to augment his batting achievements, we'll simply multiply his home run totals by 0.9. To acknowledge that Ruth achieved his numbers - despite battling multiple handicaps such as obesity, beer guzzling and womanizing - we would multiply Ruth's records by 1.1.

Ruth's single season home run record would rise from 60 to 66 home runs, while Bond's mark would fall from 73 to 65.7 homers. Mark McGwire's record of 70 homers would fall into the steroid-suspicion category, dropping him from second place to third with a single season mark of 63 home runs.

There have been rumors of steroid abuse swirling around Sammy Sosa, so his present third-best total of 66 might fall to fewer than 60 round-trippers.

Roger Maris, on the other hand, belted his 61 homers under crushing news media scrutiny. Under my new system of calculation, the unassuming Maris would reclaim the mantle of "Home Run King" with a new total of 67 homers, and without any need of an asterisk.

David G. Young, Glenshaw, Pa.

[Johnny Slick]

In 1997, Ken Griffey Jr. hit 56 homeruns. He played for the Mariners, which gives him an automatic multiplier in my rankings of 2.0. Therefore, Junior is the homerun record holder with 112! Take that, Bill James!

[rkmsuf]

I hit 12 softball homers in 3 games. Utitlizing factors to equalize baseball to softball and an 162 game schedule I would come in at 212 homers for a season. I am the homerun king. Hear me roar.

[st.cronin]

You guys drain all the fun out of everything.

[Karlifornia]

Ty Cobb=Barry Bonds? Time to Wikipedia the two side by side...I'm interested to see if that comparison holds up.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Evidently, simple math can make 61 > 60 > 73 > 70 > 66.

Given that, simple math clearly states that because more NFC teams played indoors than AFC teams in 1985, NFC teams are more accustomed to playing indoors. That means that the 1985 Bears had an unfair advantage over the Patriots by playing Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome. Therefore, to adjust for the NFC advantage, multiply the NFC team's score by 0.5. To adjust for the AFC disadvantage, multiply the AFC team's score by 2.8 (it's simple math, damn it!).

Congratulations to your NEW Super Bowl XX champions, the New England Patriots, as they actually defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 28-23.

[rkmsuf]

Evidently, simple math can make 61 > 60 > 73 > 70 > 66.

Given that, simple math clearly states that because more NFC teams played indoors than AFC teams in 1985, NFC teams are more accustomed to playing indoors. That means that the 1985 Bears had an unfair advantage over the Patriots by playing Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome. Therefore, to adjust for the NFC advantage, multiply the NFC team's score by 0.5. To adjust for the AFC disadvantage, multiply the AFC team's score by 2.8 (it's simple math, damn it!).

Congratulations to your NEW Super Bowl XX champions, the New England Patriots, as they actually defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 28-23.

Right but if you adjust for the stress of making The Super Bowl Shuffle it's a lot closer than that.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Right but if you adjust for the stress of making The Super Bowl Shuffle it's a lot closer than that.
OK, I'll give you 28-26. Kevin Butler missed the game-winning 35-yard field goal attempt when it fell short. He only kicked it 39 yards. You have to multiply the distance by 0.8 because, again, it was indoors.

[ISiddiqui]

OK, I'll give you 28-26. Kevin Butler missed the game-winning 35-yard field goal attempt when it fell short. He only kicked it 39 yards. You have to multiply the distance by 0.8 because, again, it was indoors.

:D

Classic

[MrBug708]

lol

Comedy. FOFC is on fire today

[rkmsuf]

OK, I'll give you 28-26. Kevin Butler missed the game-winning 35-yard field goal attempt when it fell short. He only kicked it 39 yards. You have to multiply the distance by 0.8 because, again, it was indoors.

Also of note should be an adjustment based on Jim McMahon accidentially seeing The Fridge naked with Steve Grogan the night before the game. These are complex calculations.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Also of note should be an adjustment based on Jim McMahon accidentially seeing The Fridge naked with Steve Grogan the night before the game. These are complex calculations.
Can I get a derivative over here?

[st.cronin]

Using nothing more than a compass and a piece of string, I have mathematically proven that Tom Brady is your daddy.

[MalcPow]

Evidently, simple math can make 61 > 60 > 73 > 70 > 66.

Given that, simple math clearly states that because more NFC teams played indoors than AFC teams in 1985, NFC teams are more accustomed to playing indoors. That means that the 1985 Bears had an unfair advantage over the Patriots by playing Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome. Therefore, to adjust for the NFC advantage, multiply the NFC team's score by 0.5. To adjust for the AFC disadvantage, multiply the AFC team's score by 2.8 (it's simple math, damn it!).

Congratulations to your NEW Super Bowl XX champions, the New England Patriots, as they actually defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 28-23.

I am multiplying the humor of this by .65 because it strips me of my one source of pride as a Bears fan.

[Karlifornia]

Well, I guess besides Cobb's excessive violence (including choking a woman and stabbing a hotel employee), Bonds does seem more like Cobb than Ruth.

An interesting aside is that I went to school up by where Cobb retired to, and actually went to school with who I guess was his great-grandaughter, Kathleen....

[MrBug708]

Kathy Cobb?

[rkmsuf]

Wouldn't it have been much easier to play/achieve records back in the Ruth/Cobb era?

I really can't stand Bonds but today it is much more difficult to exist as a pro athlete.

Just based on the video and coverage I'd wager both Ruth and Cobb would find it impossible to be a player nowdays and that would have adversely affected career totals.

It pains me to make this point but it seems true.

[Fidatelo]

Everyone keeps forgetting that Mike Ditka > Math, so all the multipliers are meaningless in regards to Superbowl XX.

[Johnny Slick]

Well, I guess besides Cobb's excessive violence (including choking a woman and stabbing a hotel employee), Bonds does seem more like Cobb than Ruth.

An interesting aside is that I went to school up by where Cobb retired to, and actually went to school with who I guess was his great-grandaughter, Kathleen....Dood, you forgot all about the greatest Ty Cobb Violent Episode ever: when he went into the stands and beat up a wheelchair-bound man because the man called him the n-word.

[Desnudo]

Wouldn't it have been much easier to play/achieve records back in the Ruth/Cobb era?

I really can't stand Bonds but today it is much more difficult to exist as a pro athlete.

Just based on the video and coverage I'd wager both Ruth and Cobb would find it impossible to be a player nowdays and that would have adversely affected career totals.

It pains me to make this point but it seems true.

It's hard to compare across eras when you're talking about athleticism. You could make the argument that even players from the 60s and 70s, and possibly 80s, would have no chance today. Relative comparisons are the only ones that work.

[rkmsuf]

It's hard to compare across eras when you're talking about athleticism. You could make the argument that even players from the 60s and 70s, and possibly 80s, would have no chance today. Relative comparisons are the only ones that work.

that doesn't make sense to me though when talking about "the greatest"

each dealt with different circumstances to achieve their numbers. seems clear the modern circumstances were more difficult to the human than what ruth or cobb dealt with. heck they had all sorts of people covering up stuff.

at the time they were the best but if you want the ultimate best it seems simple the way that the telegraph was great at the time but has been surpassed.

[Desnudo]

The ultimate best will likely always be surpassed by the following generation if you compare head to head. Especially if they keep inventing better drugs. Gayle Sayers would probably get his ass kicked in today's NFL, but that doesn't preclude him from being part of a greatest ever discussion.

[rkmsuf]

The ultimate best will likely always be surpassed by the following generation if you compare head to head. Especially if they keep inventing better drugs. Gayle Sayers would probably get his ass kicked in today's NFL, but that doesn't preclude him from being part of a greatest ever discussion.

but the greatest ever would include today so he can't be the greatest ever.

like if you were picking a team from everyone that ever played to play a game he wouldn't go #1 so he can't be the greatest ever.

[Huckleberry]

but the greatest ever would include today so he can't be the greatest ever.

like if you were picking a team from everyone that ever played to play a game he wouldn't go #1 so he can't be the greatest ever.

Not really because most people I've ever heard argue "greatest ever" are coming from the perspective of greatness relative to their peers.

[rkmsuf]

Not really because most people I've ever heard argue "greatest ever" are coming from the perspective of greatness relative to their peers.

so don't use the word "ever".

greastest of their time perhaps.

[Bee]

I'm pretty sure according to this math, Seattle won the Superbowl!

woohoo!

[Desnudo]

so don't use the word "ever".

greastest of their time perhaps.

Greatest ever that did not have a basketball for a head.

[Solecismic]

I've been working with these formulas, and I think I can prove that Doug Mientkiewicz, not Taylor Hicks, is the latest American Idol.

[Huckleberry]

so don't use the word "ever".

greastest of their time perhaps.

No. You can't tell me what to do. You're not the boss of me.

More importantly, there's nothing about that which makes it unreasonable to say "ever". If you define greatness as superiority to your peers, then they can be the greatest ever.

[digamma]

I've been working with these formulas, and I think I can prove that Doug Mientkiewicz, not Taylor Hicks, is the latest American Idol.

In which case, what happens to the World Series Ball? Fantasia gets it?

[Crapshoot]

Can I get a derivative over here?

A derivative ? That's frigging linear algebra over there.. :D

[Johnny Slick]

I think we need to conduct a linear regression on this model.

Also, under my new formula I have more dolas and therefore am a much greater poster than crapshoot. Also also (but unrelated), I know how to make smoke come out of his ears.

[sabotai]

Using simple math, I can prove only do I make over a million dollars a day, but that I owe just 5 cents a year in taxes.

[Maple Leafs]

Evidently, simple math can make 61 > 60 > 73 > 70 > 66.

Given that, simple math clearly states that because more NFC teams played indoors than AFC teams in 1985, NFC teams are more accustomed to playing indoors. That means that the 1985 Bears had an unfair advantage over the Patriots by playing Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome. Therefore, to adjust for the NFC advantage, multiply the NFC team's score by 0.5. To adjust for the AFC disadvantage, multiply the AFC team's score by 2.8 (it's simple math, damn it!).

Congratulations to your NEW Super Bowl XX champions, the New England Patriots, as they actually defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 28-23.
I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

[Passacaglia]

I'm pretty sure according to this math, Seattle won the Superbowl!

woohoo!

Don't tell astrosfan.

[finkenst]

I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

nice job, pierre.

[MalcPow]

Using simple math, I can prove only do I make over a million dollars a day, but that I owe just 5 cents a year in taxes.

You must do all your work outdoors, or underwater or something.

[sabotai]

You must do all your work outdoors, or underwater or something.

For some reason, it only works when there's a full moon and after I've taken some homeopathic medication....but it works, I swear!

[Malificent]

I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

Awesome. I clearly must be a geek that this made me laugh out loud.

[finkenst]

Awesome. I clearly must be a geek that this made me laugh out loud.
you weren't the only one to get the citation..
:)

[Crim]

I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

I heart Maple Leafs. However I just woke up my four year old when I barked laughter upon reading this. Therefore, Maple Leafs is my sworn enemy. That is all.

[mckerney]

To acknowledge that Ruth achieved his numbers - despite battling multiple handicaps such as obesity, beer guzzling and womanizing - we would multiply Ruth's records by 1.1.

I love how the fact that Ruth's decisions to drink to excess and be womanizer are viewed as handicaps he had to overcome that should up his homerun total. By the same right, I believe that due to Jose Canseo's steroid use his multiplier should be dropped to 0.9, but his decisions to do crazy shit is a handicap he had to deal with and should raise it up from there to 1.8. Therefore Canseco is now our new homerun king with 79 single season homeruns and 931 career (I gave him an extra hundred because no team was willing to sign him when he tried to come back).

[mckerney]

Dola:

I also used this technique on the NBA MVP voting and determined that Smush Parker should have won the award.

[Johnny Slick]

Steve Balboni had to deal with obesity and beer-guzzling and likely would have been a womanizer had he not been cursed by the Creator to look like Fat Charlie Chaplin. Therefore he gets 716 homeruns. The multiplier here is very complicated and even logarhythmic in some places; basically, all you stat n00bs need to know is that it's whatever gets him 716 homeruns.

[k0ruptr]

Roger Maris, on the other hand, belted his 61 homers under crushing news media scrutiny. Under my new system of calculation, the unassuming Maris would reclaim the mantle of "Home Run King" with a new total of 67 homers, and without any need of an asterisk.


well then using a little more "simple math" bonds walk totals when he hit 73 = 177

maris at 61 = 94
so simple math, lets get even easier and reduce bonds' walks to just equal to maris. so thats 83 less walks, meaning 83 more at bats, which I think gives him back the record