THINKING OUT OF THE BOX

"You can't judge a book by it's cover", said Mom.

And, she was right. As a kid I snuck down to the damp room under the garage and went through the used books she and Dad were storing for reasons still unknown.

I ran across a rather pedestrian cover of one called "Forever Amber". The bookcover did not do the book justice. Amber was a hottie.

My basement reading adventure was my introduction to reading racy novels with a newly inspired vigor and interest.

So, yeah, you can't judge a book by the cover - or people by their choice of clothing. If you don't believe this - drive over to Wal-mart today. Maybe the guy or gal you're seeing is just color blind.

We're all different.

This is a truism, but puzzling to me at times like when I read the results of published surveys or studies. The media makes a big "to do" over the fact that 57% of those surveyed support or like "this or that", and concludes therefore, we - - -.

The fact that 43% do NOT like that same "this or that" doesn't seem to bother the experts. If you're a dedicated baseball nut, batting around .430 ain't bad.

While skimming a couple of columns from a few Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports writers, I noted there is already a controversy brewing as to whether or not the Pirates made a good decision with their number one draft choice -a pitcher from UCLA .

Now, having just read an article about the number of flamethrowing pitching phenoms who are awaiting the services of a certain Atlanta based surgeon probably doesn't mean a hill of beans. However, the chosen one has been known to throw the parsimmon around 100 mph.

You have to understand,if you ever decide you want to be a baseball fan, that you cannot discuss any player, team, or fan attendance if you're not also willing to be a numbers cruncher.

A true baseball fans ability to attract respect in a bar is solely based upon his ability to spout the politically correct numbers.
Then he can sit back and wait for the appropriate "ooh's and ah's".

Now, if you are already a male baseball fan, and the one quoting the mystifying percentages accurately happens to be female, you immediately reduce your marriage potential indices to only one: whether or not her dad owns a liquor store or is a beer distributor.

Such is the power of statistics in America.

My reading of the editorial pages, confirms that a knowledge of numbers and percentages is not limited to sports. It covers all kinds of societal and political topics.

Yesterday, two sources took the same numbers from a report in a written debate. The subject was whether or not the ratings of the big three credit companies were adversely affecting you and me, and causing the amount of our mortgage payments to vary due to their failure or unwillingness to correct reporting errors.

USA took the affirmative position that the "big three" were guilty.

The opposing view, using statistics from the same study, was oddly enough voiced by a guy named Pratt. Mr Pratt is the CEO of the Consumer Data Industry Association, a trade group that represents the nations three largest credit reporting agencies.

Yeah, I know. That blew me away too!

Look! Until we finally conclude that we are not going to find 100% agreement on any topic with anybody, we're spinning our wheels to keep attempting to beat them to death with numbers.

They just don't want to hear it. And,who knows,they may be right.

Take baseball; and believe me, I take my hat off to those I know who can retain and resolve all those mathematical exercises.

But, the fact that a guys batting average dropped 50 points before the halfway mark of a season doesn't always mean he needs to retire - is "jaking it"- just wanted the big contract or whatever else crude interpretation is used to back up this argument.

Until, we can entirely eliminate the human element in these equations, (and trust me - we've got people trying to do just that)it might be classy to consider other things.

Baseball players spend one-half the season playing out of town.

I don't have the statistics - and don't want them - as to the number of guys whose baseball performance was impacted more by the fact he thinks his wife is cheating on him, rather than on any over night reduction in his athletic ability.

My brother Jim, an avid baseball student, a former popular baseball blogger, and a pure fan - gave me an excellent example of how this happened to one of our favorite players from the past.

It never made the papers - nor any of the columns by the number crunchers. It took someone willing to ask the right questions to get a plausible answer. It required pro-action - not reaction or mathematical goose stepping. It also required compassion not to report the truth - just to make a buck.

But, then again, that was a long time ago.

If you are solely a number cruncher, nothing that can't be explained by regurgitating numbers will ever become a possible factor in your evaluation of a players performance - good or bad.

You've already dismissed the human element in sports.

But, maybe if you become a "recovering statistician" - and still a baseball fan- you could try thinking "outside the box."