Originally posted by General Terms
As far as were to draw the line I dont know. I guess thats why I was looking for the discussion. My team did play Pocatello, which of course added alot of stats, but not nearly as much as any team that got to play the Turkey Gobblers, which my team never has an opportunity to play. On the other side of that too everyone in Zeta conference had to play Vegas, Samoans, Inmates, Hippos, Rain, etc. all very strong teams. Now Alpha also has strong teams as well, but are they as strong? Or are they stronger yet? Would the league stat leaders be the same if the Gangsters had to have played Northbrook? Perhaps Northbrook would have put up 5 TDs against the Gangsters thus decimating their statistically dominating defense. We wont know until the playoffs, hell we might never know.
Thing is, we can't compare based off of possibilities, but based off of what we have. Look at it this way: Samoa's stats still dominate despite NOT getting a chance to play the Turkey Gobblers. We got Pocatello, who definitely put up more of a fight. We also still had to play really good teams in the Bears, the Devils, the Rain, the Inmates, Wollongong. We also got to play some teams that we beat rather easily -- teams that everyone in the division got a chance to beat rather easily. As far as I'm concerned, the week 16 matchups shouldn't count for or against anyone when considering best players since some teams have to play Northbrook while one lucky person gets to play the Turkey Gobblers. Sure, Northbrook could have put up five touchdowns against Samoa, if they got lucky. However, I really do think the top teams in either conference are fairly close competitive-level wise and most could take on any of the other top teams and, more often than not, split a series of 7 games.
Really, though, in the end -- this is pretend internet football. We don't have true game film to go watch, we don't get to see players interviewed on TV to get an idea of their personality, we don't have all the stats that people in the real world have when deciding these things. All we have, really is stats. Though, more often than not, the best overall statistics player wins the award in professional sports. Some statistics have more weight placed on them (for example, in baseball, more emphasis may be placed on one stat over another for MVP) but stats are often a major deciding factor in who takes home an award. If you only consider weeks 1-15, the awards are fair within divisions since every team plays against every team. Are they as fair within conference? I'm not as sure about that one. But both conferences to have their weak teams and their strong teams.
As far as were to draw the line I dont know. I guess thats why I was looking for the discussion. My team did play Pocatello, which of course added alot of stats, but not nearly as much as any team that got to play the Turkey Gobblers, which my team never has an opportunity to play. On the other side of that too everyone in Zeta conference had to play Vegas, Samoans, Inmates, Hippos, Rain, etc. all very strong teams. Now Alpha also has strong teams as well, but are they as strong? Or are they stronger yet? Would the league stat leaders be the same if the Gangsters had to have played Northbrook? Perhaps Northbrook would have put up 5 TDs against the Gangsters thus decimating their statistically dominating defense. We wont know until the playoffs, hell we might never know.
Thing is, we can't compare based off of possibilities, but based off of what we have. Look at it this way: Samoa's stats still dominate despite NOT getting a chance to play the Turkey Gobblers. We got Pocatello, who definitely put up more of a fight. We also still had to play really good teams in the Bears, the Devils, the Rain, the Inmates, Wollongong. We also got to play some teams that we beat rather easily -- teams that everyone in the division got a chance to beat rather easily. As far as I'm concerned, the week 16 matchups shouldn't count for or against anyone when considering best players since some teams have to play Northbrook while one lucky person gets to play the Turkey Gobblers. Sure, Northbrook could have put up five touchdowns against Samoa, if they got lucky. However, I really do think the top teams in either conference are fairly close competitive-level wise and most could take on any of the other top teams and, more often than not, split a series of 7 games.
Really, though, in the end -- this is pretend internet football. We don't have true game film to go watch, we don't get to see players interviewed on TV to get an idea of their personality, we don't have all the stats that people in the real world have when deciding these things. All we have, really is stats. Though, more often than not, the best overall statistics player wins the award in professional sports. Some statistics have more weight placed on them (for example, in baseball, more emphasis may be placed on one stat over another for MVP) but stats are often a major deciding factor in who takes home an award. If you only consider weeks 1-15, the awards are fair within divisions since every team plays against every team. Are they as fair within conference? I'm not as sure about that one. But both conferences to have their weak teams and their strong teams.
Last edited Jul 11, 2008 12:25:14
