OU-Mizzou: Arguing with logic
A reader sent me a fantastic email. A friend of his was outraged that the BCS computers had Missouri ahead of Oklahoma. He sent out inquiries to the computers and received a response from Anderson-Hester, the computer ranking that seems to factor in proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Anderson-Hester’s final rankings had Missouri second, OU eighth. Here was the response:“Aside from the two Oklahoma-Missouri games, Oklahoma isn’t even close to Missouri. Apart from those head-to-head games, Missouri is 11-0 with wins over (otherwise unbeaten) Kansas and Rose Bowl-bound Illinois and would be clearly the #1 team in the nation. Meanwhile, Oklahoma is 9-2 with 2 losses to very mediocre teams (Colorado and Texas Tech) and zero wins vs. the current top-20. The head-to-head games bring the Sooners almost even with Missouri, but not quite: the 11-2 Tigers have still played the tougher schedule than the 11-2 Sooners, and therefore deserve to be ranked ahead based on season-long results.”This is how the old joke about Mrs. Lincoln got started. Other than the two times OU bloodied Missouri’s nose and knocked the Tigers to the canvas, all evidence shows the Tigers are superior? This is why I’m no good at debate. This is where in a courtroom, I would turn to the judge and say, “Your honor…” with my palms up.
I don’t even want to get into that stuff about Kansas, the biggest fraud since junk bonds. And thus we’ve found the problem with computers. No one, so far as I know, has figured out a way to program common sense.
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