My hometown newspaper has some pretty lame sports writers, but this is ridiculous. Let me quote a little…
f winning the coin toss guaranteed victory, the Buffalo Bills would be undefeated and tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the best record in the NFL.
Buffalo is an uncanny 8-for-8 on winning coin flips this season to determine who gets the ball first. Call it payback.
Yes, that’s what the entire article is about - the Bills’ “uncanny” ability to guess right on the coin flip. What people will do to avoid writing about JP Losman and Kelly Holcomb.
But this paragraph is what makes me want to shoot someone (not really.)
According to assistant professor Darren A. Narayan, director of undergraduate research in the department of mathematics and statistics at Rochester Institute of Technology, the odds of Buffalo winning all eight of its coin flips is 1:256.
Are you fucking kidding me? You had to ask to ask a college professor how to answer that question? Your editors let you admit that you had to ask a professor how to answer that question? You think your readers are impressed with the mathematical “power” required to answer that question?
New rules: sports columnists need to be intelligent first, and good writers second. Sports broadcasters need to be competent first, and good speakers second. FoodTV hosts need to be quality chefs with interesting advice first and and discuss how wonderful their food smells second. Teachers need to understand how kids learn first and be experts in their field second. Oops, guilty.
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.
November 15th, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Apparently the Detroit Lions have also never lost a coin flip this year either (and their streak includes an overtime toss in the Chicago game)
The Detroit Free Press has yet to publish an article on this phenomenon.