And, IMHO, that is precisely why it is such an attractive game. When you really look at the big picture -- the players, the talents, the injuries, the team vibes and dynamics, the league dynamics, the competition, the umpiring, the weather, the good and bad breaks, etc., etc., -- it is all so complex that no one could possibly know.
Which is why people turn to computers, historical performance data and mathematics to calculate the possibilities and probabilities; but even these are, at best, only calculated odds so even these don't predict or know anything...
Which is why it is the game that defines American mentality: betting on the odds based on whatever reasoning makes your boat float.
Me? What floats my boat is the beauty of HD TV which, much more than going to the game, allows me to actually see the player's eyes, faces and body language and understand what is going on between their ears. For me, that is the single most useful and accurate "predictor" of performance that I know and what makes the game enjoyable to watch.
But how the fuck do I do that for 750 players active at any time? So I, like you, don't know shit, either.
The only thing left is reasonably well informed intuition...
That is my story and I am sticking to it.
Perry.
