GO STILLERS!
Consider this an open thread.
*** Update ***
Overtime. Never underestimate the Steeler’s ability to play down to the level of their opposition.
They deserve to lose, and have played so poorly I won’t be upset if they do.
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null pointer exception
And Go Steelers too
But most of all, Go Patriots!
Dug Jay
Here’s some wisdom from one of the blogosphere’s underrated intellectuals.
A different Matt
Is anyone else concerned that the 49ers seem to be actively trying to help the patriots? How can the 49ers look pathetic versus a one win team (today, the rams) or a two win team (2 weeks ago, the falcons)? Are they tanking games to give the pats the #1 overall pick, or do the 9ers think their pick is top-3 protected or something? With decision skills like these, I’m surprised Bush didn’t try to pick Dr. John York to replace Alan Greenspan?
Ted
Actually if you read the article, what he says is bullshit, based on selective quoting. And any study that has to filter out 15+ affecting factors to try just to get to a blurry answer isn’t much to use to bolster government executions of possibly innocent people.
Zifnab
Dude. Why are you guys losing to the Jets? I mean… the Jets? Really? … Really?
A different Matt
Dug Jay,
That’s the same logic used in Freakanomics in their section on the correlation between abortion and crime rates – if there aren’t any criminals to commit crime, there won’t be any crime.
Frankly, both arguments strike me as a pretty poor grasp of incentives and cause/effect, not to mention profoundly dismissive of basic human decency – but I’m not an economist, nor am I one of the more underrated intellectuals of the blogosphere, so what do I know?
demimondian
Wow. Yeah, Dug Jay, that’s seriously solid research. Maybe you should go looking for those missing bodies from the last war in Lebanon — you’ll certainly find them, even if you have to desecrate a couple of cemeteries along the way.
Ugh
Wait, which team is 1-8 and which is 7-2? I’m confused.
zzyzx
The Hawks are stressing me out today. It’s a great game, but we’re leaving points on the field with the missed FG and the dropped TD. I hope we can overcome that.
Cinderella Ferret
I’m not philosophically opposed to the death penalty, but I am against executing the wrong guy. With the exception of hanging High Government Officials for crimes committed, I don’t see how you can avoid making mistakes when considering the general population. So it seems that executing Government Officials is the only real option at this point. Any suggestions of where to start?
The Other Steve
My girlfriend is back home in Russia for two weeks, which means I have to fend for myself. So today I’m cooking pot roast, which I expect to last me the next two days.
I rebuilt my desktop using Vista 64-bit, as I have 4 Gigs of RAM and wanted to use it fully. I’m rather amazed, as it appears to be signifigantly faster now.
D-Chance.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a FG bounce out like that. Punters would kill for that kind of carom.
zzyzx
Why is this filed under site maintenance anyway?
4jkb4ia
YES!
2-8!
4jkb4ia
Can I actually believe that Dallas will not stomp the Jets into oblivion?
RSA
I’m kinda surprised that (a) Oliver Willis would post an excerpt that’s 180 degrees away from the point of the article, and (b) that he’s a death penalty supporter. Live and learn.
I’m philosophically opposed to the death penalty. If I weren’t, I’d have to think hard about this:
It’s tough to argue causality given this.
Robert Johnston
Oh lord, not this shit again.
These capital punishment “studies” at a glance make the same basic mistake that numerous others have previously made: looking for a deterrent effect by correlating executions with homicide rates is hopelessly and pathetically stupid and pointless. Crime rates cycle nonuniformly, execution rates cycle nonuniformly, executions take a lot of time to come about after commission and conviction, and the average lag before execution has a broad and ever changing range. Current year or recent year execution rates have no plausible causal relation with homicide rates. Execution rates will, of necessity, be highest when homicide rates have dropped for a significant but a priori unknown number of year after peaking, presuming consistent application of the law–an assumption that’s already pretty ridiculous.
There’s a reason death penalty proponents never hype studies trying to correlate death penalty arrest, conviction, and sentencing rates with homicide rates, even though recent arrest, conviction, and sentencing rates are what a criminal subject to deference would take into account. Efforts to show deterrence by correlating executions and homicide rates are fundamentally pseudoscientific claptrap, made only in hope that the statistical illiteracy of the audience will allow such efforts to pass.
jake
Uh. I’m just a LibiGurliMan and rarely watch football. But when did this pre-game music video crap begin?
Also – Faith Hill + Pantsuits = Not her best look.
And – I think Kevin Everett sucked a bit of joy out of the Pat’s impending win.
Mean Gene
Hey, anyone get a look at the alien starcruiser that abducted Troy Polamalu in the offseason? The guy who’s been whiffing tackles all season wears #43 and he has the hair and all, but the bipedal entity on the field today bears no resemblance to the Polamalu I’m familiar with.
Kit Smith
What’s the name of the bar that’s on the back of the field goal posts?
Svensker
OMG. The Jets won a game. OMG.
I think the star craft that took Troy Polamalu brought back Sean Ellis.
OMG.
John Cole
Umm. Polamalu has been playing with a shredded knee all season. Hines Ward is hurt, too. Not making excuses, but the types of injuries these guys have would even render our brave keyboard commandos unable to write odes to Bush, let alone play NFL football.
Mean Gene
OK, I read back thru the P-G archives and Troy had 31 tackles in the four games before today. And I don’t recall his knee being hurt–he had a rib injury that made him miss the Seattle game. Still, he didn’t have an especially good game today.
It’s funny, this loss really doesn’t mean much. We’re gonna win the division. We’re gonna host a first-round playoff game, and either lose that game or lose in the next round. The offensive line isn’t good enough to compete against good defenses.
Chuck Butcher
As soon as this appeared on the screen I recognized it since I’d posted early Sunday morning about the same thing, and oddly reached a bit different conclusion. Somebody needs to give that boy a reading and comprehension lesson, or maybe more to the point a lesson in responsible use of quotes. In the comments he excuses stupidity with – well I linked it…. So I could quote one side of an argument and not mention it was an argument until somebody bothered to go look and call me on it???
It is always agood idea to check links out if you’re taking them to heart, and then there’s the issue of giving reporters and journalists ‘hit’ credit for their work. We are a rather parasitic bunch.
demimondian
C’mon, Chuck — this is the intertrons. We don’ need no steenkin’ evidence; all we care about is the countertops!
Seriously, I’m looking at their statistical analysis (it is, after all, what I do for a living, with the only difference being that I work with enough data to support my conclusions…). I’ll probably put something up at my place in the next few days.
The Other Steve
Is it wisdom because it matches your preconcieved notions, or did you ready the study and understand it?
Given there are multiple factors that decrease crime, I’m curious how they isolated this.
"Fair and Balanced" Dave
The O-line was dreadful. SEVEN sacks and only 112 yards on the ground against a team that was 1-8 is beyond pathetic. BTW, is it my imagination or do the Steelers not have any 3-step drop short pass plays? All of the Steelers pass plays for the past couple of weeks have been Ben taking a 5-step drop and then scrambling out of the pocket looking for an open receiver.
However there was enough blame to go around. Once again, the Special Teams looked anything but special.