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“Dickensian,” debased Ooooh this is ugly

No justice, no foul

Posted on December 21, 2008 2:42 PM by Andrew

This article, by Jim Stallard, is just hilarious. It’s at the intersection of politics and basketball. There are just so many funny lines here, I just don’t know where to start.

This entry was posted in Political Science, Sports by Andrew. Bookmark the permalink.
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  1. Anoneuoid on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 11:03 PM

    @Meese: Say I want to model the number of cells in a dish over time. I would first come up…

  2. Sean on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 4, 2026 7:38 PM

    The 43rd British Columbia General Election of 2024 was decided between a majority and a minority by 22 votes in…

  3. Raphael K on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 7:26 PM

    If anyone wants to look into the math behind my comment above, try these prompts with a powerful LLM: Let…

  4. Raphael K on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 7:24 PM

    Related to the discussion above: I find it intriguing that it is not clear which model is performing best in…

  5. Meese on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 6:41 PM

    I think Anon is saying that you COULD interpret regression coefficients if you did it right, but the way they…

  6. Daniel Lakeland on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 4, 2026 5:36 PM

    The rate at which data centers are supposed to be built precludes them being powered by anything other than quick…

  7. J. J. Ramsey on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 4, 2026 2:53 PM

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  8. Dale Lehman on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 2:15 PM

    Re-litigate, if no other reason to have the last word. I still don't agree with you (rather, you overstate to…

  9. Bob Carpenter on Analysis of tonight’s election results (and why I don’t need to do it anymore)November 4, 2026 1:56 PM

    +1 to a report from Yair. I've learned so much from those and your papers. I'm surprised you showed the…

  10. Ruben Arslan on “Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable.”November 4, 2026 1:48 PM

    I commented on this a while ago and also have a longer review lying around. I still think that there…

  11. Anoneuoid on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 1:27 PM

    This says it all: the descriptive meaning of a regression coefficient becomes increasingly opaque as more variables are included in…

  12. Joshua on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 4, 2026 1:04 PM

    Andrew - That was certainly my take in 2016, when IIRC people were yelling at Nate Silver for being so…

  13. Anon on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 12:36 PM

    Please put your critique (and a link to this blog) on PubPeer Richard!

  14. Andrew on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 4, 2026 12:02 PM

    Joshua: Systematic polling errors are not new. You can go back to polling from 50 years ago or more and…

  15. Joshua on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 4, 2026 11:24 AM

    Actually, as I think about it more, polling errors over recent years have gone in both directions, even if the…

  16. Joshua on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 4, 2026 11:08 AM

    Peter - Perhaps related to the low propensity question, the NYT’s live projection has Democrats around +13 in the national…

  17. Dale Lehman on “So in that sense the silly statistics in the paper is no big deal, it serves as a sort of rhetorical flourish?”November 4, 2026 10:34 AM

    This is an interesting twist on something discussed a few times on this blog. Anoneuoid has frequently taken issue with…

  18. Harry on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 4, 2026 10:31 AM

    How the calculations change for a not FPTP voting system?

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    Academia has undervalued understanding for so long that it genuinely start to make sense to replace researchers with data centers…

  20. A Behavioral Ecologist on “Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable.”November 4, 2026 8:19 AM

    Behavior ecologists were not really influenced by Gould and Lewontin, mostly because the issues raised were already well understood, and…

  21. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 11:01 PM

    Matt: I disagree with your statement, "Voting when everyone votes makes your vote worthless." Even if everyone else votes, there's…

  22. Matt Gattis on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 10:51 PM

    I certainly see what you are getting at. Might be better to frame it as game theory rather than as…

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    make fun all you want, but the plan is literally out in the open for all to see and some…

  24. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 8:55 PM

    Matt: That's right that if your vote is decisive, then millions of others' votes are decisive too. But you're missing…

  25. Matt Gattis on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 8:05 PM

    not buying the math here... if the winner wins by one vote, it means everyone's vote was decisive, not just…

  26. Anonymous on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 7:24 PM

    Daniel, AI exists because the Illuminati is trying to turn us all into human batteries to run skynet.

  27. Daniel Lakeland on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 6:40 PM

    *not accepting (not "jot accepting" lol)

  28. Daniel Lakeland on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 6:39 PM

    I've been moving towards Guix, but am not excited about the number of free software projects inserting LLM generated code…

  29. Matt Skaggs on “Evolutionary psychology hypotheses are testable and falsifiable.”November 3, 2026 5:59 PM

    "Do you really think these hundreds of scholars are misguided/deluded/dumb?" That is a fair question, although I wouldn't choose any…

  30. Andrew on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 3, 2026 5:39 PM

    Guy: Thanks for the discussion and pushback, and you should definitely read my article! It's pretty short. Regarding your example,…

  31. Guy on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 3, 2026 4:57 PM

    I will read your original piece, but we may just have to agree to disagree. I have read much of…

  32. Meese on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 4:54 PM

    Daniel: Tangential, but you use Debian Linux, right? What is your view on their pro-AI policy, and Linux's new pro-AI…

  33. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 4:23 PM

    My experience is the same as Phil's. But I do remember that back in 1976 my parents had to wait…

  34. Jonathan Baron on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 4:14 PM

    I can't resist plugging my just-published book, "Effective citizenship: How we can make the world better and why we don't",…

  35. Phil on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 4:03 PM

    For someone who lives in a fairly wealthy suburb or town in the U.S., the in-person voting experience is likely…

  36. Anoneuoid on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 3:13 PM

    Thats great. From 1977: SOP: Of course I consider your views about the wickedness of eating meat and the earth’s…

  37. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 3:13 PM

    Anon: No, now there are zillions of polls, so responding on any one of them will have essentially no effect.

  38. Anoneuoid on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 2:59 PM

    Whats the more recent estimates? Is answering surveys/polls back to influential?

  39. Robert on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 2:53 PM

    I think a lot more factors in to the decision whether it's rational to vote. If your vote has a…

  40. shira on Alan ZaslavskyNovember 3, 2026 2:06 PM

    Thank you for this, Andrew.

  41. Andrew on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 3, 2026 1:40 PM

    Guy: Follow the links and you can see our analysis. Other people have found the same thing. Regarding your last…

  42. Guy on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 3, 2026 1:18 PM

    Is that 2% for that candidate (a net loss of ~4 points), or a 2 point net shift? In any…

  43. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 1:10 PM

    Age: You might be right about economists. I've read a few things but I don't have a broad view of…

  44. Matt Skaggs on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 12:37 PM

    "a real potential for dystopian futures" People of Corn, People of Light The gods fashioned humans to live in the…

  45. Age of Infovores on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 12:33 PM

    But that sentence is even more problematic. Economists don't abstain from questioning that demographic, and in the context of this…

  46. Jessica Hullman on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 11:40 AM

    Yeah, by that I just meant that you need the agents who take accountability to care about their reputation with…

  47. Jessica Hullman on Science is not naturally alignedNovember 3, 2026 11:34 AM

    Thanks, this sounds fascinating!

  48. John Richters on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 11:25 AM

    Meehl, P. E. (1977). The selfish voter paradox and the thrown-away vote argument. American Political Science Review, 71(1), 11-30. https://meehl.umn.edu/sites/meehl.umn.edu/files/files/110selfishvoterparadox.pdf

  49. Andrew on Election Day special: Why it can be rational to voteNovember 3, 2026 11:15 AM

    Anon: I didn't write that sentence recently! That poll I was referring to was done something like 25 or 30…

  50. Andrew on Most legislative races are so far from being close that there’s essentially no practical electoral benefit from moderation. But there is the argument that if you run a lot of extremists all over the country, that this will make things harder for your party’s moderates in the few swing states and swing districts out there.November 3, 2026 11:14 AM

    Guy: My argument is: (1) empirically, candidates who are more politically extreme seem to pay on average only a small…

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