Alright, I'll get to questions in a bit, but here's something that I'm running across as I'm digging more into this that's pretty frustrating. Advanced statistics are really nerdy. I don't mean that as a negative.
I'm a pastor. I love theology. I love getting into the nitty-gritty and nuance of scripture, digging deep into its depth. And I love talking theology with people who also love theology. But those conversations are nerdy. Words and ideas are spoken that people who aren't into that sort of thing simply won't understand (I know because my wife's eyes glaze over whenever I try to talk with her about that stuff
). There's nothing wrong with that until I'm trying to relay those same ideas to people who don't understand. At that point, I need to figure out the best way to convey the message to them in a language they can understand. Speaking nerdy and speaking simple are both perfectly fine things to do. But we need to understand who our audience is.
Part of the reason I started looking into advanced stats is because when I read popular level articles on baseball more and more the stats they are using are the nerdy advanced stats and not the popular level stats. More and more they are having nerdy conversations in front of people who probably don't get it. I think that's having a negative effect on people's interest in the game. People's eyes are glossing over. Who wants to pull out a dictionary to read an article on ESPN?
Now, I'm a relatively smart guy. When I put my mind to it I can probably at least get a rudimentary grasp of advanced stats. I'm not at all opposed to them. I think they have their place. And I'm even okay with them becoming more prominent than traditional stats... as long as they taught and explained well to the hoi polloi when they're being used. Because its frustrating when the nerds are talking and I can't understand them. Now I know what my wife feels like.