The Turnover Battle

No, I'm not talking about the differential for the 8 remaining NFL playoff teams looking to head to Miami. I'm not talking about the young C's infatuation with coughing the ball up a good 22 times a game either. Nor am I talking about the key to tonight's BCS Championship Game. What I'm talking about is much more important, and pressing. Of course, this has to do with the League over at CRFC. But before I forget, there is only one week left to sign up for the A1 draft, or to put your own team into the League. Seriously, what's better than being able to jest with an official while playing 4 on 4 on a much smaller court? I know I'm in pretty bad shape and can get up and down it. Then afterward, you can immediately retreat to the balcony to check one's stats for the game. Seriously, who doesn't love stats? Ah that reminds me, we've come to the main topic at last.
Two seasons ago, at the CRFC Staff meeting, I had a few suggestions. Now it was my first time at the meeting, seeing as I had just completed my first season as CRFC whipping, I mean, stat boy, I was a tad nervous. Nevertheless, I made my suggestions, a whole laundry list worth, and some were actually accepted. One that I was a huge fan of, and didn't think would get pushed through, was the keeping of the dreaded turnover stat. It caused a few to grumble, because it is, after all, a negative stat. But it was eventually passed by the Board of Directors and turnovers would be added to the stat line for the next season. I considered this a major victory and felt like I had done my part to increase the appeal and legitimacy of CRFC's claim to fame...great stats! It's merits included refining the Player Rater that the Prof had created a number of seasons prior. That's right, a 4 on 4 league in Boston can evaluate it's players based on it's very own Player Rater. Turnovers were the key, I thought to making the Player Rater even better. Their purpose was to differentiate between seemingly identical players, which just happened to be very useful for the upcoming A1 draft. The easiest way to do that was to keep track of the number of times players turned the ball over, so it was added in. For the first couple weeks there were the expected grumblings heard and long stares earned from some of the players and of course the, "why you keeping that stat?" questions. Seriously, if guys who play rec ball, and who are absolutely obsessive about their stats in the first place, can't handle seeing how many times they bounce a pass into the wall, then maybe they shouldn't be quite so obsessive about their numbers. But I digress...
After the first season, I actually had guys coming up to me after the game with something along the lines of "so how many did I cost us tonight," or "we really forced a lot of turnovers tonight didn't we?" The best reactions were when guys would come up at the end of the season with, "did you see that, I really cut down on my turnovers this season." And they could point to the numbers to back it up. Then Thursday, the tables were turned and turnovers were nearly unanimously blacked off of the stat sheet. To be wiped from the website, never to return. Needless to say, I nearly choked on my perfectly-cooked medium rare New York Strip (from Abe & Louie's) when I heard the motion for turnovers to be banished from this point forward. Stats, including turnovers, aren't just for the nerdy, number obsessed, minority, but for the general public! Hell even the ladies love the stats!! To be able to get a complete picture of a player's game, means that you need to include some of the negative as well as the positive. It's not like I'm keeping shooting percentages here. (Although with free throw percents already tracked and optional 3pt shooting percentage kept by yours truly for the playoffs, we're moving in that direction.) Regardless, I will soldier on and continue to keep turnover, and all stats regardless, for what purpose, other than the princple of the matter, I'm not really sure, but it's what I've got to do. No if ands or buts....As a reward for making it this far, or even simply scrolling down the page...