Kevin Considers: Sometimes Numbers DO Lie

Statisticians and mathematicians will tell you one thing when it comes to numbers; they do not lie.

It's 2004, and the Boston Red Sox are losing their playoff series three to zero.  In the HISTORY of the MLB, there were no teams that came back and won a best of seven series when losing the first three.  That's a zero percent chance.  Zero.  None.  No chance at all.  But, as we all know, the story goes that they came back and won it all.  A zero percent chance of winning, but they somehow do it.  You know why?  Because sometimes, the numbers DO lie.

It was just last year that the Lyndon Hornets men's soccer and basketball team made it to the conference championship.  Previously, the men's basketball team had not made it to the NAC Championship game.  Even though both teams lost, the odds were stacked against them to even get to where they got.

There are times when a player's statistics don't end up matching with the outcome of a game.  A great example of a player who did not live up to his expectations is LeBron James.  Last year's NBA playoffs were a back and forth series with hard fought games between the Miami Heat, and LeBron James.  James, who played well through the first three quarters of games, seemed to disappear and become a non-factor in crunch time.  James, who had an incredible stat line and a reputation as a go-to player with the game on the line, seemed to be quite the opposite.  The numbers, you guessed it, seemed to lie here.

If you look at a percentage, or the chance of something happening, there are bound to be times where the numbers lie, and things don't go according to plan.  That is 100 percent.