Volin's Sunday Football Column

eom · Jun 28, 2015

Being a member of your family doesn't make him special.

Next time you guys are at a family reunion tell him to gtfo of Boston.

ThatllMoveTheChains!!! · Jun 28, 2015

MagicMarker said:
I took stats in college -- two semesters as an undergrad, and another in graduate school. I can read and sort of follow all of the reports, but I'm lost if I have to argue one way or another. So, if I'm confused, I assume 99% of readers are also...but I'll say this:

1) Volin's reporting is lazy. Science is not a "he said/she said". It's facts. Get an intern who had some stats in college, download R (a free statistical software package) and try to crunch the numbers. This reporting that someone says they can match Wells' numbers, but post no numbers with it is just lazy reporting. It's like saying a scientist says the sky is green and reporting it without even looking out the window. Even if Volin's source's statement is true, it still reflects poorly on Volin.

2) It is possible Volin's source and AEI do not contradict each other at all. My best reading (and I don't claim to be perfect) was that AEI said the Wells Report's text implied more variables and more error terms in the calculation. AEI had to remove error terms and variables to match Wells' results. If Volin's source also matched Wells' numbers exactly, he assumed Wells meant to use an equation with fewer error terms and variables. So, they used the same equation. The difference is what model each determined Wells meant to use.

AEI was a little light on details (I wish they'd attached an appendix with all the calculations including "R-squared" (which measures who closely the answer fits the data)), but at least AEI explained why it is important to use more variables and error terms. Volin's source did none of that. He just said he got the same answer as Wells -- he didn't say whether or why that formula was the right one.

This is a very complicated post -- and sometimes complication can confuse people into accepting a result. Rather than focus on the statistics, we need to step back and view the data with common sense -- if the logo gauge was used, there was no deflation. We know the Colt's balls' PSI was too high because they were in a warm locker room longer. The fact that people are arguing about the stats and making different assumptions to reach their conclusions shows the there is no way to reach a definitive answer because there was a rush to judgment and inadequate controls on the collection of data.

And then he doubles down on the shoddy reporting by calling out everyone for not acknowledging it. It's like farting at the dinner table and then screaming at everyone for not acknowledging it.

Betterthanmost · Jun 28, 2015

Why is anyone still reading this fool? Since Jan 22, all he has written is about footballs being deflated. He is obsesses with the story like most patriots fans and he knows it and thus is feeding his slanted view.
Everything he tweets or write is purely to further his slant.
The only person who has cover his story fair and balance is Florio. He has questioned the culpability of the Patriots when it is warranted and asked the tough questions that the nation is ignoring.

Clonamery · Jun 28, 2015

james87654 said:
i wish people werent so hard on him.....he is getting better

he is my 2nd cousin.......my grandfather and his grandmother are siblings

Yes, we know, you're both part of the Troll family.

Rob0729 · Jun 28, 2015

Thinking about it. Can anyone ever remember a Boston sports writer more openly hated by other writers than Volin. Jeff Howe openly hates him. A few others have said stuff about him.

Borges and the Curly Haired Boyfriend are hated by the fans, but seem to have good relationships with the rest of the media. It seems no one likes Volin. His arrogant persona seems to be real and not a character he created (see Felger).

Calling out others in the media today isn't going to win him any friends in the media either. He isn't a columnist like Borges or Shaunessy or a talk show host where calling out others in the media is acceptable. He is more of a beat writer who writes a Sunday column about the NFL where he is supposed to show a little more objectivity. He is also still the newer guy in town and can't get away with stuff that the old guard can get away with in the media circles.

BTW, he is calling out radio hosts and local writers for not picking up the fact that a statistician may or may not have replicated Exponent's numbers that AEI said were not replicable. Yet, half the media in this town are out to prove AEI wrong and they did not pick up either. Felger and Mazz aren't looking to protect AEI. Neither is Borges. The bozo on the air with Merloni and Fauria wants to see Brady burnt at the stake. Why would these guys be ignoring this "evidence" to protect the storyline that AEI discredited the science in the Wells report?

Joker · Jun 28, 2015

The bozo on the air with Merloni and Fauria wants to see Brady burnt at the stake.

Odd that some obscure biped would uproot and move to Boston just to hate on the hard working, good people of Southern New England, Maine, N.H. and CT. He better have a good psychiatrist if he plans on attending ANY Patriot games in person. I suspect he will almost immediately develop a severe case of fistophobia.

RayClay · Jun 28, 2015

raduray said:
Actually, you're guilty of the same mistake as Volin. The Kraft Foundation of Arizona has nothing to do with the Kraft Foods.

Yeah, it's some small bank. Lucky I'm not the globe's Patriot beat reporter, eh?

Jackson 2 · Jun 28, 2015

Joker said:
The bozo on the air with Merloni and Fauria wants to see Brady burnt at the stake.

Odd that some obscure biped would uproot and move to Boston just to hate on the hard working, good people of Southern New England, Maine, N.H. and CT. He better have a good psychiatrist if he plans on attending ANY Patriot games in person. I suspect he will almost immediately develop a severe case of fistophobia.

Honestly, Benz irritates me and goes up my backside about 4,347 miles. He has a voice that just begs for someone to perform unlicensed dental work on him. The 10 am-2pm choice between that dwarf and Bertrand the Blimp is like having to choose between being shot or hung.

Jackson 2 · Jun 28, 2015

vuudu said:
Why is anyone still reading this fool? Since Jan 22, all he has written is about footballs being deflated. He is obsesses with the story like most patriots fans and he knows it and thus is feeding his slanted view.
Everything he tweets or write is purely to further his slant.
The only person who has cover his story fair and balance is Florio. He has questioned the culpability of the Patriots when it is warranted and asked the tough questions that the nation is ignoring.

Think about that. In and of itself, that's frightening.

RobertWeathers · Jun 28, 2015

Rob0729 said:
Thinking about it. Can anyone ever remember a Boston sports writer more openly hated by other writers than Volin. Jeff Howe openly hates him. A few others have said stuff about him.

Borges and the Curly Haired Boyfriend are hated by the fans, but seem to have good relationships with the rest of the media. It seems no one likes Volin. His arrogant persona seems to be real and not a character he created (see Felger).

Kevin Mannix and Joe Fitzgerald used to piss people off. But not like Volin.

Borges started to become a real jerk in the early 90s but not like Volin.

Willie McDonough pissed off Ray Clayborn. If that had happened in 2015 hell would have exploded.

RobertWeathers · Jun 28, 2015

Jackson 2 said:
Honestly, Benz irritates me and goes up my backside about 4,347 miles. He has a voice that just begs for someone to perform unlicensed dental work on him. The 10 am-2pm choice between that dwarf and Bertrand the Blimp is like having to choose between being shot or hung.

Benz is terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Rob0729 · Jun 28, 2015

robertweathers said:
Kevin Mannix and Joe Fitzgerald used to piss people off. But not like Volin.

Borges started to become a real jerk in the early 90s but not like Volin.

Willie McDonough pissed off Ray Clayborn. If that had happened in 2015 hell would have exploded.

Yeah, but I can't remember any of those guys pissing off other people in the media. They may have pissed off fans and players and coaches, people people in the media never said things bad against them.

Jackson 2 · Jun 28, 2015

robertweathers said:
Benz is terrible. Absolutely terrible.

The brain trust (and I use that term loosely) at WEEI must be brain dead for #1 bringing him aboard, and #2 keeping him around. There are times when you can just hear Merloni silently screaming at the fact that he's surrounded by Benz and Faurier, who has the maturity level of a middle schooler. Great show...

RobertWeathers · Jun 28, 2015

Rob0729 said:
Yeah, but I can't remember any of those guys pissing off other people in the media. They may have pissed off fans and players and coaches, people people in the media never said things bad against them.

Absolutely. Journalists vs fans is one thing. Journalists vs journalists is something much different.

RobertWeathers · Jun 28, 2015

Jackson 2 said:
The brain trust (and I use that term loosely) at WEEI must be brain dead for #1 bringing him aboard, and #2 keeping him around. There are times when you can just hear Merloni silently screaming at the fact that he's surrounded by Benz and Faurier, who has the maturity level of a middle schooler. Great show...

Only reason he got the job was b/c of his dad. I am convinced of it.

Jackson 2 · Jun 28, 2015

robertweathers said:
Absolutely. Journalists vs fans is one thing. Journalists vs journalists is something much different.

Yeah, Kirk Minihane wanting to maim Faurier last week in the 10:00 am crossover provided the only reason to ever like Minihane.

RobertWeathers · Jun 28, 2015

Jackson 2 said:
Yeah, Kirk Minihane wanting to maim Faurier last week in the 10:00 am crossover provided the only reason to ever like Minihane.

I despise both. Fauria is incredibly annoying. If I hear him say that he "remembers so and so play from 13 years ago" I will slit my wrists (I'll actually change the station but you know what I mean

)

Minihane is such a tool. He isn't funny at all. I never thought I'd say this but I want Meterparel back.

Jackson 2 · Jun 28, 2015

robertweathers said:
I despise both. Fauria is incredibly annoying. If I hear him say that he "remembers so and so play from 13 years ago" I will slit my wrists (I'll actually change the station but you know what I mean )

Minihane is such a tool. He isn't funny at all. I never thought I'd say this but I want Meterparel back.

I know. I listen to Benz and I actually get wistful thinking about Mutnansky, whom I didn't like. I hear Mut on the Red Sox radio and think I'd take him back in a second.

XLIX · Jun 28, 2015

Jackson 2 said:
Yeah, Kirk Minihane wanting to maim Faurier last week in the 10:00 am crossover provided the only reason to ever like Minihane.

I heard that. Sounded like a bit more than the typical faux-argument to generate ratings, but I don't know. Got to say my money is on the ex ballplayer if they ever throw down.

Dr Pain · Jun 28, 2015

Hey Ben, the petition should have 1,000 signatures by tonight and it was brought up to a member of congress in person already. https://www.change.org/p/attorney-g..._term=des-lg-no_src-reason_msg&fb_ref=Default

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