Are "Divisions/Conferences" a good/bad thing in sports?

[RoughRiders99]

Son of b****, not in MY thread. Dude, get the **** out.

[max]

Son of b****, not in MY thread. Dude, get the **** out.

It's mine now (that's the way gerrymandering works).

Divisions/Conferences are bad unless they are instituted in an attempt to balance competition, but intent is impossible to prove.

Do you think divisions/conferences are implemented to promote balance in sports?

How can you prove that a division/conference is instituted badly?

Divisions/Conferences are usually inevitable in leagues because they are one factor of a lot of assumed statistical methods a league uses to determine a "best" team at any given time. If you have a problem with "Divisions/Conferences," you might as well have a problem with the NHL awarding some games 3 points and some games 2 points.

Divisions/Conferences lead to playoffs, but the "playoffs" could also be determined by Condorcet loser cycles (as long as there are no "mutual losers"). Is the geography important? Is tradition important? It seems to be important in the border-drawing of States...

Balance is always an issue and will forever be an issue. I don't pretend to think that the effort put forth by a league to make it more balanced will ever truly be proven (impossible), appreciated (for some reason), nor instituted (I don't know why it wouldn't be).

Sporting KC 2013 schedule:

Western Conference (9 teams): 5 Home, 4 Away

Eastern Conference (9 other teams): 12 Home, 13 Away

The BCS is half-statistical theory, half-"fan poll."

If you want to talk numbers you are talking assumption and theory.

That being said, there is no reason for computer polls at all. Judged sports do just fine (Just don't go first or second in a judged sport).*

*After participants are judged in a "round," the format (read "voting system") used by judges to "advance" participants is just theory (hopefully based on "fairness").

I think your buddy gave you his answer. I gave you my answer.

This thread used to be pointless.

[IceCap]

What the hell is going on?

[RoughRiders99]

What the hell is going on?

Can't we just report this Max loser? I was SOOO sure that he was banned but now he's back posting non-sense stuff.

[IceCap]

We could, but I don't think he's broken any rules per say.

[floydnimrod]

Since this is kind of on topic, I'll just post it here.

I just saw an old poster I had when I was kid, NFL crica 1997 I believe (somewhere around there) with team logos placed by division. First, while I wasn't really a conscious NFL fan until I was around 11 or 12, I don't remember the Seahawks in the AFC at all.

Then I saw this:

- Cardinals in NFC East

- Buccaneers in NFC Central

- Panthers, Falcons, and Saints in NFC West

I know this has probably been brought up a time of two on these boards, but does anyone know why that was the case?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Since this is kind of on topic, I'll just post it here.

I just saw an old poster I had when I was kid, NFL crica 1997 I believe (somewhere around there) with team logos placed by division. First, while I wasn't really a conscious NFL fan until I was around 11 or 12, I don't remember the Seahawks in the AFC at all.

Then I saw this:

- Cardinals in NFC East

- Buccaneers in NFC Central

- Panthers, Falcons, and Saints in NFC West

I know this has probably been brought up a time of two on these boards, but does anyone know why that was the case?

A old-timer would be better served to answer this question, but I'll take the following stab:

1. The Cardinals used to be in St. Louis

2. There was only room in the Central when the Bucs joined the league

3. Everyone else got shoved in the west prior to expansion, and the Carolina/Arizona swap wasn't blindingly obvious to anyone who could do something about it.

That 2002 realignment was desperately needed and just about perfect. It is funny how much an NFC mainstay the Seahawks became. It's likely because I don't think they ever played in the NFC in their old blue/silver/green uniforms -- the "modern" Seahawks began in the NFC and don't really do much to call out their past.

[cmm]

Since this is kind of on topic, I'll just post it here.

I just saw an old poster I had when I was kid, NFL crica 1997 I believe (somewhere around there) with team logos placed by division. First, while I wasn't really a conscious NFL fan until I was around 11 or 12, I don't remember the Seahawks in the AFC at all.

Then I saw this:

- Cardinals in NFC East

- Buccaneers in NFC Central

- Panthers, Falcons, and Saints in NFC West

I know this has probably been brought up a time of two on these boards, but does anyone know why that was the case?

The NFC owners couldn't agree on how to align their teams after the merger with the AFL. Five different plans were placed in a hat (or hat-like device) and the one selected had the (St. Louis) Cardinals in the East and the Falcons and Saints in the West. You can see the other proposals on Wikipedia's NFC page:

http://en.wikipedia....ball_Conference

In 1976, the Seahawks were placed in the NFC West and the Bucs were placed in the AFC West. In 1977, the Seahawks moved to the AFC West and the Bucs to the NFC Central (I'm assuming this was done so the two expansion teams would face every team in the league in their first two seasons). Finally when the Panthers were born, they were placed in the NFC West, giving that division 5 teams like the East and Central. Because of the NFL's one-game-a-week format, I guess there wasn't a need to make the divisions optimized for geography.

The NFL has had some "creative" alignments in the past. Take a look at the 1967 Capitol/Century/Coastal/Central set-up.

http://en.wikipedia....1967_NFL_season

[MarshallEriksen]

Well, hello again, Max.

Oh yes you got that right. I'm gonna lawyer you on every thread of my client. You won't enjoy this.

How the h-e-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS does politics involve in your statements? Gerrymandering won't work here. This isn't 'Murica. This is a thread. Is your name up there on this thread? Who created this thread? You? I don't think so, my friend. So, therefore you do not 'CLAIM' this thread as you think.

And plus, that is not gerrymandering. What you think you are capable of is more of a hijacking of other people's property which under our proud Constitution and government is labeled a terrorist act and therefore you must be exiled from America. Either that or the death of your account. I'm sure the other members will rather have you be banned.

Don't cry, little boy. You were the one that brought politics in this.

Marshall Eriksen out.

[RoughRiders99]

[max]

There are many ways the American Constitution allows for dictatorship.

[max]

Stupid sitcom and played-out movie memes.

Find Kurt Godel's Constitutional loophole or explain how the Constitution would allow for a dictatorship.

I will absolutely delete my account if the lawyer either finds Godel's loophole or thinks of a way Murka can become a vampire zombie Hunger Games Star Wars dictatorship.

[MarshallEriksen]

Max, the loophole was never revealed. It's impossible for such a loophole to allow for a dictatorship.

Maybe in Austria, but only because they wrote it so loosely, but not here.

You’d have to slog through hundreds and hundreds of pages of supreme court decisions to even test a theory like that, but you are more than welcome to do so if you want to prove the theory.

But my argument still stands.

WHY IS EVERYTHING ABOUT POLITICS?

Sure sports do involve politics but it's all ownership and budgets, not the kind of politics you are looking for.

[max]

Article V amendment's ability to amend itself is the most Godelian. Many ways.

Do you feel like you have to defend everyone who asks for your legal expertise?

[McCall]

Seriously he his taking topics waaaay off topic and being a general pain in the ass. Mods can we please plead for his banishment?

[max]

Divisions/Conferences are a good thing in sports.

[MarshallEriksen]

Now that's more like it, Max! I concur with your latest statement.

Is it so difficult to put out a simple answer? Intelligence is a power that is wasted on such lengthy posts of 15-dollar words about subjects that nobody would care about on this thread.

[Funky Bunky]

We could, but I don't think he's broken any rules per say.

It's "Per se".

I corrected Ice Cap on something! Yay, do I win a medal?

[max]

Now that's more like it, Max! I concur with your latest statement.

Is it so difficult to put out a simple answer? Intelligence is a power that is wasted on such lengthy posts of 15-dollar words about subjects that nobody would care about on this thread.

Give me $15.

[MarshallEriksen]

Well, damn, and here I thought you had all these money by using these fancy words!