I often see a sports article written in this format. Take a guy, preferably someone who is actually supposed to be good, who have a terrible stat line. It can be say hit 1 for 8 and GIDP 7 times, or 1 for 15 shooting with 7 turnovers, or a RB with negative net yards, or whatever stat they measure in hockey (don't know enough about that sports). But let's say that guy eventually makes a positive contribution on some game winning drive (doesn't have to be the game winner, can just be something important in that sequence), there's always invariably an article written like: "Soandso wasn't having a good day but he didn't let that get in the way and he trusted himself and stepped up when it counts." I mean, I'm not suggesting someone give up just because they sucked throughout a game, but suppose a guy comes from the future and tell you that soandso is going to be shooting for 1 for 15 and you don't know if that 1 was the game winning shot or not, you'd probably want to replace this guy if you've anyone remotely comparable.
Another similar one to this is say you got a game where the officiating is dubious/lopsided, but there will always be some guy that says 'well the fouls aren't in team X's favor but if they played better it wouldn't have mattered." Yeah if you hit a home run every at bat you probably don't have to worry about some controversial call at the end, but that's pretty hard to do. If a team was able to foul without being punished, that usually gives them a rather significant advantage that's far beyond whatever talent difference between two pro teams. I know complaining about fouls gets you nowhere but to say that fouls don't influence the outcome of a game is rather ridiculous. Home court is all about getting more favorable calls.
Another similar one to this is say you got a game where the officiating is dubious/lopsided, but there will always be some guy that says 'well the fouls aren't in team X's favor but if they played better it wouldn't have mattered." Yeah if you hit a home run every at bat you probably don't have to worry about some controversial call at the end, but that's pretty hard to do. If a team was able to foul without being punished, that usually gives them a rather significant advantage that's far beyond whatever talent difference between two pro teams. I know complaining about fouls gets you nowhere but to say that fouls don't influence the outcome of a game is rather ridiculous. Home court is all about getting more favorable calls.
