Every week there is commentary in  the US press about the productivity of football (NFL and/or college) teams or individual players.

This is not productivity – it is about performance  … but fails to use an output/input ratio … the very essence of productivity.

Player performance is important – but US sport (or sports reporters) uses far too many spurious  statistics – and language that upsets a relative purist – the winningest team and so on.

They cite previous performances ands results between two teams as if it might have some bearing on the current matchup.

I am sure fans find it interesting … I hope they do because a lot of resource goes into compiling these statistics … but do they can do harm.

I can image in a player on team X saying after a loss to team Y, “Well, its 27 years since we’ve beaten them – what do you expect?”  If you build a reputation, some players and teams will succumb to it.

Statistics are real – but can be used to motivate if applied and employed correctly.

Think before you apply measures – in football, and in business