<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Apr 7 2008, 05:03 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, it's hard to say.
Tom says FA is better, and that it's easy to tell, because FA has 2 titles, Kimi has one..ok fair enough. Then Hayden is also better than Dani, because Hayden won a title, and Dani hasn't. Rossi has 5 moto titles, and Stoner has 1, so Vale is better. I'm just using Tom's logic. He did say that FA is better than KR, because FA won more, ok, fair enough, but when I said Hayden is better (not that I actually think that) than Dani, he said we cant say because they're still racing, and that we can only say (if it stays like this) that Hayden ''achieved'' more. Well Rossi is still racing, so are Kimi and Fernando, so we can't say who's better then?? Only who ''achieved'' the most..?? I'm personally not a fan of this kind of logic. Stats are stats (they never tell the whole tory), but if Tom wants to use stats only, then Stoner and Dani are not better than Rossi, and Dani isn't as good as Hayden..
..Obviously that's crp!!
Can you not seperate a discussion of who is currently the best, and who is better in an overall perspective? Is it that difficult. Obviously Kimi is currently the best driver in the world, but looking over a career long timescale Alonso is better. The same Applies to Dani and Nicky, and Rossi Also. With your understanding of my logic, you expect me to tell you that Jackie Stewart is currently a better F1 driver than Raikonnen, and neither of us think that at all, and you know it.
I was saying that Ferrari, despite having the current best would be foolish not to look at Alonso when he frees up at the same time as their car. Equally so If Ducati have a free bike at the end of this year they would be extremely foolish not to consider Rossi, who's recent record (despite him being of an older generation and on a downward trend) is outrageously good.
As for the value of statistics there are a few things i'd like to point out.
1. Number don't lie
2. As i have said many times before brushing the facts to one side to make discretion based judgement is fundamentally flawed because there is no way to quantify your extrapolation from the actual results to ensure it is fair, and as fans we are all biased by nature so it NEVER is.
3. The world championship trophies do not come with an asterisk on the back detailing all the circumstaces that had negative outcomes for your competitors, ever.
4. If you applied for a job that required a degree qualification without a degree and told them you "should" have passed but due to a cold in one exam and a traffic jam on the way to another, etc, etc, they would not consider you a graduate.
