[ExI] super bowl

[Mike Dougherty]

2011/2/4 FRANK MCELLIGOTT <FRANKMAC at ripco.com>:
> It is that time of year again, Super bowl weekend, when the United State
> people forget about Egypt, bombs in Moscow, wars in Iraq and Afganistan, and
> gather to watch the Packers play the Steelers,

ouch.

> I know you don't care, but I would be remiss without asking the following
> question.
[snip]
> Computer against human knowledge of an entire country, man against
> machine (big blue and Watson and now Madden Football) money  bet over a
> billion on each side.
>
>  Well who do you Like?

Your first (well, second) assumption is correct:  I don't care.  :)

I wonder though what parametric weight would be applied to the value
of public opinion on the outcome of the game if you were to attempt to
model this feedback.  Comparing statistical models of each team's
capability may give you a 7-1-0 prediction, but then the humans
playing the game can be 'psyched' by these numbers.  Have there even
been enough games played to test this phenomenon?  I suspect that if
enough hype goes into supporting the underdog they will play better
than the model predicted even if it is because the modeled winner
plays worse.