Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "David Rothman (statistician)" in English language version.
A look at the men behind the BCS computers: David Rothman | Background check: Retired statistician, University of Wisconsin graduate. Executive director of FACT, the Foundation for the Analysis of Competitions and Tournaments. Has been producing ratings since 1963. Third year in BCS. | Bias meter: Wisconsin ranks No. 35 in unofficial BCS standings, No. 39 in Rothman's standings. | Quoting Rothman: "Last time I went to a game? I recall a Wisconsin Rose Bowl in the 1960s. I don't know. But I do watch. But it's not like Constitutional reform, that's where I really have something to offer."
Rothman, David of Hawthorne. Beloved father died June 12, 2004. Service at Affordable Burial Cremation Service Thurs., July 1, 4 pm
Yesterday, the B.C.S. made its annual tweaking, with Tranghese announcing the elimination of the margin of victory as a component in the computer rankings that make up a portion of the B.C.S. calculation. Last year, four of the eight computer rankings included margin of victory. ... The B.C.S. dropped two computer rankings that refused to drop margin of victory (the Herman Matthews/Scripps Howard ranking and David Rothman's)
David Rothman, a semiretired aerospace statistician in Hawthorne, Calif., has devised the most thorough college football ranking system we've ever heard of. What Rothman does is statistically pit all 677 college teams against every other team every weck. Rothman determines who wins each imaginary game in this gigantic round-robin, using not only a school's actual results but also the strength of its schedule. Here, with the schools' real records, are the bottom 10 teams on Rothman's list after last week.
Rothman was particularly surprised to be picked because he had written a piece that criticized the BCS and even opened with the words "what a load of crap." | Rothman started working out the bugs in his own system as far back as the early 1970s. | In Rothman's rankings, his system is so pure and devoid of influence by previous history that it's as if "689 college football teams (from all divisions) arrived from Mars on Aug. 25." Perhaps that's why his early No. 2 ranking of Marshall brought a lot of flak. | Trust us, you don't want to get into an argument with the 64-year-old Rothman. He almost has to be begged to reveal an IQ that's higher than 160. He's a former top-flight bridge player, started college in Wisconsin at age 16 and attended a national defense seminar at Harvard led by Henry Kissinger. Think he's into numbers? He logged in this phone call at 855 Thursday morning and at the conclusion of the conversation informed the reporter the interview was one minute shy of an hour. Of course, when you're dealing with an educated man who worked on a team that designed the Orbiter lifting frame that places the space shuttle atop airplanes for transportation, even computer football is rocket science.
David Rothman is a systems analyst and college football buff from Canoga Park, Calif. By programming a computer to analyze "RRE values," "Newton-Raphson approximations" and "hypothetical win fractions," Rothman figured to find out which team ranked first. He did. He discovered what everyone knew already—that last season's leader was the University of Southern California. Last week other fans had another question for Rothman's computer: Where did it rank the Jackson State Tigers of Jackson, Miss.? The answer was: No. 98, under the general classification: "Other Teams."
The above system meets all the required conditions from October to the end of the season, except for championships. Any team within 1.8 points of the leader automatically shares in a cochampionship, and other teams within 3.0 points of the leader share at my discretion. Championships have been awarded on this basis by the Foundation for the Analysis of Competitions and Tournaments since the 1970s, and retroactive to 1968.
