Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Off Topic: A Little "Math Problem" @ Michigan

The much ballyhooed; "The Big Chill at The Big House" -- turned into "The Big Myth at The Big House" -- thanks to the "honest" folks at Guinness World Records.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a quick refresh -- The University of Michigan hockey team took on the Michigan State University hockey team this past Saturday -- outdoors -- inside Michigan Stadium (photo).  And, the University of Michigan "announced" a world record crowd of 113,411 people attended the hockey game...

Well, they "mis-represented" the facts...

Representatives of the Guiness World Records were in attendance to "verify" the crowd and they reported -- the attendance was actually:  85,451.

Now, that's a difference of 27,960 spectators.

When a representative of the University of Michigan was asked about the discrepancy, he responded:  "The difference in figures may be attributed to different standards in counting. Michigan included people working the game such as media, staff and concession workers – but Guinness doesn’t include those people in the attendance figure."

REALLY????

As a "point of reference" -- I've seen it reported before -- that a typical football Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, you'll have approximately "4,000 to 5,000" people inside the Stadium that didn't pay for their tickets; 
  • 900 concession workers
  • 400 home band members and 350 visiting band members
  • 750 Ushers
  • 60 First Aid
  • 1,500 Media and Guests in the Press Box
  • 100 Traffic and Stadium Police
  • 150 Field Passes
  • 90 Program Sellers
  • 10 game officials
  • 15 Grounds Crew
  • 25 Housekeeping & 20 repair personnel
  • 50 managers and trainers

For you "non-Michigan" math majors that adds up to "approximately" 4,420 in the "different standards in counting" method that the University of Michigan is claiming.

MAKES YOU WONDER WHAT IS THE "BIG HOUSE'S" TRUE CAPACITY?

Here's a LINK to Michigan's official website for The Big Chill -- as you'll see, they're still claiming a SELL OUT of 109,901...   Here's a second link to a local Detroit news story on the controversy:

LINK:  THE BIG MYTH @ THE BIG HOUSE