The April 20,2009 issue of the magazine Sports Illustrated reported that the Oklahoma City Thunder, a professional basketball team, had a win-loss record for the 2008-2009 season that was actually worse for home games that were sold out (3 wins and 15 losses) than for home games that were not sold out (12 wins 11 losses).
- Based on these data, is it reasonable to conclude that a sell-out crowd is the cause of the team's poor performance at sold-out home games? Can you think of another explaination for why the win-loss record might be worse for sold out games than for games that are not sold out?
- Did random selection or random assignment play any role in the collection of these data?
