I've been meaning to write this for some time now, but something always seems to get in the way. It is something that needs to be said, at least by me, and said often. I love Phish Stats. Now, this is in conjunction with loving Phish of course. But just as the love the Encyclopedia of Baseball enhances, deepens and enriches my love of baseball, Phish Stats does the same, and more.

I'm not sure when Phish Stats started, but I do know it was started by a Phish devotee and Mathematician named David Steinberg, ZZYZX. From his mind and what began as hours of work sprang the Talmud, the Domesday Book and Dead Sea Scrolls of the Phish nation. Every song, every time played is when it got started. In a sense every note played is cataloged. The 50th time YEM was played will always be the 50th time that song was played at that place at that date. Written down for eternity. But it is the personal stats that has made the page my personal Torah. From my stats I can begin to make all kinds of observations, insi ghts and projections. Unlike baseball, I don't have a personal stake, but with Phish Stats, I can show that I have born witness to the only time 5:15 was played by Phish. After each show I attend, I generate an update that shows my growth in this realm of fanaticism.

I literally can spend hours pouring over my personal stats, along with the overall stats. For instance, the almost universal dislike of Bouncing' Around the Room has been adopted by me. I groan when the song comes on and if it the encore, I'm gone. How ever according to Phish Stats I've only seen Bouncing six times. I've seen 23 songs more often than Bouncing, and yet I'm disappointed whenever the song comes up. Just goes to show the power of persuasion. It is so common to see a disappointed review o f Bouncing, and yet I wonder if it has become a popular thing to denounce, like the unethical treatment of the color green, if others personal stats reflect my same misshapen view. Granted, Bouncing is the current #2 in the great list in the sky, but mor e on that later.

As you continue to study Phish stats more amazing things pop up, and David keeps adding new sections to entice the faithful. For instance, the song that I've seen the most is Bathtub Gin. I've seen this song ten times, the most of any song, in thirty-on e shows. Yet it is a relatively infrequent "jam" type song only being played 132 times. I thought that this was bit odd and in one of my frequent visits to the House of ZZYXX, a new section, Underplayed/Overplayed Songs, bears me out. Not only have I s een six more Gins than the average dictates, I've been spared four Bouncings. A good trade in anyone's book.

The other section that is always a joy to update is Most Common Songs Not Played. Luckily, the last three shows I've seen have allowed me to see a personal rarity. It is also fun to watch the percentages of the songs I've not seen continue to rise.

And if you continue to look at the numbers, some often-voiced complaints become unfounded. Another new addition to the page, The Last Three Times Played, debunks the notion that Phish is becoming repetitive and not breaking songs out. Taking the last t wo years of my Phish experience, my last three times score for shows was 99.5 in 1998 and 53.5 in 1999. Which, without going into all the math I used, means that Phish was playing songs at the show that I had attended that hadn't been played in 99 or 53 shows, respectively. These large numbers are mostly products of being at shows that included songs that had never been played which skews the numbers. But isn't that the fun of a Phish show? They are still surprising me with new songs and unexpected co vers at a pretty regular rate.

The other complaint that always seems to be circulating is that the West Coast and South get screwed on tours. The numbers don't really bear this notion out. While the east will always get more shows, and historically always have more shows, the West a nd South are represented pretty fairly. In 1994, Phish played 123 shows. 36 were in the East, but surprisingly, 33 were in the West and even more surprisingly, 32 were in the South. The Midwest only had 22 shows, but I won't bitch. And while the East in subsequent years has always gotten more shows, the West and the South have been well represented and in line with the rest of the country.

Being a huge sports fan as well as Phish fan, I can even make Phish Stats into a competitive venture. I love to see how the songs rank up with one another. It is very much like watching the college football rankings. For those of you interested, YEM is and has been for a very long time, the leader of the pack. It has been played 383 times in the history of Phish. Its closest competitor is Bouncing with 329 times played. The last of the top three is a tie between Cavern and Mikes Song at 307. But it is not this rarified air that I enjoy. I like to see which songs are moving the most, which songs are falling, which are rising as each year passes. It's amazing when you think about it, or at least when I think about it, that Hoist has been out for abo ut five years and yet no songs from that album have cracked the top 25. Amazingly enough, only two songs from Rift, a seven year old record, have managed to break into the top 25. And much like the Tour de France, I always see which song won a year (199 9 Champ: Get Back on the Train with 23) and treat it like a stage from that wonderful July event. In my short time of following Phish (1994) no song has repeated as year champion. Sample in a Jar has come close, which explains why it is very high in the overall rankings, currently 30th, and will probably break in the top 25 by the end of 2000. Just call me Beano Cook.

And what does it all mean? Nothing, really. If anything it just proves what my mother has been saying for years, I've got too much spare time. I'm sure there are many other ways to look at all this data, ways that I haven't even dreamed of. All of it utterly purposeless, except for the sheer joy of being able to enjoy it. Like following Phish, that's all the justification I need. I'm having fun and I hope everyone else is too. And David, whoever, wherever you are, thank you from the bottom of my ge eky heart.