Use of __new__

__new__ question

class Game (object):
    """
    Game represents a single pre- or regular-season game. It provides a window
    into the statistics of every player that played into the game, along with
    the winner of the game, the score and a list of all the scoring plays.
    """

    def __new__(cls, eid=None, fpath=None):
        # If we can't get a valid JSON data, exit out and return None.
        try:
            rawData = _get_json_data(eid, fpath)
        except urllib2.URLError:
            return None
        if rawData is None or rawData.strip() == '{}':
            return None
        game = object.__new__(cls)
        game.rawData = rawData

        try:
            if eid is not None:
                game.eid = eid
                game.data = json.loads(game.rawData)[game.eid]
            else:  # For when we have rawData (fpath) and no eid.
                game.eid = None
                game.data = json.loads(game.rawData)
                for k, v in game.data.iteritems():
                    if isinstance(v, dict):
                        game.eid = k
                        game.data = v
                        break
                assert game.eid is not None
        except ValueError:
            return None

        return game

    def __init__(self, eid=None, fpath=None):
        """
        Creates a new Game instance given a game identifier.

        The game identifier is used by NFL.com's GameCenter live update web
        pages. It is used to construct a URL to download JSON data for the
        game.

        If the game has been completed, the JSON data will be cached to disk
        so that subsequent accesses will not re-download the data but instead
        read it from disk.

        When the JSON data is written to disk, it is compressed using gzip.
        """
        # Make the schedule info more accessible.
        self.schedule = nflgame.sched.games.get(self.eid, None)

        # Home and team cumulative statistics.
        self.home = self.data['home']['abbr']
        self.away = self.data['away']['abbr']
        self.stats_home = _json_team_stats(self.data['home']['stats']['team'])
        self.stats_away = _json_team_stats(self.data['away']['stats']['team'])

        # Load up some simple static values.
        self.gamekey = nflgame.sched.games[self.eid]['gamekey']
        self.time = GameClock(self.data['qtr'], self.data['clock'])
        self.down = _tryint(self.data['down'])
        self.togo = _tryint(self.data['togo'])
        self.score_home = int(self.data['home']['score']['T'])
        self.score_away = int(self.data['away']['score']['T'])
        for q in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5):
            for team in ('home', 'away'):
                score = self.data[team]['score'][str(q)]
                self.__dict__['score_%s_q%d' % (team, q)] = int(score)

        if not self.game_over():
            self.winner = None
        else:
            if self.score_home > self.score_away:
                self.winner = self.home
                self.loser = self.away
            elif self.score_away > self.score_home:
                self.winner = self.away
                self.loser = self.home
            else:
                self.winner = '%s/%s' % (self.home, self.away)
                self.loser = '%s/%s' % (self.home, self.away)

        # Load the scoring summary into a simple list of strings.
        self.scores = []
        for k in sorted(map(int, self.data['scrsummary'])):
            play = self.data['scrsummary'][str(k)]
            s = '%s - Q%d - %s - %s' \
                % (play['team'], play['qtr'], play['type'], play['desc'])
            self.scores.append(s)

        # Check to see if the game is over, and if so, cache the data.
        if self.game_over() and not os.access(_jsonf % eid, os.R_OK):
            self.save()