7 ms·

The best athletes are extremely intelligent and driven people. The over-representation of black people in athletics is most definitely related to their under-re

by 3131s 7y ago

The best athletes are extremely intelligent and driven people. The over-representation of black people in athletics is most definitely related to their under-representation in other fields.

MuffinFlavored 7y ago
I think it is less "intelligence" and more "naturally physically talented"
setr 7y ago
Given how small a population “best athletes” is (..by definition), I somehow doubt this.
oh_sigh 7y ago
Or it might just be because basketball is the preferred sport of a lot of black people in the US, so they are more likely to play it and become good at it. If you look at hockey, it is mostly white. That doesn't mean being white gives you an advantage in playing hockey. It just means way more white people enjoy hockey compared to black people.
- bsder 7y ago
  > If you look at hockey, it is mostly white. That doesn't mean being white gives you an advantage in playing hockey. It just means way more white people enjoy hockey compared to black people. I suspect it's more that playing hockey implies a certain socioeconomic stratum (hockey is an expensive sport).
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    You can play a pickup game of hockey with something to thwack around as a puck, a stick, and some skates, all of which are dirt cheap. I think it's kind of a stretch to make any socioeconomic predictions when the much simpler correlate is that hockey is cheap and easy to play (and thus will have a larger talent pool to draw from) when you live where local ponds freeze over in the winter, and those parts of the country are predominately white.
    - ABCLAW 7y ago
      Did you grow up with any competitive-level hockey players? The sport is a VERY large time and finance drain on a family.
      - Baeocystin 7y ago
        That's a bit of a non-sequitur. High-end-competitive-level anything is a tremendous time and money sink. But that doesn't mean that the majority of the people that play the sport in question need to be wealthy to participate at the rec-league levels.
        bsder 7y ago
        > But that doesn't mean that the majority of the people that play the sport in question need to be wealthy to participate at the rec-league levels. Rec-league hockey requires an ice rink and time on it. Ice rink time is highly demanded and you may be getting it at 6:00AM or 11:00PM. You also need to coordinate teams at those times. And if you want any practice time-you may be getting that at 3:00AM in the morning (not joking). And, for all of that, you get the joy of shelling out lots of money for the privilege of using the ice on the graveyard shift.
    - masonic 7y ago
      ice hockey is very resource consumptive, both in terms of money and familial time) attention. Ice hockey requires both equipment and ice-time; both are costly and don't have parallels in other sports.
      - sergioj97 7y ago
        Why does it require more time than any other sport such as basketball?
        bsder 7y ago
        How many basketball courts exist vs how many ice rinks exist? Practically every high school and elementary school has a basketball court--that's probably 10,000+ in Canada. It doesn't count any associated with public parks, etc. Contrast that with ice rinks which are probably about 1000. You have at least a factor of 10 differential--probably more. In addition, ice rinks are vastly higher outlay to keep running. So, that means real money to use the rink when using a basketball court is, at worst, a nominal fee. Longer travel to play against another team if you're in a league. Fewer coaches which need to be paid more. And, your practice times are in the "dead zones" from 11:00PM to 6:00AM in the morning as the ice rink is looking to make real money from 3:00PM to about 11:00PM.
cambalache 7y ago
Nah, intelligence is orthogonal to sports skill, that is, it is not correlated. Plenty of dumb and smart sportsmen. Now, mental fortitude, self-belief, ability to perform under pressure, now those things I believe. But none of them are strongly correlated with intelligence.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
masonic 7y ago
I haven't read pertinent studies in awhile, but it used to be that all top sprinters were of West African ancestry due to a disproportionate amount of fast-twitch muscle fibers in the leg muscles.

by 3131s 7y ago

The best athletes are extremely intelligent and driven people. The over-representation of black people in athletics is most definitely related to their under-representation in other fields.

MuffinFlavored 7y ago

I think it is less "intelligence" and more "naturally physically talented"

setr 7y ago

Given how small a population “best athletes” is (..by definition), I somehow doubt this.

oh_sigh 7y ago

Or it might just be because basketball is the preferred sport of a lot of black people in the US, so they are more likely to play it and become good at it. If you look at hockey, it is mostly white. That doesn't mean being white gives you an advantage in playing hockey. It just means way more white people enjoy hockey compared to black people.

bsder 7y ago
> If you look at hockey, it is mostly white. That doesn't mean being white gives you an advantage in playing hockey. It just means way more white people enjoy hockey compared to black people. I suspect it's more that playing hockey implies a certain socioeconomic stratum (hockey is an expensive sport).
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  You can play a pickup game of hockey with something to thwack around as a puck, a stick, and some skates, all of which are dirt cheap. I think it's kind of a stretch to make any socioeconomic predictions when the much simpler correlate is that hockey is cheap and easy to play (and thus will have a larger talent pool to draw from) when you live where local ponds freeze over in the winter, and those parts of the country are predominately white.
  - ABCLAW 7y ago
    Did you grow up with any competitive-level hockey players? The sport is a VERY large time and finance drain on a family.
    - Baeocystin 7y ago
      That's a bit of a non-sequitur. High-end-competitive-level anything is a tremendous time and money sink. But that doesn't mean that the majority of the people that play the sport in question need to be wealthy to participate at the rec-league levels.
      - bsder 7y ago
        > But that doesn't mean that the majority of the people that play the sport in question need to be wealthy to participate at the rec-league levels. Rec-league hockey requires an ice rink and time on it. Ice rink time is highly demanded and you may be getting it at 6:00AM or 11:00PM. You also need to coordinate teams at those times. And if you want any practice time-you may be getting that at 3:00AM in the morning (not joking). And, for all of that, you get the joy of shelling out lots of money for the privilege of using the ice on the graveyard shift.
  - masonic 7y ago
    ice hockey is very resource consumptive, both in terms of money and familial time) attention. Ice hockey requires both equipment and ice-time; both are costly and don't have parallels in other sports.
    - sergioj97 7y ago
      Why does it require more time than any other sport such as basketball?
      - bsder 7y ago
        How many basketball courts exist vs how many ice rinks exist? Practically every high school and elementary school has a basketball court--that's probably 10,000+ in Canada. It doesn't count any associated with public parks, etc. Contrast that with ice rinks which are probably about 1000. You have at least a factor of 10 differential--probably more. In addition, ice rinks are vastly higher outlay to keep running. So, that means real money to use the rink when using a basketball court is, at worst, a nominal fee. Longer travel to play against another team if you're in a league. Fewer coaches which need to be paid more. And, your practice times are in the "dead zones" from 11:00PM to 6:00AM in the morning as the ice rink is looking to make real money from 3:00PM to about 11:00PM.

cambalache 7y ago

Nah, intelligence is orthogonal to sports skill, that is, it is not correlated. Plenty of dumb and smart sportsmen. Now, mental fortitude, self-belief, ability to perform under pressure, now those things I believe. But none of them are strongly correlated with intelligence.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

masonic 7y ago

I haven't read pertinent studies in awhile, but it used to be that all top sprinters were of West African ancestry due to a disproportionate amount of fast-twitch muscle fibers in the leg muscles.