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Why should women's championships even exist? Isn't that just a pity prize? Either design a game where women tend to perform better (like certain forms of gymnas
by alisonkisk 5y ago
Why should women's championships even exist? Isn't that just a pity prize? Either design a game where women tend to perform better (like certain forms of gymnastics) or where they tend to be more interested due to the cultural aspects (like cheer/dance), or let women compete in other areas of endeavor.
Why have leagues for women in basketball but not "men under 6ft tall"?
Is it to encourage girls and women to be physically active for a health life? If so, so we need competition for that? (I'd say no -- boys and men who aren't eite talent are also pushed out by the focus on competition)
Now if people like women sports due to the style of play in WNBA or Women's soccer or whatever, that's great; just make the rules and marketing and such to promote that style, and women will tend to be the participants.
- bagacrap 5y agoThis post is generally ridiculous, but I will point out that we do have weight categories for boxing. I suppose we don't have height categories for basketball because no one wants to watch that.
- ajuc 5y ago> I suppose we don't have height categories for basketball because no one wants to watch that. I would. Then it would be more about skill than strength and height, like football.
- golergka 5y agoBut wouldn't you, in a 160-180cm bracket, for example, end up with nearly all players being 178-180cm? And then 158-160cm for the next one. Imagine what drama would happen if a promising teenage athlete would not stop growing at 159 and got 2 extra centimetres, for example: he would completely lose his shot to be a professional. People can adjust their weight with a diet, but they can't really change their height.
- ajuc 5y ago3 cm isn't that much of a deal. 20 cm is. And if 10 cm categories are too wide they can be adjusted to 5 cm. I would actually change the rules in olympic basketball to have 1 player from each category :)
- void_mint 5y agoIt’s already this way. It hasn’t been “about” height in a long time. The best players in the league aren’t the tallest by a long shot. Steph Curry is 6’4.
- ajuc 5y agoThis is the distribution apparently: https://i.imgur.com/v0QRyDr.png https://i.imgur.com/v0QRyDr.png Average is at 200 cm compared to 175 cm in general adult male US population:) Compare this to football: http://www.twolfanger.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Average-Height-of-Bundesliga-Players-by-Position-in-cm.png http://www.twolfanger.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Average-...
- void_mint 5y agoNot sure what your point is? The argument presented was that height mattered more than skill. If that were true, the tallest players would also be the best, no? Instead, very clearly, the best players are usually _not_ the tallest, sometimes not even close.
- ajuc 5y agoMy point is that height clearly matters more. It doesn't mean that skill doesn't matter at all.
- void_mint 5y ago> My point is that height clearly matters more. Sorry, in what way is that clear? The best players aren't the tallest, so isn't it clear that your statement is false? The attribute that defines success is skill, not height, which is evidenced by a look at the most successful NBA players. You're saying "Because NBA players are taller than average, tall = success", which is just not really true.
- ajuc 5y agoThis is a very simplistic understanding of statistics. Basketball success doesn't need to be correlated linearly with height for it to be the single most important factor. In fact it's pretty obvious there would be a tipping point because extreme height is inversely correlated with health and mobility. In similar fashion weight matters more than skill in boxing that's why we have weight categories. 120 kg boxer will win over 80 kg boxer 90% of the time or more assuming basic competency. But it doesn't mean that the most obese person in the world would be the best boxer. And the correlation is even more obvious with basketball than with boxing which you can see comparing the height distribution in basketball with height distribution in adult male population [1]. Average for basketball is higher than 97th percentile for general population. That's not an accident :) If skill is more important than height where are the 160 cm basketball players? None of them got enough skill? In soccer 2 players widely recognized as the best in last decade are 170 and 187 cm. Different sides of the general height average. In basketball this histogram for ALL professional players STARTS at the general average (5'9). [1] https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s0205.pdf https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/...
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y agoIIRC in the early days basketball teams had a maximum average height, which I think might be neat to bring back. If you want a giant on your team, you'd need to balance him out by recruiting an exceptionally talented shorter guy.
- names_are_hard 5y ago> because no one wants to watch that. So... like the WNBA?
- raffraffraff 5y agoWhy should they exist? Sounds to me like you're suggesting that female people should be forbidden from organising their own sporting competitions unless it's mudwrestling, foxy boxing and such-and-such (to quote Homer Simpson).
- faeriechangling 5y agoFor the same reason that weight classes exist and cause people to pay millions and millions to watch Floyd Mayweather box when a super heavyweight could pound him into pulp. It allows more people to compete in sport.