5 ms·

If sports were fair, then everyone would win. The way he's using "fair" is more like "If sports were fair, then the guy who works hardest would win." Equality

If sports were fair, then everyone would win. The way he's using "fair" is more like "If sports were fair, then the guy who works hardest would win." Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.

moron4hire 13y ago
The concept of greater effort only holds for amateur sports, and only at the low levels of the sport. Professional athletes all (well with the exception of primadonna athletes) work as absolutely hard as they possibly can. If there were a way to work harder to have a better chance victory, they would. Sports are fair in the sense that everyone has the opportunity to do everything they can within the rules. The rules are numerous enough and vague enough (being that they are written by people in human languages) that there are a variety of interpretations and paths through which one can play. No one person can explore the entire depths of the rulebook. But it is not fair in the sense that any one particular path through the rulebook will be as effective as any other path.
- streptomycin 13y ago
  Professional athletes all (well with the exception of primadonna athletes) work as absolutely hard as they possibly can. If there were a way to work harder to have a better chance victory, they would. That seems very obviously not true, unless by "primadonna athletes" you mean "the vast majority of athletes". Athletes face opportunity costs just like the rest of us, and different athletes come to different priorities. They aren't robots. For instance, stories about pro athletes coming to training camp out of shape are very common. An article I recently read about Andre Miller comes to mind. Andre Miller is a basketball player that most would say fits the archetype of "wily veteran" rather than "primadonna". How does he train? http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15542/the-secrets-of-the-nbas-iron-man http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15542/the-secrets... "I have no regimen," Miller says. After the season ends, so does Miller's working out -- no weights, no cardio, no nothing. "I really don't pick up a basketball." Eating right also falls by the wayside. "(My diet) isn't healthy at all," Miller says. "Hamburgers, hot links on the Fourth of July, all that." To control his weight, however, Miller uses old-fashioned discipline. "I starve myself," he says. Seriously? "Yeah, I'm just starting to learn about calories and all that." Yep, that's the guy who owns the active NBA record for consecutive games played. And he competes against players like Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash who are famous for their impeccable training regimens. Another example... literally every female athlete who gets pregnant is hurting her chances for victory. Yet tons of them do it.
  - Someone 13y ago
    "every female athlete who gets pregnant is hurting her chances for victory. Yet tons of them do it." That isn't clear-cut. There are rumours that getting pregnat was used as a form of doping. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/doping.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/doping.asp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_doping http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_doping
    - streptomycin 13y ago
      Interesting, I'd never heard of that before. Then change it to "gets pregnant and doesn't have an abortion" and it's definitely true, right?

If sports were fair, then everyone would win. The way he's using "fair" is more like "If sports were fair, then the guy who works hardest would win." Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.

moron4hire 13y ago

The concept of greater effort only holds for amateur sports, and only at the low levels of the sport. Professional athletes all (well with the exception of primadonna athletes) work as absolutely hard as they possibly can. If there were a way to work harder to have a better chance victory, they would. Sports are fair in the sense that everyone has the opportunity to do everything they can within the rules. The rules are numerous enough and vague enough (being that they are written by people in human languages) that there are a variety of interpretations and paths through which one can play. No one person can explore the entire depths of the rulebook. But it is not fair in the sense that any one particular path through the rulebook will be as effective as any other path.

streptomycin 13y ago
Professional athletes all (well with the exception of primadonna athletes) work as absolutely hard as they possibly can. If there were a way to work harder to have a better chance victory, they would. That seems very obviously not true, unless by "primadonna athletes" you mean "the vast majority of athletes". Athletes face opportunity costs just like the rest of us, and different athletes come to different priorities. They aren't robots. For instance, stories about pro athletes coming to training camp out of shape are very common. An article I recently read about Andre Miller comes to mind. Andre Miller is a basketball player that most would say fits the archetype of "wily veteran" rather than "primadonna". How does he train? http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15542/the-secrets-of-the-nbas-iron-man http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15542/the-secrets... "I have no regimen," Miller says. After the season ends, so does Miller's working out -- no weights, no cardio, no nothing. "I really don't pick up a basketball." Eating right also falls by the wayside. "(My diet) isn't healthy at all," Miller says. "Hamburgers, hot links on the Fourth of July, all that." To control his weight, however, Miller uses old-fashioned discipline. "I starve myself," he says. Seriously? "Yeah, I'm just starting to learn about calories and all that." Yep, that's the guy who owns the active NBA record for consecutive games played. And he competes against players like Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash who are famous for their impeccable training regimens. Another example... literally every female athlete who gets pregnant is hurting her chances for victory. Yet tons of them do it.
- Someone 13y ago
  "every female athlete who gets pregnant is hurting her chances for victory. Yet tons of them do it." That isn't clear-cut. There are rumours that getting pregnat was used as a form of doping. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/doping.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/doping.asp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_doping http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_doping
  - streptomycin 13y ago
    Interesting, I'd never heard of that before. Then change it to "gets pregnant and doesn't have an abortion" and it's definitely true, right?