Sports

[millring]

What sport do you suppose comes the closest to minimizing the physical superiority of men over women? Automobile racing maybe?

Is there one that actually favors women?

I'm absolutely hooked on watching WNBA videos. The game is beautiful. But I played enough to realize that an NBA team could probably hold a WNBA team virtually scoreless.

Ping pong? Auto racing? Chess? (Is chess a sport?)

On edit:

I bet that WNBA players could win at games of HORSE against NBA players.

[John B]

Maybe auto racing? Since "sports" (in quotes because the definition is subject to interpretation) are usually physical contests where a more and bigger muscle mass usually, but not always, ends up winning. Not always, of course. But I am at best a casual sports observer.

[Marshall]

Aug 17, 2024 14:48:51 GMT -5 millring said:

What sport do you suppose comes the closest to minimizing the physical superiority of men over women? Automobile racing maybe?

Is there one that actually favors women?

I'm absolutely hooked on watching WNBA videos. The game is beautiful. But I played enough to realize that an NBA team could probably hold a WNBA team virtually scoreless.

Ping pong? Auto racing? Chess? (Is chess a sport?)

On edit:

I bet that WNBA players could win at games of HORSE against NBA players.

Horseback riding. It's the only Olympic sport where men and women compete equally against each other.

[millring]

Aug 17, 2024 16:14:18 GMT -5 Marshall said:

Aug 17, 2024 14:48:51 GMT -5 millring said:

What sport do you suppose comes the closest to minimizing the physical superiority of men over women? Automobile racing maybe?

Is there one that actually favors women?

I'm absolutely hooked on watching WNBA videos. The game is beautiful. But I played enough to realize that an NBA team could probably hold a WNBA team virtually scoreless.

Ping pong? Auto racing? Chess? (Is chess a sport?)

On edit:

I bet that WNBA players could win at games of HORSE against NBA players.

Horseback riding. It's the only Olympic sport where men and women compete equally against each other.

Hadn't thought about that one. Perfect. In fact, doesn't the edge sort of go to the lighter women? Maybe? How may female jockeys are there, and how do they compare? I bet it's only a matter of access and history still favoring the men.

[Marshall]

Aug 17, 2024 16:16:14 GMT -5 millring said:

Hadn't thought about that one. Perfect.

My wife reminds me of it regularly, being a horse person. I don't think weight is an issue. Strength is involved as you are are directing a 1500# animal.

[james]

Women have quite often been good at ultra endurance cycling. This article has some speculative thoughts and theories about that.

www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/women-ultra-endurance-cycling


ETA - Beryl Burton was quite famous  when I was a kid.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Burton

[millring]

I'm pretty sure that they excel at ultra endurance running -- where distance is the goal, not necessarily timed.

[aquaduct]

Aug 17, 2024 14:48:51 GMT -5 millring said:

What sport do you suppose comes the closest to minimizing the physical superiority of men over women? Automobile racing maybe?

Is there one that actually favors women?

I'm absolutely hooked on watching WNBA videos. The game is beautiful. But I played enough to realize that an NBA team could probably hold a WNBA team virtually scoreless.

Ping pong? Auto racing? Chess? (Is chess a sport?)

On edit:

I bet that WNBA players could win at games of HORSE against NBA players.

I'd go with auto racing, but narrow it to specifically drag racing.

Nothing to that but good reflexes and nerves of steel. And there are already a number of female champions in all classes from top fuel to motorcycles.

[TKennedy]

Some pretty good female aerobatic pilots.

[epaul]

HORSE.

NBA player: I'm calling a 360 Windmill Dunk. You have to take off at the free throw line.

WNBA player: Fuck that.

[coachdoc]

Aug 18, 2024 0:07:23 GMT -5 epaul said:

HORSE.

NBA player: I'm calling a 360 Windmill Dunk. You have to take off at the free throw line.

WNBA player: Fuck that.

Back in the 60’s or seventies I saw a Sixers game with Erving, McGinnis and Dawkins. Good grief. I saw Dawkins pull down a rebound, throw out his elbows as he came down knocking the players on either side of him to the ground, then throw the ball like a baseball hitting Dr. J full stride as he went airborne at half court, landing on one foot and taking off again to one hand slam dunk. Completely ignoring gravity. Still don’t believe it was possible, but he did it.

[Dave Poor]

Aug 17, 2024 14:48:51 GMT -5 millring said:

What sport do you suppose comes the closest to minimizing the physical superiority of men over women? Automobile racing maybe?

Is there one that actually favors women?

I'm absolutely hooked on watching WNBA videos. The game is beautiful. But I played enough to realize that an NBA team could probably hold a WNBA team virtually scoreless.

Ping pong? Auto racing? Chess? (Is chess a sport?)

On edit:

I bet that WNBA players could win at games of HORSE against NBA players.

Maybe the shooting sports. Rifle and pistol, archery. Biathlon maybe? At the Olympics, the scoring differences in winning targets is so tiny, it gets hard to claim maleness is an actual advantage.

[millring]

Aug 18, 2024 21:34:17 GMT -5 coachdoc said:

Aug 18, 2024 0:07:23 GMT -5 epaul said:

HORSE.

NBA player: I'm calling a 360 Windmill Dunk. You have to take off at the free throw line.

WNBA player: Fuck that.

Back in the 60’s or seventies I saw a Sixers game with Erving, McGinnis and Dawkins. Good grief. I saw Dawkins pull down a rebound, throw out his elbows as he came down knocking the players on either side of him to the ground, then throw the ball like a baseball hitting Dr. J full stride as he went airborne at half court, landing on one foot and taking off again to one hand slam dunk. Completely ignoring gravity. Still don’t believe it was possible, but he did it.

At basketball camp we always had some pro come and talk. One year is was a Pacer named Darnell Hillman. Hillman wasn't particularly good. He started for a year or two, but wasn't a very notable player as pros go. But he was known for pre-game dunking exhibitions, and he could take a dollar off the top of the backboard. He could also touch the rim with his foot (he was a college high jumper too).

Anyway, a run of the mill pro. But as part of his exhibition at the camp he challenged anyone to get a shot off on him. Nobody ever could.

I don't think it's exaggerating to say that an NBA team could hold a WNBA team scoreless. The physical differences are just too great in a game where those differences matter so much. Even if the women were taller and bigger they're not fast/quick enough.

[epaul]

A top high school team would have a cakewalk in WNBA. And that isn't in any way meant as a WNBA slight or diminishment. Rather an acknowledgement of just how crazy the development of players has gotten. There are 19 year olds staring the NBA. Two years out of high school and they are starting in the NBA.

Victor Wembanyama entered the NBA as 7'4" 19 year old and he is not only a starter, he is a game changer. Well, he was pretty damn dominant as a 7'4" 17 year old. As was Anthony Edwards. Saw a clip of high school all star game he was in as a 16 year old. Holy Crips! He was ripped with man muscles and he was soaring sky high. And while he stood out, he didn't stand out. High school courts are loaded with the amazing. And developed muscles.

[epaul]

Luka Dončić was playing pro ball in Europe when he was 16! (and then, as now, Luka managed to hide his muscles and build a game that didn't need them).

[epaul]

Don't mean to suggest this teen-NBA readiness is recent. Moses "The Mailman" Malone jumped straight to the NBA right out of high school, as a 6'8" 240 lb. power forward, in 1974. Other notables that went direct to the NBA right out of high school: Kevin Garnet, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Darryl Dawkins... and 17 more I'm not going to take the time to list.

In 2005, Amir Johnson became the last player to make the jump from high school to the NBA... because in 2006 the NBA passed a rule that stated a player had to be 19 years old and at least one year out of high school before he could enter the NBA draft. Which was the start of our current string of "one and dones" (one year of college then off to the pros).

There is enough basketball talent in high school gyms to start up a dozen pro leagues.

[david]

According to this article, you folks have pretty much nailed it.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-the-sports-where-women-outperform-men

One of its observations puzzles me: it indicates that women perform on par with men when shooting at stationary targets but not as well at moving targets.

[Dub]

Aug 19, 2024 12:41:52 GMT -5 david said:

According to this article, you folks have pretty much nailed it.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-the-sports-where-women-outperform-men

One of its observations puzzles me: it indicates that women perform on par with men when shooting at stationary targets but not as well at moving targets.

That should tell us something. Don’t stand still, run like hell.

[Rob Hanesworth]

Aug 19, 2024 14:48:04 GMT -5 Dub said:

Aug 19, 2024 12:41:52 GMT -5 david said:

According to this article, you folks have pretty much nailed it.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-the-sports-where-women-outperform-men

One of its observations puzzles me: it indicates that women perform on par with men when shooting at stationary targets but not as well at moving targets.

That should tell us something. Don’t stand still, run like hell.

If you had seen me "run" in the last 30 or 40 years you would know that wouldn't save me.

[aquaduct]

Aug 20, 2024 9:22:18 GMT -5 Rob Hanesworth said:

Aug 19, 2024 14:48:04 GMT -5 Dub said:

That should tell us something. Don’t stand still, run like hell.

If you had seen me "run" in the last 30 or 40 years you would know that wouldn't save me.

I think being really drunk helps with the bobbing and weaving. It'll make up for the lack of velocity.

That's an old pro tip.