Aren’t you a bit tired of this equity stuff? I am. Disequilibrium is the way of the world as far as I know. No sooner than the components of any system reach balance they begin their natural entropic journey toward disequilibrium. Eggs break or rot, and once broken or rotten, they don’t reestablish what they briefly were. Humans only briefly reach parity, and them only in limited ways, like minimum wage or salaries governed by unions. Yet, even in those instances of equality, there lie all the exceptions, like the guy who has an extra job, a professor who obtains grants or writes a best seller, or a teacher who coaches. Disequilibrium seems to me to be the way of the world from weather to finances.
Sometimes the Imbalances Are Large
Sometime in the 1950s, one of my younger cousins returned from his Little League game and , sweaty, walked into his kitchen, where my aunt asked him whether the team won or lost. It was a hot summer day, and my cousin who was probably about nine at the time stood at the sink filling a glass with water when she asked. He said, “We lost” and then, leaning over the sink, proceeded to spill the water over his head to cool off. Still curious, she asked for the score. “Forty-four to 10,” he said without much concern, showing in fact more concern for his method of cooling off than for the score.
Those were the days before equity raised its ugly head over competition. People kept score, and often winners ran up the score on losers, with football teams hitting 70 points against losers without a touchdown and high school basketball teams hitting the same against teams that couldn’t score 30.
And then the anti-competition movement infiltrated Little League games, commencing the Age of Participation Trophies. I want to say that occurred mostly in the Northeast because of its incipient liberalism, but it was apparently a movement on the West Coast as well in that other center of liberalism. The attempt to erase competition from sports was a precursor of today’s safe spaces in universities, grade inflation, and of public gatherings for scream therapy when a favored political candidate (usually a liberal one) loses an election, no better examples of which are viewable on YouTube since the 2024 election.
Equity in Professional Sports
Now, Sheila Johnson, owner of the Washington Mystics, complained on CNN that Time had named Caitlin Clark “Athlete of the Year.” * Her reasoning for the complaint? The league, and not an individual player should have been recognized. Johnson seems to miss the details of performance by the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year.
Having grown up in the Pittsburgh area, I am not a Philadelphia Eagles fan, but on this past Sunday, I was just as eager to watch Saquon Barkley’s performance as I was to see my home team do well (they lost). Barkley has already run for 1,688 yards this season. That’s against men both fast and monstrous who tried to stop him. His now famous backward jump during a game has ensured his place among legendary players, all of whom were labeled “legendary” because of their actual performances. Maybe another player is capable of executing that jump, but to date no NFL player appears to have done it. Barkley is a remarkable athlete, a quality I am ready to acknowledge because I want merit rewarded. I want those who excel to garner recognition, awards, and trophies. I want the world of sports to be pervaded by inequalities. I want championship games and champions. I want some students to get As on tests for which they prepared and other students to make Fs because they didn’t prepare.
As one who has played football, basketball, and baseball, I do not understand the equity movement in sports except to say that those pushing it probably never stepped onto the field or court. It’s there, where the game is played, that individuals rise or sink to a level above or below other players.
Good Sportsmanship?
I suppose that there is a place for a Harrison Bergeron limitation in a game. Bergeron is the fictional character created by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He’s extraordinarily gifted and talented, so the powers that be put him in “chains” and earphones with distracting noises to make him less extraordinary and even “ordinary.” The analog would be to make Saquon Barkley wear snowshoes during a game. That "place" for limitation? I can see a quarterback "taking a knee" as time runs out on an opponent rather than increasing the score in a runaway game. I can understand a baseball team not stealing second in the ninth inning when it leads the other team by eight runs, even though it is possible for a losing team to rally.
What arguments can those who favor participation trophies make? Good sportsmanship? Compassion? Whatever they are they foil the nature of games, kill competition, and for the youngest participants, erase the nature of sports as an analog of or preparation for life.
Put the Caitlin Clarks, Michael Jordans, and Saquon Barkleys on the covers of magazines in recognition of their excellence. And shame those who refuse to put an actual model, Melania Trump, on the covers of magazines that featured Jill Biden or Michelle Obama, both of who appeared on fashion magazine covers. Yeah, liberals want to make all equal, and typically for them that means to ignore or denigrate those who are superior in some endeavor, talent, skill, or feature. That no magazines wanted to feature Melania Trump on their covers because the editors disagreed with her husband’s politics shows a weakness that others will exploit on the international stage every time liberals are in charge. Equity or imposed excellence won’t win a war, won’t make a vibrant economy, and won’t enable the country to weather the inevitable threats or storms of international competition.
The envious can ignore or downplay the accomplishments of Caitlin Clark, but that won't stop her from being a player with more skill than most other players.
*https://nypost.com/2024/12/16/opinion/latest-caitlin-clark-controversy-plays-into-female-stereotypes/
Sometimes the Imbalances Are Large
Sometime in the 1950s, one of my younger cousins returned from his Little League game and , sweaty, walked into his kitchen, where my aunt asked him whether the team won or lost. It was a hot summer day, and my cousin who was probably about nine at the time stood at the sink filling a glass with water when she asked. He said, “We lost” and then, leaning over the sink, proceeded to spill the water over his head to cool off. Still curious, she asked for the score. “Forty-four to 10,” he said without much concern, showing in fact more concern for his method of cooling off than for the score.
Those were the days before equity raised its ugly head over competition. People kept score, and often winners ran up the score on losers, with football teams hitting 70 points against losers without a touchdown and high school basketball teams hitting the same against teams that couldn’t score 30.
And then the anti-competition movement infiltrated Little League games, commencing the Age of Participation Trophies. I want to say that occurred mostly in the Northeast because of its incipient liberalism, but it was apparently a movement on the West Coast as well in that other center of liberalism. The attempt to erase competition from sports was a precursor of today’s safe spaces in universities, grade inflation, and of public gatherings for scream therapy when a favored political candidate (usually a liberal one) loses an election, no better examples of which are viewable on YouTube since the 2024 election.
Equity in Professional Sports
Now, Sheila Johnson, owner of the Washington Mystics, complained on CNN that Time had named Caitlin Clark “Athlete of the Year.” * Her reasoning for the complaint? The league, and not an individual player should have been recognized. Johnson seems to miss the details of performance by the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year.
Having grown up in the Pittsburgh area, I am not a Philadelphia Eagles fan, but on this past Sunday, I was just as eager to watch Saquon Barkley’s performance as I was to see my home team do well (they lost). Barkley has already run for 1,688 yards this season. That’s against men both fast and monstrous who tried to stop him. His now famous backward jump during a game has ensured his place among legendary players, all of whom were labeled “legendary” because of their actual performances. Maybe another player is capable of executing that jump, but to date no NFL player appears to have done it. Barkley is a remarkable athlete, a quality I am ready to acknowledge because I want merit rewarded. I want those who excel to garner recognition, awards, and trophies. I want the world of sports to be pervaded by inequalities. I want championship games and champions. I want some students to get As on tests for which they prepared and other students to make Fs because they didn’t prepare.
As one who has played football, basketball, and baseball, I do not understand the equity movement in sports except to say that those pushing it probably never stepped onto the field or court. It’s there, where the game is played, that individuals rise or sink to a level above or below other players.
Good Sportsmanship?
I suppose that there is a place for a Harrison Bergeron limitation in a game. Bergeron is the fictional character created by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He’s extraordinarily gifted and talented, so the powers that be put him in “chains” and earphones with distracting noises to make him less extraordinary and even “ordinary.” The analog would be to make Saquon Barkley wear snowshoes during a game. That "place" for limitation? I can see a quarterback "taking a knee" as time runs out on an opponent rather than increasing the score in a runaway game. I can understand a baseball team not stealing second in the ninth inning when it leads the other team by eight runs, even though it is possible for a losing team to rally.
What arguments can those who favor participation trophies make? Good sportsmanship? Compassion? Whatever they are they foil the nature of games, kill competition, and for the youngest participants, erase the nature of sports as an analog of or preparation for life.
Put the Caitlin Clarks, Michael Jordans, and Saquon Barkleys on the covers of magazines in recognition of their excellence. And shame those who refuse to put an actual model, Melania Trump, on the covers of magazines that featured Jill Biden or Michelle Obama, both of who appeared on fashion magazine covers. Yeah, liberals want to make all equal, and typically for them that means to ignore or denigrate those who are superior in some endeavor, talent, skill, or feature. That no magazines wanted to feature Melania Trump on their covers because the editors disagreed with her husband’s politics shows a weakness that others will exploit on the international stage every time liberals are in charge. Equity or imposed excellence won’t win a war, won’t make a vibrant economy, and won’t enable the country to weather the inevitable threats or storms of international competition.
The envious can ignore or downplay the accomplishments of Caitlin Clark, but that won't stop her from being a player with more skill than most other players.
*https://nypost.com/2024/12/16/opinion/latest-caitlin-clark-controversy-plays-into-female-stereotypes/
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