Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The 100 meters is such an intense race (well all the running events on the track are really - Harrier has run them all - with the exception of the 10,000 meters - but he has run 100 meters to 5,000 meters on the track) - but the 100 is special.
It is a test of pure speed and excellent running efficiency(which is why Harrier was no good at sprints and eventually gravitated towards long distance - that and because he possesses long twitch muscles which are better suited to running long distances).
So many things have to go right in order to win a 100 meter race: the start, form during the mid-race, the finish, and in this case - a nice lean by Mr. Gatlin, and even then he didn't seem to know that he had won.
Harrier is wondering if the Jamaicans will show up with a bobsled team in Sochi.
Usain Bolt has had dropoffs at times. He's just like anyone else and suffers from injuries from time to time. Or he's admitted that he doesn't always train hard.
But still, there has never been another runner quite like him before, and i doubt we'll ever see another one in our lifetime.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Indentured Servant
No one mentioned the Japanese, who have done quite well in recent Olympic sprinting, as a team.
That having been said, the themes that I see most prominently are self-fulfilling prophecy and opportunity cost. Starting with the latter, the more varied ones activity in youth comes with an expense. Every moment spent doing one thing is a moment taken away from doing something else. To be exceptional at anything requires a commitment of time to be good at that particular something. However, if you are engaging in other activities,... that is time that is lost from mastering one sport or skill. Again, spreading oneself in various activities creates a well-rounded jack of all trades who is masterful at none. The "dumb jock" stereotype was probably born from the opportunity cost of playing a lot of sports meant not having or not spending that time developing the mind through studies as most of the time is spent on developing brawn.....hence dumb jock.
As for the former, a profound phenomenon that shapes reality is the self-fulfilling prophecy. What groups or individuals become is profoundly impacted by outside expectations. If people expect that you cannot do something then they treat you in a manner, often, that self-fulfills that assumption. They may never give you the opportunities to do it enough to be good at it because they expect you will not be good at it. Then they may let you try it, then you do not do well, then it confirms their belief. People and society do not try to nurture individuals and groups where they feel there is likely not a good return on investment. While on the other hand, society and people will invest heavily in people and groups where they feel there is a good return on investment.
In America society, race is powerful. Race, consciously or subconsciously, creates expectations. Asians are expected to do well in school. Blacks are expected to do well in sports. Whites are expected to be the leaders, creators and innovators. Hence, society does not nurture Asians to be good athletes or blacks to do well in school, because society does not see a return on investment because it has low expectations and assumptions about those groups in those skill sets. What society does not nurture therefore does not grow and hence the prophecy is self-fulfilled by the treatment. Overtime groups began to define themselves by how they have been seen by the larger dominant culture, which then helps to perpetuate the self-fulfilling prophecy.
I submit to you that blacks can find success academic success at the rates that Asians do and Asians can find the success in sports that blacks do, for the most part, but society does not nurture and invest where it does not see promise, which has a lot to do with race and racism. Does anyone ever wonder why the US invests more in Asia than Africa? Is it any wonder then, why Asia has boomed while Africa has remained stagnant? When you believe in people and the people believe in themselves, they sky is the limit. When you don’t believe in people and the people do not believe in themselves, they never reach the sky.
The larger dominant society and culture MOLDS groups into "nithches" based upon how they see these groups and what they expect of these groups, via how they nurture and treat these groups.
The thing is this. Once you open the door to the belief that "race" and racial genetics play a large part in athletic performance....then you open the door also to the possibility and probabilities that race plays a role in intellectual and emotional performance as well.
Aside from the spiritual, there is only the physical and the mental, as it relates to humans. Obviously they are interconnected and symbiotic, however, people need to be more MENTAL to survive in this era than physical. Its the era of the mind and people who hold onto racial theories about the physical, I dare say, also hold onto racial ideas about the mental. Thus, socioeconomic inequality between the races can be seen as the natural outcome of racial genetic differences being played out, just as they believe they are played out in the physical realm via athletics.
I submit to you this. Nearly all of my essays and rants, if you will, is predicated upon the demonstration and exposure of these hidden cognition in many whites. What I have been trying to demonstrate is that Many, if not most, whites think in such a way that one can only conclude that the unstated premise is the mental inferiority of the black race. People who hold these believes tend to be conservative and vote republican, although I am not saying that everyone who is such is guilty of such. One can easily see this through the process of elimination, if not deductive and inductive reasoning because few will admit such beliefs, if they are conscious beliefs, because they do not want to be seen or exposed as "racist" (and racism does not mean that you hate or dislike or cannot and do not get along with other races).
There is no way that you can start from the premise or belief of the inherent equality of the races, and then eliminate all the historical and external reason paths which leads to the current racial inequality. In other words, logically, one cannot create an inequality from an equality, while arguing that the current inequality is NOT the result and consequence of the different treatment of each side of (the impact and consequence of past and present racism) the equation. If the inequality is NOT the result of unequal treatment, then one is arguing that the two sides were never equal to begin with. Hence, you cannot get to inequality, while dismissing the role of unequal treatment (racism), if you assume that there EVER WAS EQUALITY in abilities and capacities .....especially MENTAL ( which control intellect,
temperament, emotions.....ie....test scores, violence, responsibility, laziness etc.) in the first place. people cannot accept and dissent against the idea the society NURTURED two different cultures and and realities, as a result of "ISMS", in regards to race, then they are saying that the reason for the socioeconomic differences is INHERENT.
Last edited by Indentured Servant; 12-31-2013 at 11:37 AM..
Usain Bolt has had dropoffs at times. He's just like anyone else and suffers from injuries from time to time. Or he's admitted that he doesn't always train hard.
But still, there has never been another sprinter quite like him before, and Harrier doubts that we'll ever see another one such as him in our lifetime.
Many people ask this irrelevant and off topic question.
You are not the first.
Despite your self-serving and self-aggrandizing characterization of my question, rest assured that I think it's relevant, since I make my living as an editor of the English language.
Quote:
Harrier's standard answer is that he is not a fan of the word "I".
So indeed, you are the anti-Rastafarian?
Quote:
You will also note that Harrier's custom title is "Illeistic" - which is provided for explanation.
Despite your self-serving and self-aggrandizing characterization of my question, rest assured that I think it's relevant, since I make my living as an editor of the English language.
This is absolutely wrong. Exercise science has been able to demonstrate that genetics play the major factor in human performance at elite levels.
So then you do think that Michael Phelps enjoys a genetic advantage of being of northern European ancestry and so his talent isn't the dominant factor in his success.
People of northern European ancestry dominate swimming every bit as people of West African ancestry dominate sprints.
I mean this is what you say of Usain Bolt. His being of West African descent being a huge aspect of his success.
Please don't attribute hard work, good coaching and discipline to Phelps, and genetic good luck to Bolt.
So then you do think that Michael Phelps enjoys a genetic advantage of being of northern European ancestry and so his talent isn't the dominant factor in his success.
People of northern European ancestry dominate swimming every bit as people of West African ancestry dominate sprints.
I mean this is what you say of Usain Bolt. His being of West African descent being a huge aspect of his success.
Please don't attribute hard work, good coaching and discipline to Phelps, and genetic good luck to Bolt.
NO, Phelps is also great because he is at the high end of the genetic lottery. Same thing holds true in swimming as it does in running. One major difference is that compared to sprinting, swimming is very technique driven. In essence, a person who wants to excel at swimming has to have the raw talent but must be able to be very efficient in the water in a way that is not required in sprinting.
Swimming though is more sociology driven because of the fact that few western africans participate in swimming at the early ages it takes to acquire these skills. Nevertheless, western africans have shown to have greater than average bone to muscle average in their lean body mass that have required exercise scientists to have to account for race in the equations they use for body composition assessment. This great bone to lean muscle tissue makes western african bone density to be greater than that of the typical northern european. Increased bone density is a disadvantage in swimming.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I-n-I would agree. Baldhead for sure.
