The world of sports has become, somewhat paradoxically, a refuge for the mathematically-inclined. Today’s sports enthusiast is confronted with a seemingly endless debate about whether advanced metrics are actually superior methods of measuring accomplishments or so much intellectual hogwash. Eventually, one’s eyes glaze over and the sides become indistinguishable: statistics and sports become perfectly inseparable, each a justification for the other. Read on.
Rick Reilly is an acclaimed sportswriter. Rick Reilly’s columns are idiotic. Which would be a forgivable (if annoying) offense if Reilly didn’t so disingenuously misunderstand the very idea of sports.
The martial arts supply an empowering narrative for those beset by fear, but a distressing vicious circle results as the martial artist goes from fear-sufferer to fear-inducer. Read more.