Comments on: Category mistake http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sat, 26 May 2012 21:58:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Tracy W http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-148978 Tracy W Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:31:03 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/#comment-148978 More fun. The head of SPARC announced on TV that it was important to determine where to distribute sports money so that they could "guarantee results". Since even the best athlete in the world can fall over and break an ankle, I wonder if by "guaranteeing results" he's considering bribing judges. Of course our news media did not pick up on this minor detail. God, sometimes I wish I was back in Britain where they have newspapers written by people who occasionally show evidence of having more than one brain cell. More fun. The head of SPARC announced on TV that it was important to determine where to distribute sports money so that they could “guarantee results”.

Since even the best athlete in the world can fall over and break an ankle, I wonder if by “guaranteeing results” he’s considering bribing judges.

Of course our news media did not pick up on this minor detail.

God, sometimes I wish I was back in Britain where they have newspapers written by people who occasionally show evidence of having more than one brain cell.

]]> By: Simstim http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-148883 Simstim Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:17:09 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/#comment-148883 Every Olympics someone runs a "so who's the greatest Olympic nation" piece that reveals it's not the USA but some tiddly little Pacific or Carribbean island nation. They are, of course, looking at the medal table on a per capita basis and so strangely enough the most populous nations lose out to the one out of a couple of dozen micro-nations who managed to snag a gold or silver medal. Every Olympics someone runs a “so who’s the greatest Olympic nation” piece that reveals it’s not the USA but some tiddly little Pacific or Carribbean island nation. They are, of course, looking at the medal table on a per capita basis and so strangely enough the most populous nations lose out to the one out of a couple of dozen micro-nations who managed to snag a gold or silver medal.

]]> By: reuben http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-148804 reuben Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:38:52 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/#comment-148804 As an immigrant to the UK who passes the Tebbit test, I have to say that, much to my surprise, I'm absolutely loving the Commonwealth Games. It's so fun to hear Brits (of various nations) actually winning something - particularly after the Athens Olympics, when most events were followed by a BBC comentator saying, "And now we're here with Great Britain's valiant X, who finished a gutsy seventeenth." As an immigrant to the UK who passes the Tebbit test, I have to say that, much to my surprise, I’m absolutely loving the Commonwealth Games. It’s so fun to hear Brits (of various nations) actually winning something – particularly after the Athens Olympics, when most events were followed by a BBC comentator saying, “And now we’re here with Great Britain’s valiant X, who finished a gutsy seventeenth.”

]]> By: Tracy W http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-148777 Tracy W Wed, 22 Mar 2006 03:53:28 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/21/category-mistake/#comment-148777 Meanwhile I'm depressed at the soon-to-come calls in NZ for more government spending on sports which are all too likely to be listened to. Because of course such a valid use for tax money is to spend it on such zero-sum games as winning Commonwealth or Olympic gold medals. (And of course, if such expenditure was successful, it would never be the case that Oz or the US would just raise their own expenditure.) Meanwhile I’m depressed at the soon-to-come calls in NZ for more government spending on sports which are all too likely to be listened to.

Because of course such a valid use for tax money is to spend it on such zero-sum games as winning Commonwealth or Olympic gold medals. (And of course, if such expenditure was successful, it would never be the case that Oz or the US would just raise their own expenditure.)

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