Here we go again – drugs and sports. What’s the problem? No really, what exactly is the problem? Some say those who’ve used cocaine should be banned from the Olympics because it’s illegal. Well, there are many things that are illegal – shouldn’t we therefore ban every athlete who’s ever done something illegal? But why? …
Category: sports
Oct 31 2010
Hunting
Well, it’s autumn. That time of year when the breeze gets brisk, the leaves start to fall, and good men from all walks of life wear something besides blue, brown, grey, and black: they wear orange. Hunter orange. Yes this is the time of year when good men from all walks of life go into …
Feb 19 2010
The Olympians
Insofar as competition is the measure of oneself against another, it entails the view that the other is more important than oneself. Otherwise, it would be sufficient to measure oneself against oneself (a past self, a hoped-for future self) or against some absolute standard not necessarily related to any self. Such an other-regarding view usually …
Feb 15 2010
Figure Skating: A Very Gendered Thing
Many call figure skating a sissy sport, a feminine thing. To the contrary, and to my unrelenting irritation, it is a very gender-inclusive sport, a sport of both sexes, a sport where men must be men and women must be, well, girls. Consider the costumes. The men usually wear ordinary long pants and a more …
Jan 17 2010
Men’s Precision Teams
Have you ever wondered why there are no men’s precision teams? Sure, precision skating requires attention to detail and a highly developed spatial sense. But both are surely male capabilities; in fact, aren’t they male superiorities? Isn’t that why (so we’re told) men dominate science and engineering? And of course, the sport requires skating skill. …
fiction
