In no particular order:
Mayonnaise. Funny because it rings true, sad for the same reason. (I cannot emphasize enough my virulent dislike for mayonnaise.)
Slate women on sports, part one (presented without comment):
A few minutes in, we began to wish we were watching back home. "Where are the up-close-and-personal segments?" my sister asked. Sure, there was a bit of commentary, but none of the polish and packaging that you'd get from the folks at NBC. Not much history or background on the contestants beyond where in China they were born. And certainly no visits to hometowns and no proud, teary-eyed parents. Sure, these stories of sacrifice, injury, and adversity are cheesy, but they serve a necessary function, allowing you to identify with athletes whom you've never heard of before and probably won't hear from again.
Slate women on sports, part two:
The kids on the other team had made up the "you're safe if you fall down" rule midgame. They didn't seem inclined to apply it uniformly—no one on Eli's team tried to invoke it, and he didn't think it would have flown if they had. Still, we were a bit uneasy about urging Eli on in his fight for the rule of law. [...]
The problem is that the point of playing games isn't only to win, most of the time. It's also to hang out with friends, have a good time, while away a sunny or rainy afternoon. Viewed through that lens, it's important to tolerate a little rule bending. Did the dice fly off the board? OK, roll them again. Game playing takes a lot of that kind of compromise and improvisation.
It's important to tolerate a little rule bending, WHEN THE RULE-BENDING SERVES A PLAUSIBLE PURPOSE. The point behind "dice that fell off doesn't count" should be obvious to anyone who's ever played dice games. I'm completely baffled as to how a "if you fall down you're not out rule" would serve any purpose in kickball other than the naked interest of the team that pulled it out of thin air.
Anyone who can't tell the difference between "if you fall down you're not out" and "dice that fall off the table get re-rolled" is someone that I fervently hope isn't the sole philosophical mentor of his or her offspring.
And last but not least: Olympic gymnastics judges who give a zero ("no exercise score") to someone who didn't wait for a red light to turn green are the moral equivalent of quiz companies that rule an answer wrong if the player who rang in "didn't wait to be recognized."
Posted by Matt Bruce at August 18, 2008 12:13 PMRE: the red and green lights
I think you are probably completely off-base here. The competition in question was the vault, an event that takes all of 3-5 seconds (including running down the ramp) for an athlete to complete. I am guessing the light system was put into place to make sure that the judges are actually ready and focused before the athlete goes.
In short, the judges probably never really saw her vault because she didn't wait for the signal that they were ready. So what score were they supposed to give her? They couldn't just ask her to do it again exactly the way she did it the first time.
Posted by: Kubi at August 18, 2008 07:21 PM