Here are a few more reflections inspired by the discussion over at Overcoming Bias of nerds using game-playing to signal social messages to the world outside the game. (Robin Hanson’s original ...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/08/28/signaling-sharing-sports-fandom/
A busy travel schedule has allowed me to see most of the matches so far, to keep up on the press and bloggers, yet not to comment much myself. But now the real tournament has begun, in the second...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/06/28/world-cup-diary-3-the-beginning-of-the-end/
I’m obviously making this up as I go along; but if you’ve read Why is hockey analysis (almost) always so lame? Part 1 and Part 2, thanks for bearing with me. So far I have talked mostly about...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/05/10/why-is-hockey-analysis-always-so-lame-part-3-its-hard/
One of the last of the legendary (and I think that word is appropriate here) baseball broadcasters dies last night after a year-long bout with cancer. He is most famous for covering Tigers’ gam...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/05/04/ernie-harwell-legendary-baseball-broadcaster-dead-at-92/
My friend Andrew Potter (author of the sizzling new book The Authenticity Hoax) tweeted a link on Friday to a compelling contrast between the two biggest stars in the world of ice hockey, the ...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/05/04/why-is-hockey-analysis-almost-always-so-lame-part-1/
You have to wonder what the ancient Greeks talked about after their Olympic games finished. (I mean, we know what the modern Greeks talked about, or should have talked about, after their Olympics...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/03/04/why-olympic-medal-counts-dont-count/
I suppose the official answer to this question is, “The World,” which according to the IOC mission is supposed to be made “peaceful and better” by “educating youth through sport practis...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/03/01/who-won-the-vancouver-olympics/
What happened to the Russian men’s hockey team in their much-hyped showdown against arch-rivals Canada last night? On paper the teams were evenly matched, and clearly the most talented two team...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/02/26/russians-werent-coming/
Again, I can’t claim to have watched carefully all of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in recent years. Even the highlights are usually painful. But this quote from Michael Ignatieff in 1993, wit...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/02/17/kitch-aesthetic-of-nationalis/
As a Canadian expatriate — some might say, ex-patriot — I have to say, those opening ceremonies in Vancouver were brutal to watch. If I’d watched them in a room full of friends here in Nort...