I don’t think “sports” are better than “not sports”. I have an intuitive sense that some things are or are not sports, a category for which there is no objective definition, and I tried to figure out what rules most consistently fit my personal intuitions. The outcomes of, say, a basketball ref’s judgments are…

The ISU website defines the “composition” aspect of judging as “an intentionally developed and/or original arrangement of all types of movements according to the principles of musical phrase, space, pattern, and structure (e.g. idea, concept, unity, pattern, phrasing, originality, design)“. While it’s possible to…

“I often watch figure skating in the Olympics but don’t pretend to be an expert; I remember hearing the commentators talking about how some elements of judging relate to style and presentation. I’ve also read multiple pieces at Deadspin on both skating and gymnastics which touch on the rules and changes made to the…

My understanding - and if I’m wrong then I’ll revise my opinion, because I also consider figure skating to be an athletic activity which isn’t a sport - is that some of the judged criteria are inherently and intentionally subjective. A referee or umpire or boxing judge is doing their imperfect best to apply what ought…

I also find it hard to imagine there are really people out there - or people Wagner would feel like taking seriously enough to respond to - who really think figure skating is to be degraded because it doesn’t seem athletic. “Sport” is basically an impossible category to come to a logical mutually agreed upon…

Yeah, this was my first thought - I would bet that’s NOT what’s going on here, but frankly there are babies born which physiologically don’t fit into the gender binary, and the option of going “U” should have already existed for them rather than just arbitrarily deciding to make whatever seemed like the less intrusive…

I think an undersold aspect of the current generation of players is that they’ve grown up watching their heroes be subjected to the RINNNNGGGZZZZ method of argument and judgment, so they act accordingly. Maybe it was always this way and I’m just young (in relative terms) and underinformed, but I’m sort of imagining…

He was trying to be funny and gently or not so gently razz a new teammate.

This is interesting, especially now that we’re blatantly in the age of nobody respecting the tampering rules. Being decisive early helps your PR? I wonder if Hayward in particular had genuinely been waffling, which is why he didn’t feel able to signal to the Jazz that he was leaving until yesterday.

I’m no Larry Coon over here so I don’t know the details, but I believe some of the circumstances that allowed the Ws to do what they did even came out of changes made by owners who were mad at Miami for bringing in LeBron and Bosh. Which, if accurate, is the most NBA Owner thing ever.

Your parenthetical is the real game changer. Here’s what every, or almost every, non-sports industry in the USA does to try and balance out how attractive it is to live and work in different places: nothing.

Which is why people (and, if true, owners) freaking out about how to stop other teams from doing what the Warriors did is so weird/dumb. It was a perfect storm, it’s not going to happen again, just ride it out. The owners can’t stop chasing their tails, though.

I mean, if I were a Jazz fan I’d be unhappy right now, and I’m not trying to make any sweeping statements about basketball fans in Utah. Every team has some of this kind of fan that is delusionally over the top.

Yeah. I’ve written that I think players, in exchange for the money and adulation, should probably not do things in a way that makes their fans feel like chumps for being so over-invested in what is, emotionally, an incredibly lopsided relationship. (So, not to beat a dead horse, but I had no problem with LeBron…

At any point in his career prior to now did Hayward actively choose to stay in Utah? They drafted him, and then he was a restricted free agent who signed an offer sheet with another team that Utah matched.

I enjoyed the dude saying “b word” followed by the woman just saying “bitch”.

I assume it’s some kind of All Star event photo op, what with the cheerleaders all being from different teams.

More retrospective than you wanted. I’m leaving out second rounders, but there are plenty you could use to make every team look bad. Cutting it off at 2014 so we can have a sense of what their careers might hold:

Yes, this. If people are going to criticize Ainge for not swinging for the fences, then you need to acknowledge the talk that he was REALLY swinging for the fences to try to get both guys, but that could only happen in one order.

Bird was probably a better coach than GM, which doesn’t help the perception. Also you could feel either way about his apparent choice to get the fuck out of Dodge right before everything went sideways.