But the war, such as it was, between Great Britain and Germany, was a war of competing imperialisms. Their despicable world views, of the lesser races of the world laboring on behalf of the nordic and anglo saxon races, weren’t really opposed to each other.

They aren’t. They are likely to recruit more successfully. Because America hates Muslims, apparently. Sure, some people in the middle east are going to get blown up. And some of them are ISIS. But ISIS will thrive in this environment.

I always thought Allan Houston had the most perfect shot. But I think Ray stayed in better shape than either of them and this was a part of his better career. He was like Avery Johnson in keeping his body fat super low and I think it kept him quicker and his joints healthier into his mid-thirties.

And Allan Houston

Oh, no, Tim is a sadly closeted young man. Things will get better for him. And you.

Yeah, in absolute numbers you’re definitely right. Way more people killed than monkeys.

I don’t think so. I think that over the six years or so there was only a small rise in mortality rates worldwide. You would have to be looking at pretty specific times and places to see a significant rise in untimely deaths in the population at large. Usually when armies stop distinguishing between other soldiers…

Ahh, the foul Pole. Best nickname in sports. If Kovalev is mentally smaller than him, this fight could get pretty weird.

I think the problem is that these power meters are too good at telling riders what they are capable of, rather than riders making a guess and hoping for the best. So this product of math/science has made the whole race less interesting. Whereas the engineering to make safer and lighter bikes doesn’t. Do you not think…

The consistency and predictability with which Ledecky destroys the previous world record in the 800 meter freestyle is evidence FOR her excessive use of anabolic steroids. Why do you think it is exculpatory? Also, you know, one glance at her hairline, build, and swimming style. And her transition from no impressive…

Other women cannot emulate her training. Unless they take the anabolic steroids that she does in order to recover from the workload. To “make male” is a particularly easy thing to do in sports pharmacology. The tests are designed to be passed by those with the resources to do so. Ledecky is the most obvious case of…

The Chinese came out of nowhere to you because you don’t know where China is. Phelps and Ledecky are obvious childhood victims of HGH and anabolic steroid abuse.

Yes, it is just as good as all other major sports. Which is to say, it is an entirely ineffective public relations ritual designed to allow athletes with a modicum of sophistication to take whatever drugs will most benefit their performance. Jon Jones apparently does not know how to find people to advise him on this…

My god, do you somehow think Brock Lesnar does not take steroids? He does. Rest assured on that.

No. No swimmer has performed at as high a level across as many events as Michael Phelps. I am saying that he is as remarkable in swimming as an imaginary track and field athlete would be who won gold medals in all those events.

But PED use has been widespread since the 1960's. I don’t think they are especially effective at extending careers. I think they bring out the best possible performance at any given age.

This is bad comparison. A slightly better one would be a track and field athlete who wins the 400, 800, 400 hurdles, long jump, and high jump.

Swimming is not an increasingly young person’s sport. It is decreasingly so. Into the 1990's practically no American swimmers competed beyond their NCAA career. The ability to make a lot of money as a professional swimmer has extended careers. There are a lot of world class swimmers in their late 20's. This did not…

The term “second world” referred to the communist bloc. That hasn’t existed for twenty five years. Making the division of countries into first, second, and third worlds archaic and useless. Do you think it is some kind of ranking of which countries are best? Switzerland and Sweden were third world, or unaligned…

Is this really how Arthur Ashe got HIV? It seems so unlikely.