Discovery vs. invention

Fascinating stuff on Tiger Woods vs. Jack Nicklaus. A comparison of statistics, as dhakks points out, does not tell the whole story. In golf modern equipment is different, the balls are different, the level of training is different, the level of competition is different and, in many cases, the courses are designed differently.

As this article astutely observes, while people have a natural talent and their skills are "discovered", what skill dominates a sport (or for that matter, any profession), is as much a function of the rules of the game as the talents of the individual.

I was in an interesting discussion recently with someone who pointed out that the reason the US has performed so poorly in Basketball at the Olympics, despite having all the NBA superstars on the team is that the rules of Olympic basketball are different. For instance, in the Olympics, referees are much more likely to call carrying. Also, a slight difference in the rules favors the three point shooters, which the US rules do not. So, people who are superstars in one version of the sport, struggle to compete effectively against 'lesser' teams with a slight rules change. Another example is in sprinting, where a change in the distance to be run completely changes who dominates.

We love to ask the question who is the best, but the answer may not be quite as simple as we like.

PS: Completely agree on the cartoon - its hypocrisy at its
best! Thankfully, it seems quite a lot of the French realize it
too.