September 16, 2009

They might have won the Ashes, but they're shite at the 50 over version of the game. So says the fat blonde guy.

posted by owlhouse at 09:19 AM on September 16, 2009

In a rare cross-league marketing effort, the Jays and Yankees provided a preview of the 2009-10 NHL season last night.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:51 AM on September 16, 2009

If anyone out there can watch more than one of these 10 sick arm wrestling accidents videos (probably NSFW), you're made of sterner stuff than I am.

I could only watch part of the last one, which blurs out the worst part.

Hold me.

posted by rcade at 10:53 AM on September 16, 2009

Dad makes the catch, daughter gives it back.

posted by holden at 11:20 AM on September 16, 2009

In a rare cross-league marketing effort, the Jays and Yankees provided a preview of the 2009-10 NHL season last night.

I'd like to point out to the Yankee homers announcers that Posada and Carlson did not "kind of clip into each other." Posada went out of his way to make contact.

Minimum five games and a maximum of stupidity on Posada's part.

posted by wfrazerjr at 11:59 AM on September 16, 2009

We all have a stake in gender testing of athletes I put the issue this way for a reason failed the female sex test - because the International Association of Athletics Federations's (IAAF) gender verification policy applies only to women's events. Their testing is not designed to determine an athlete's "real" sex, but rather seeks to discover whether a competitor such as Semenya is "enjoying the benefits of natural testosterone predominance normally seen in a male." In essence, to pass the test the competitor must show "female levels of testosterone" (my term).

......

We would be all well advised to pull Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto off the shelf for a re-read. Hathaway's groundbreaking deployment of the "cyborg" challenged naturalist and essentialist notions of "real" women and "real" men by exposing the ways that things considered natural, like human bodies, are not, but are constructed by our ideas about them. These legally and culturally enforced notions of normality are enforced even in a case such as Semenya's whose body and capacities are absolutely part of the natural variation of the species, but who is rendered unnatural and abnormal by virtue of a test that arbitrarily locates her outside the domain of "real women".

To those of you who say: "I don't think it's fair that someone with such high testosterone levels be allowed to compete in the women's track events. What's to stop men from competing in these events and winning all of them?" I have the following answer: Then don't call them women's and men's events, define the events by testosterone levels those with levels up to some ceiling run in one event, those with higher levels run in another event. Collapsing "female" and "male" into testosterone levels is both bad science and bad social policy. Sexual categories are, after all, social and cultural categories, not biological ones.

We all have a stake in Caster Semenya's ongoing treatment. That suspicions about how she looks can lead to having her identity as a "real" woman publically revoked communicates a clear message to all of us who consider ourselves female: Don't talk too loud, don't throw a ball too well, and don't look too comportable in pants or walk with a "masculine gate." And whatever you do, don't look too triumphant when you run really fast. The gender police are out there looking for you.

posted by rumple at 12:13 PM on September 16, 2009

Thanks Holden - you made my day.

I hope Posada gets a 5 game suspension. It's a long season for a 38 year old catcher. He should take a good rest before entering the post season. Here's hoping it's #27 for the Yanks.

posted by pullmyfinger at 12:30 PM on September 16, 2009

Hockey lost one of its great voices this week as Boston's Fred Cusick, for 40 years the radio and TV broadcaster of the Bruins passed away at the age of 90. A recent interview with him is available here. For those who are interested in hearing samples of his work, here is a compilation of Bobby Orr's greatest moments, circa late 60s and early 70s, all called by Cusick. It's worth watching just to see Orr at his best (and to hear once again the Nutrocker). Finally, here is an appreciation of one professional from another by Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe.

posted by Howard_T at 01:38 PM on September 16, 2009

If anyone out there can watch more than one of these 10 sick arm wrestling accidents videos (probably NSFW), you're made of sterner stuff than I am.

After watching Over the Top a few dozen times growing up, those videos have nothing on Stallone's acting.

"Tell you the truth, the truck is, uh, you know, the most important thing for me. I... I don't really... it doesn't matter if I, uh, become the champion or anything. That's, that's not the most important... I... I need this truck"

posted by BornIcon at 02:10 PM on September 16, 2009

...blaming McKelvin for the loss...

This is another illustration why Bill Machiavellichick insists on not always signing the most talented player at any given position, but rather prefers the one with the ability to think and play simultaneously. It would be a no-brainer for most to understand where they are on the field, to recognize that with a lead possession is more important than field position, and act accordingly. It is noteworthy that McKelvin's coach, Dick Jauron, refused to throw him under the bus.

posted by Howard_T at 02:40 PM on September 16, 2009

I 'aint even gonna' say it.

posted by THX-1138 at 03:46 PM on September 16, 2009

dusted, I think the whole part of the argument that you're missing is that what is "actually" a woman...

I'm not missing it at all: internal testes, no female sex organs. OK, not 100% male, but certainly not a woman.

posted by dusted at 05:40 PM on September 16, 2009

OK, not 100% male, but certainly not a woman

I repeat: this relies on a completely out-of-date and inaccurate definition of what ultimately defines who we are as sexed beings.

To quote Dave Zirin, there are (potentially) more "intersexed" people in the United States than Jews. For context, just try telling a Jewish person that they can't compete in the next ______ event. See what kind of response that gets.

posted by Spitztengle at 06:09 PM on September 16, 2009

In rereading Howard's post in relation to my own...um...yeah. Good point. The vandalism was bad, huh?

posted by tahoemoj at 06:50 PM on September 16, 2009

male and female (sex) is a biological dichotomy that masks a continuum of variability.

male and female (gender) is a socially constructed dichotomy that also masks a continuum of variability.

Asking for an "up to date and accurate definition of male and female" ignores the underlying truth that a false dichotomy is being imposed on a world that is just not that simple, indeed, it basically calls for the false dichotomy to be replicated again and again, with ever-more rigorous testing and tweaking and poking and so forth. Semenya may be an edge case but does not deserve that kind of humiliation.

My solution to this would be, everyone relax, and learn something about the inherent fuzziness of the world.

posted by rumple at 07:56 PM on September 16, 2009

My solution to this would be, everyone relax, and learn something about the inherent fuzziness of the world.

That sounds lovely. It really, honestly does. But how does that translate into a fair policy for the IAAF? I can't see how anything less than what they're doing (meaning the testing, not publicizing those tests) will allow women's sports to continue.

posted by dusted at 10:55 AM on September 17, 2009

They need to test everyone if they are going to test -- before competitors win medals. You can't pick and choose who to test based on looks and complaints.

I believe that's how it used to happen, bperk. It was started some time between the 1930s and 1960s, and stopped in 1999 by the IOC.

The International Association of Athletics Federations ceased gender screening for all athletes in 1992, [7] but retains the option of assessing the gender of a participant should suspicions arise. This was invoked most recently in August 2009 with the mandated testing of South African athlete Caster Semenya. [8] (emphasis mine)

While looking up the history, I found this interactive gender test that puts you in the tester's seat.

posted by dusted at 11:39 AM on September 17, 2009