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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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I give Curling as an example of a sport I prefer to watch the women's game than the men's. There's a distinct difference, in that the men throw much harder, and as such there tends to be less rocks in play, which makes the women's game more exciting.

I'm just getting into it, but I get the feeling Disc Golf is the same way...that the best men in the world can overpower the courses in a way the women can't, and as such, the women's game is more enjoyable for people to watch. Similar to what I've heard some people say about Tennis, where the power of the men actually hinders the enjoyment.

Coincidentally now that you mention it, the other day Quillette published an article about the controversy surrounding trans women competing in female disc golf events.

https://quillette.com/2022/09/28/is-this-the-lia-thomas-of-disc-golf/

I feel similarly about ultimate Frisbee, which I think has a similar phenomenon as tennis. At the top levels, most male players can throw the full length of the field, and there's more room for error in bad throws due to higher acceleration, jumping height, and top speed, which results what I would consider mostly boring points where whichever team starts with the disc scores without trouble the majority of the time. But even at the top levels, there's only a handful of women in the world who can consistently throw the full length of the field, and the greater likelihood of a turnover from bad throws means there's much more volatility in every point, with possession changes being much more common.

"WNBA players are better at the fundamentals." From what I've heard, this is actually true, and I think for the same reasons you mention with curling and disc golf. If you are a young basketball player trying to learn those fundamentals, the WNBA is better to watch. For entertainment purposes...well, the NBA has a much larger market.

I'm not a basketball fan, I know very little of the strategy of the game. I go to the occasional NBA game because it's fun to watch superhumans fly.