Are all american athletes genetically superior superhumans?

[Tom Cruise]

Yeah played a bitfor the school team as a wicketkeeper, we were useless though

Ah fair, tried to keep wicket once, back was stiff for days from bending down. Havent played in years now but all this talk has made me want to start again

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Maybe it is just my predilection, but I tend to chalk it down to economics, mostly.

The US is a very large country. By population, it is third behind China and India.

The professional sports 'industry' in the US is very large.

Of course, the US produces some very good athletes (though, as has been noted, they are probably juicing for the most part. I guess that's a worthy footnote, but it isn't central to what I'm saying).

It makes sense that the US would have a lot of good professional athletes.

It's actually somewhat similar to the presence of very good footballers (soccer players) in Europe. Europe has a very lucrative association football (soccer) 'industry'.

It is certainly true that the US has many very good athletes. It is not so much about genetics, though, in my opinion.

If it were truly about slavery, there should be a proportional number of athletes from every place in the Americas where there use to be slavery. Brazil, for instance.

That said, there may be something to the slavery connection. But, it doesn't account for all of it.

Alternatively, it may be a case of marginalized populations getting into sports, and not about race. For instance, basketball players, and boxers, use to be largely Jewish in the US, in the 1930s or so.

It has everything to do with a free market system and if you look at the success of the U.S in the last 200 years, no other country has come close to what America has done in almost every category.

It's the reason the U.S is the military power, economic power, leads the world in many categories and was the first to land on the moon.

When you create a system of competition, where companies are vying for who will do what, it pushes innovation. What's the old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention".

There's so much money to be made in athletics in America and the system is so well organized and structured that you will always have great athlete's come from here.

Money motivates....to say the least.

[squealpiggy]

It has everything to do with a free market system and if you look at the success of the U.S in the last 200 years, no other country has come close to what America has done in almost every category.

It comes more from the fact that as little as 200 years ago the United States had a largely untouched bounty of natural resources and land available for expansion and managed to borrow technology from the Industrial Revolution in order to create a massive manufacturing industry. Add to the fact that Europe was mired in a series of ruinous wars from the late 19th to mid 20th century and it's no wonder that the United States were able to extend their influence and wealth.

It's the reason the U.S is the military power, economic power, leads the world in many categories and was the first to land on the moon.

This has little to do with the free market and more to do with the way the Cold War was fought, using an arms race on a grand scale that proved economically disastrous for the centralised and dogmatic Soviet regime.

When you create a system of competition, where companies are vying for who will do what, it pushes innovation. What's the old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention".

The US was never really that innovative. What there was in the US was opportunity afforded by cheap and plentiful available land and resources.

There's so much money to be made in athletics in America and the system is so well organized and structured that you will always have great athlete's come from here.

Money motivates....to say the least.

This is also a hangover from the Cold War which was fought by the economies and the space agencies and on the tracks and fields of the Olympic Games. I mean shit, the biggest sport in the US is financed on the basis of socialism.

[kadyo's]

It has everything to do with a free market system and if you look at the success of the U.S in the last 200 years, no other country has come close to what America has done in almost every category.

It's the reason the U.S is the military power, economic power, leads the world in many categories and was the first to land on the moon.

When you create a system of competition, where companies are vying for who will do what, it pushes innovation. What's the old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention".

There's so much money to be made in athletics in America and the system is so well organized and structured that you will always have great athlete's come from here.

Money motivates....to say the least.

I agree 100%, this is the reason why USA is the greatest nation in the world right now. It may be suffering economically for the moment but the system assures that it'll rebound economically precisely because of that system.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

[QUOTE=squealpiggy;13022578]

It comes more from the fact that as little as 200 years ago the United States had a largely untouched bounty of natural resources and land available for expansion and managed to borrow technology from the Industrial Revolution in order to create a massive manufacturing industry. Add to the fact that Europe was mired in a series of ruinous wars from the late 19th to mid 20th century and it's no wonder that the United States were able to extend their influence and wealth.

Yes and the fact the U.S created a system that was never before seen on the world that created competition. It's the reason for American innovations in every category.

This has little to do with the free market and more to do with the way the Cold War was fought, using an arms race on a grand scale that proved economically disastrous for the centralised and dogmatic Soviet regime.

So why didn't other countries do it if it was so easy? It has everything to do with the economic might that comes from the system created in America. I know you're not a big fan of the U.S but you are giving no credit to this great country.

The US was never really that innovative. What there was in the US was opportunity afforded by cheap and plentiful available land and resources.

Hahahahaha, WTF?!?!?!? America was never innovative? WOW...should I list all the inventions and accomplishments of this country in the last 200 years? Seriously? Funny how Europe for thousands of years failed to do what the people in America did in about 400.

This is also a hangover from the Cold War which was fought by the economies and the space agencies and on the tracks and fields of the Olympic Games. I mean shit, the biggest sport in the US is financed on the basis of socialism.

It's based on equal funding but the amount of money American athlete's make is the MAIN REASON why they are so good. There is no forced system for athletes in America, all the top athletes are motivated by money. From Pee Wee football, to tennis, to golf to any sport. The reason the U.S isn't very good in soccer is because they don't care about the sport and the best athletes go into the NFL and NBA.

[kadyo's]

Yes and the fact the U.S created a system that was never before seen on the world that created competition. It's the reason for American innovations in every category.




So why didn't other countries do it if it was so easy? It has everything to do with the economic might that comes from the system created in America. I know you're not a big fan of the U.S but you are giving no credit to this great country.





Hahahahaha, WTF?!?!?!? America was never innovative? WOW...should I list all the inventions and accomplishments of this country in the last 200 years? Seriously? Funny how Europe for thousands of years failed to do what the people in America did in about 400.





It's based on equal funding but the amount of money American athlete's make is the MAIN REASON why they are so good. There is no forced system for athletes in America, all the top athletes are motivated by money. From Pee Wee football, to tennis, to golf to any sport. The reason the U.S isn't very good in soccer is because they don't care about the sport and the best athletes go into the NFL and NBA.

I don't know if you're aware of this acronym but look at the recently economically succesful BRIC nations. They are slowly going down and my guess is that it has something to do with the system.

[-Johannes-]

I wanna see a handegg player do this, instead of being carried away like a b*tch

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

I don't know if you're aware of this acronym but look at the recently economically succesful BRIC nations. They are slowly going down and my guess is that it has something to do with the system.

No system is perfect but the points I made are valid. every economic and political system has failed at one point or another in the world.

I'm just making a point that it has nothing to do with genetics for the most part (even though the slave argument is lagit even though it's not PC).

Why America has flourished in so many categories is because of the competition created by the free market system. When you throw a bunch of money out there and then allow people to compete for it, your going to get top results.

I equate it to posting a 100 meter race, first one for the prize of $100 and the other for the prize of 1 million dollars.

Which one do you think will attract world class athletes?

[White_Knight]

Here is the Olympic medal rankings when controlled for population:

1. Jamaica
2. Slovenia
3. New Zealand
4. Denmark
5. Hungary
6. Belarus
7. Lithuania
8. Great Britain
9. Australia
10. Kazakhstan
11. Croatia
12. Cuba
13. South Korea
14. Mongolia
.
.
.
.
30. USA

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonobe...-medal-counts/

[4Corners]

Not really, you might think not but UK is actually a fairly rich country on a worldwide basis, i think top 5 if not definitely top 10, and we do pretty well at sports, but a lot of that is population and money.

There's countries like Australia who have 1/3 our population and money but I think are better at sports than us, probably due to lifestyle and education etc.

We win more medals and trophies, but I respect those guys and if they had our population size and resources, they'd trounce us

They'd trounce you as well.

If I had a square ass, I'd s**t bricks. But I don't.