NPR shows its complete stupidity yet again

Don't feed the trolls!

Star wrote:

No, you couldn't say Serena is the best tennis player in the world.

But you could say she is the most dominant tennis player in the world without using the female qualifier.

To say that an entire media network is showing is showing its stupidity because of one off the cuff remark intended be be mildly provocative, is pretty stupid.

Agreed completely.

1/10

celery wrote:

(Random story no runner cares about all.)

(Rant about how long standing belief has been confirmed.)

You'd get a much better troll-rating if this were somehow running related.

McEnroe is a grade-A troll. You should aspire to be like him. Only about running, not tennis.

Star wrote:

To say that an entire media network is showing its stupidity because of one off the cuff remark intended be be mildly provocative, is pretty stupid.

Thank you Star.

I thought this thread would die via it's own fruition. I saw a few more posts were added and intended to make your point. However you said it far better than I can.

What you said +1.

Thanks for fixing my sentence where I wrote "is showing" twice.

NPR is the go to place for news. Far left thinks they're too conservative and far right thinks they're too liberal. They must be doing it right. And they're not Fox News or MSNBC.

based on evidence wrote:

Janky wrote:

Meh. I don't really see the big deal you're trying to make.

The Williams sisters together were beat by a guy who was ranked 203, so I don't really know why the other guy finds the idea that Serena alone could be beat by a whole lot of guys to be that outlandish.

They played doubles against him? I do not think that was the case. Each sister played 1 set against him.

Plus she was 16 at the time.

Star wrote:

No, you couldn't say Serena is the best tennis player in the world.

But you could say she is the most dominant tennis player in the world without using the female qualifier.

To say that an entire media network is showing is showing its stupidity because of one off the cuff remark intended be be mildly provocative, is pretty stupid.

McEnroe's first response to Lulu's question was to clarify the question. If Lulu was asking about "most dominant player in his/her category as compared to dominance of other athletes in their respective categories" then she had ample opportunity to clarify. She did not clarify until she back peddled in her tweets following the interview. Lulu communicates for a living, so her initial "non-clarification" of her question did show her implicit bias that somehow referring to Serena as the most dominate "FEMALE" athlete is disparaging to Serena. Lulu contradicts herself when originally (in the interview) seeming to question the need for categorizing Serena's accomplishments to her particular slice of the sporting landscape, and then afterword (in her tweets) to take those categorizations as a foregone conclusion.

So I stand by my original statement...NPR is stupid. If you can't see the stupidity, there may be some other implications to draw about yourself...

I stand by Star's statement. If you can't see his point, there may be other implications to draw about yourself.

Star wrote:

No, you couldn't say Serena is the best tennis player in the world.

But you could say she is the most dominant tennis player in the world without using the female qualifier.

You're absolutely right that she's the most dominant player in tennis. She's been so good for so long that it's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years for her.

Let's put this to the test: have Serena enter the men's bracket for a tournament and see where it goes.

Karl Hungus wrote:

Star wrote:

No, you couldn't say Serena is the best tennis player in the world.

But you could say she is the most dominant tennis player in the world without using the female qualifier.

You're absolutely right that she's the most dominant player in tennis. She's been so good for so long that it's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years for her.

Let's put this to the test: have Serena enter the men's bracket for a tournament and see where it goes.

What would that "test"? Both parties in that article would agree that Serena would get beaten.

What incredible arrogance from the reporter. Look at this exchange:

Garcia-Navarro: You really think at 60, you could possibly beat Serena Williams? Maybe pregnant.

McEnroe: The way you put that makes me think that you have your doubts.

Garcia-Navarro: Far be it from me to question you Mr. McEnroe.

She clearly knows nothing about the sport.

Just out of curiosity, I compared women's T&F world records against men's age-group records. In almost all events, the fastest women are slower than the fastest men until men reach around 45.

It's not hard to see how McEnroe, given enough incentive, could still beat Serena.

Janky wrote:

based on evidence wrote:

I read the quoted portion, which makes it clear that this person believes Serena to be the best tennis player in the world of either gender despite existing evidence that she is not.

So that's a no. Lulu Garcia-Navarro is not a dude. It is pretty clear in the article that she doesn't think that Williams would beat the top men. More accurately, it appears like she was just getting caught up in semantics of "best player" when she meant "most dominant" or something thereabouts, a scenario where you aren't pitting men vs. women in actual matches. So while she poorly presented her argument, I go back to my original statement of "I don't really see the big deal you are trying to make" about NPR showing complete stupidity. It's a very "meh" interaction.

Lulu herself made it about 'the best player in the world'. She really should not be interviewing anyone and then printing that interview if she can't say what she means. And, no, she also wouldn't be considered the most 'dominant' player ever either (men or women). Do you think she was more dominant than Federer? Of course not.

Karl Hungus wrote:

Star wrote:

No, you couldn't say Serena is the best tennis player in the world.

But you could say she is the most dominant tennis player in the world without using the female qualifier.

You're absolutely right that she's the most dominant player in tennis. She's been so good for so long that it's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years for her.

Let's put this to the test: have Serena enter the men's bracket for a tournament and see where it goes.

You still have to qualify it since she hasn't played any men in real competition.

That is like saying a good JV runner is the most dominant runner in HS.

Without context it is meaningless.

I heard the interview live while driving to breakfast. I immediately thought that Lulu was needling McEnroe about gender in Tennis. Gender equity has been a big issue in tennis. It is still an ongoing debate whether women should have to play 5 sets in majors like men do. Lulu did a good job setting up McEnroe to make the distinction between tennis greats based on gender. Serena has 23 majors. Federer has 18. The only reason Serena wouldn't be the best tennis player in the world is if you believe that women would have to compete with men for that title. That is where McEnroe went with it as I am sure Lulu wanted him to go. I thought she could have done more to follow up on the issue of gender equity in tennis, but she moved on.

I actually agree with McEnroe that Serena would have a lot of trouble beating a men's pro. Serena wins because she has dominant power in the women's tour. In the men's tour, her power is about what you would expect to see from a Div I scholarship tennis player. Tennis is now an endurance sport due to changes in the ball and rackets. So, Serena would be caught in very long rallies with a male player, which would wear her out much sooner than in women's matches.

I said up front that she fumbled her attempt at phrasing the question the way that she had intended/hope for. The fault in the ambiguity is definitely on her. But also as I said, an interviewer slipping up semantically and looking silly is a pretty ho-hum story and certainly not condemnation of an entire organization's competence.

Janky wrote:

based on evidence wrote:

I read the quoted portion, which makes it clear that this person believes Serena to be the best tennis player in the world of either gender despite existing evidence that she is not.

So that's a no. Lulu Garcia-Navarro is not a dude. It is pretty clear in the article that she doesn't think that Williams would beat the top men. More accurately, it appears like she was just getting caught up in semantics of "best player" when she meant "most dominant" or something thereabouts, a scenario where you aren't pitting men vs. women in actual matches. So while she poorly presented her argument, I go back to my original statement of "I don't really see the big deal you are trying to make" about NPR showing complete stupidity. It's a very "meh" interaction.

I am the best player in the world*

* [Guys in their 40s named John Utah who own a schnauzer and drive a red car and post on let's run]

When Paula Radcliffe set her 2:15 WR, she was also much better than all men. Her 2:15 is an equivalent of male 1:59 or something.

In my book she is the greatest runner of all time, not just greatest female runner of all time.

Same applies to Serena.

Of course old grumpy white men have to hate.

.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8279462