Excellence First, Then Parity

[dualskeptic]

Parity is a relative term. What if teams are equally average or even equally poor? Shouldn't we all want them to be equally good?

We should want parity only in reference to a standard of excellence; excellence is the goal, not parity.

 

[WackyJack]

Parity is a relative term. What if teams are equally average or even equally poor? Shouldn't we all want them to be equally good?

We should want parity only in reference to a standard of excellence; excellence is the goal, not parity.

I wonder if Dan Shaughnessy meant, everyone should be equally poor. Got to remember, not everyone wants to be like many of the Boston D1 basketball teams, something far less than UConn

 

[UcMiami]

Communism does not work in practice though it is a very pretty idea.
Parity ala the NFL which is programmed into everything from draft picks to yearly scheduling of contests has resulted in a bunch of terrible teams a few really mediocre teams and a few excellent teams that defy everything that is set up as an obstacle to their continued success.
Until more coaches actually put in the time and effort, and more schools demand excellence women's basketball is not going to achieve parity. I think most of the athletes would respond to greater demands on them, but very few are real self starters.
And comparing to men's basketball is a joke - because the parity there is engineered through the NBA plucking the talent away before it matures. For example do you think KY would have dominated college basketball if their roster included: Julius Randal, James Young, Karl Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson and a few others?
Do we have parity in college football? It is the money spinner, but most weeks the competition is a joke. Remind me, were the talking heads demanding their money back after Alabama leveled TAMU 59-0 in 2014? Did the fans leave the stadium at halftime because it was boring?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

There is tremendous parity in the NBA, just ask Sir Charles. On the Dan Patrick show about two weeks ago he said what he said every knowledgeable party knew: there are maybe 5 teams in the NBA worth the ticket money and the rest are just ripping off their fans.