tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post3095832844539783978..comments2024-03-18T20:24:18.935-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Football excellenceAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-32225245237434297662012-04-22T20:20:23.830-05:002012-04-22T20:20:23.830-05:00When Bo Schembechler coached the Michigan Wolverin...When Bo Schembechler coached the Michigan Wolverines and Woody Hayes coached Ohio State, this whole thing was a non-issue. You ground out the yardage up the middle come hell or high water or whatever else. It was all guts and iron will. Back then it was not for nothing that the Big Ten was called the Big Two and the little eight. Hail to the Victors!Dagmara Lizlovshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14744785407281199347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-84763403729509480542012-04-22T20:17:36.596-05:002012-04-22T20:17:36.596-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Dagmara Lizlovshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14744785407281199347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-65595399335845131042011-09-10T15:48:11.317-05:002011-09-10T15:48:11.317-05:00That's an interesting suggestion. I'm not...That's an interesting suggestion. I'm not sure, though. Suppose I have extremely good reason to sign up as a football player. Maybe somebody will donate a billion dollars to Caritas if I do. Then it seems I can't be criticized for signing up, and the team can't be criticized for signing me up, but I can still be criticized for running too slowly, etc.<br /><br />Perhaps, though, you could say: I can be football-criticized for signing up, but I can't be criticized simpliciter for signing up. Maybe that works.<br /><br />What about this case? Sam is an ageing football player. At the beginning of the season, he is good enough. At the end, he's not. Moreover, on balance his season's performance is such that it was football-good for him to have signed up for the team. And there are no replacements available, so it's football-good for him not to drop out of the team. But his skills are below what is reasonably expected of a football player. We would say: "He's not running as fast as a football player should." And since he is a football player, it seems that we should be able to infer that he's not running as fast as he football-should.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-41350423481509696152011-09-10T09:34:09.305-05:002011-09-10T09:34:09.305-05:00I don't think we have a genuine violation of o...I don't think we have a genuine violation of ought-can here, and maybe you're not suggestion we do. The objection to your failure to compete well (though you can't compeete well) is an objection to your suiting up at all. You <i>ought not</i> to be on the field at all without being in possession of certain fundamental skills. And that is something you can do: you might have decided not to play the sport. So, ought-can applies to both moral evaluation and skill evaluation. There's no opting out of the moral game, but there is opting out of most other games. And the criticism for failing to live up to game standards beyond your capacities in non-moral games is criticism for failing to opt out of the game.Mike Almeidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12001511002085064198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-33686975984872202492011-09-09T11:48:45.235-05:002011-09-09T11:48:45.235-05:00That *is* pretty hilarious! :-)
IMO, the banter u...That *is* pretty hilarious! :-)<br /><br />IMO, the banter usually has little to do with making claims about the actual excellence of particular players. The banter is all about signalling your expertise and trustworthiness as a judge of game outcomes. It's about jockeying for psychological advantage when the next game comes up for a bet, and you have money riding on the outcome, a fantasy league, or whatever. As you establish a reputation in judging sports games as an outsider, that reputation carries over into situations where someone is choosing someone for a work responsibility, etc.JSAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00681934865643964687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-78985259318837342472011-09-09T09:13:05.616-05:002011-09-09T09:13:05.616-05:00This is pretty close to what MacIntyre has in mind...This is pretty close to what MacIntyre has in mind in linking virtues to practices. MacIntyre's own example is chess, but he does on occasion mention sports as well as the sciences and the arts as examples. I think we should expect, then, that if this argument works, then the problem is quite pervasive throughout human life, since what will apply (at least fairly generally) to all sorts of practices.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.com