The Unpopular Opinions Thread

[ankitj]

I think a sport where men & women could complete against one another without any restrictions is volleyball. The women tend to move a bit quicker than the men imo.

Chess. And shooting?

 

[cnerd123]

is chess really a sport tho

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Chess. And shooting?

In shooting it already happened but when a woman won Olympic gold they introduced a gender split in that event.

edit: somehow even worse, they made a previously mixed event male-only and didn't bother to host a women's event. Scenes.

 

[Victor Ian]

Women play volleyball with a lower net.

I cant see why a woman couldnt cut it with the men when batting. She doesnt have to bludgeon the ball. Just time it. Its just about facing it to get the increased tempo. Just like when you had to learn a new rhythm when you upgraded your 386 chip to a 486 around the 90s and all your games got faster.

 

[jimmy101]

Chess. And shooting?

Would put Archery in that category too.

 

[stephen]

Chess. And shooting?

I know that chess still largely segregates. Men tend to be better at that on average too, though the difference is far less than in most sports.

There's a really interesting story about the three Polgar sisters who were chess champions.

 

[Bahnz]

Ross Taylor should retire from tests. He's a liability in anything resembling spinning conditions these days, and hasn't played an innings of note against a decent bowling attack since his 100 against a touring Pakistan side in 2016. There are decent guys coming up behind him who will only stagnate if they continue to be left in domestic cricket.

Given everything he's done for NZ cricket the spot is obviously his until he doesn't want it. And it's no major secret that one of his career goals is 20 test hundreds (alongside 8000 runs) - something you'd back him to knock off when Wi tour next season. But I just felt like this season, with it's lineup of series against major opponents, is the ideal time for him to call it a day.

 

[marc71178]

is chess really a sport tho

No, fails the Stephen Hawking test.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Chess. And shooting?

A woman recently beat a lot of men in a professional darts tournament I think. I don't really follow it but it was thrown around on various media sites.

 

[Flem274*]

ive only played against girls in school cricket. when i was 13 the girls high firsts destroyed us, and they all bowled like wagner. never seen so many bouncers in my life. what struck me was the skill level though. they're a lot more polished at a younger age because they can't just wallop the ball. they were great runners.

played them again at 17 and we beat them pretty handily. they had more skill but schoolboy boundaries gave us a lot of get out of jail cards and they didn't feel as fast as they did when we were kids. on a larger ground it would have been an interesting game.

 

[BSM]

I've always wondered about the ceiling for female batsmen to be fair, as I don't think there is as much of a physical limit in how good they could theoretically be, as there is with bowlers, who all probably bowl a bit too slow to make it. Sure they don't have the same power, but they still have the same capacity to react to a quick ball right? At the very least I feel as if a female batsman would have more of a chance at making it in the male professional game than a bowler anyway

 

[Magrat Garlick]

I've always wondered about the ceiling for female batsmen to be fair, as I don't think there is as much of a physical limit in how good they could theoretically be, as there is with bowlers, who all probably bowl a bit too slow to make it. Sure they don't have the same power, but they still have the same capacity to react to a quick ball right? At the very least I feel as if a female batsman would have more of a chance at making it in the male professional game than a bowler anyway

apparently not, women have also been found to have lower reaction time than men. (sources Bleecker, M. L., Bolla‐Wilson, K., Agnew, J. (not Jonathan sadly), & Meyers, D. A. (1987). Simple visual reaction time: *** and age differences. Developmental Neuropsychology, 3(2), 165–172 and Hodgkins, J. (1963). Reaction Time and Speed of Movement in Males and Females of Various Ages. Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 34(3), 335–343. ). There's less obvious biomechanical reasons for this, and maybe the difference disappears in top athletes - it seemed like most reaction time studies were to do with trying to relate it to ageing.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I've always wondered about the ceiling for female batsmen to be fair, as I don't think there is as much of a physical limit in how good they could theoretically be, as there is with bowlers, who all probably bowl a bit too slow to make it. Sure they don't have the same power, but they still have the same capacity to react to a quick ball right? At the very least I feel as if a female batsman would have more of a chance at making it in the male professional game than a bowler anyway

If I had to choose a woman cricketer type that would most likely compete among men it would be as a tricky medium pacer, like Chris Harris type.

I can't see a spinner being competitive, the women spinners are not even close to the necessary standard. They would get slaughtered like a 12-year old kid bowling to men.

 

[sphynx]

If I had to choose a woman cricketer type that would most likely compete among men it would be as a tricky medium pacer, like Chris Harris type.

I can't see a spinner being competitive, the women spinners are not even close to the necessary standard. They would get slaughtered like a 12-year old kid bowling to men.

I'm thinking a wicket keeper batsman.

Keepers generally have lower batting expectations than a top 6 batsman, so easier to meet the grade from that perspective.

Girls are generally shorter, more flexible etc, so suit keeping, especially to spin bowling more than a bigger guy. Keeping isn't as much physical (apart from the diving and jumping style catches), it's more about technique, reaction time etc. Which a girl has as good a chance as conquering as a male with the same training from birth.

 

[stephen]

If I had to choose a woman cricketer type that would most likely compete among men it would be as a tricky medium pacer, like Chris Harris type.

I can't see a spinner being competitive, the women spinners are not even close to the necessary standard. They would get slaughtered like a 12-year old kid bowling to men.

The problem is that the absolutely quickest women hit 130kph. They would have to be at that speed and as skilled as a skillful male bowler.

I've talked to a semi pro female tennis player before and the one thing that she said is that the main difference between the men and women players is that the men put a lot more work on the ball. I imagine it's similar with the wrist work of female cricketers.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I'm thinking a wicket keeper batsman.

Keepers generally have lower batting expectations than a top 6 batsman, so easier to meet the grade from that perspective.

Girls are generally shorter, more flexible etc, so suit keeping, especially to spin bowling more than a bigger guy. Keeping isn't as much physical (apart from the diving and jumping style catches), it's more about technique, reaction time etc. Which a girl has as good a chance as conquering as a male with the same training from birth.

Yeah maybe but you'd have to be happy with a keeper that doesn't really bat, which is pretty rare for top teams these days

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah maybe but you'd have to be happy with a keeper that doesn't really bat, which is pretty rare for top teams these days

Yeah, even if a wicket keeper were tremendously skilled I'm not sure how many teams would pick them if they were averaging 5 with the bat.

 

[ankitj]

Why do we think women spinners won't be competitive in men's cricket? Don't they bowl at roughly the same speed as male spinners? And I see some of them can bowl variations like googlies. Rest (control, guile) would be down to training and exposure.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Why do we think women spinners won't be competitive in men's cricket? Don't they bowl at roughly the same speed as male spinners? And I see some of them can bowl variations like googlies. Rest (control, guile) would be down to training and exposure.

I can only judge by what I've seen, but no the gap is huge. Probably not any bigger than the gap for every other aspect tbh, but for some reason it's always stood out to me as the thing I notice most when watching womens cricket, eg. "imagine getting to face these spinners!"

 

[Daemon]

Would be stupidly dangerous for them to bat against quicks in tests.