Thread by @FondOfBeetles

Here is a basketball analogy.

Shaun the Shortie/5’5.
He’s not tall enough to reasonably be a competitive basketballer.

Mitch the Middler/6’5. He is tall enough to be a competitive basketballer.

Tall Tony/7’5.
He was nailed on for basketball since he was born.

https://twitter.com/fondofbeetles/status/1372904579772338183

No amount of skill can make Shaun competitive. There’s only so far it can take you.

Tony? He doesn’t need to rely on skill, because you get it to him and he’s got a free shot every time.

Mitch is where it’s happening. There are quite a few 6’5 basketballers. It’s ‘tall enough’.

In fact, average NBA basketballer height has plateaued at about 6’7 (forgive my analogy a couple of inches).

So now we have a ton of Mitches who are all tall enough to succeed.

If you measured height v success within this group, I’d bet the relationship is weak.

They’re all tall enough, so now they are fighting with secondary advantages.

Who can draw an opponent in the wrong direction? Who can fool a pass? Who can see the guy moving far out in their peripheral vision? Who can turn quickly? Who can get their hands into the space?

And so on.

They are all ‘tall enough’, so skill not height becomes the discriminating factor in who is the best.

I mean, Tall Tony is still there, getting all the rebound points.

And fooling people that great height is some kind of requirement in basketball.

It’s not.

Height is your entry pass. Once you’re tall enough to be in the game, you’re sorted differently.

Don’t get me wrong, if Shaun The Shortie has some great compensatory skill that makes up for lack of height, he’ll get there too.

But we all know that there’s a lower limit of tolerance here. Below that, nothing’s making up for lack of height.

Females are, to be indelicate, below the lower limit of tolerance. There is no apparent amount of skill, talent, or training (nor nepotistic parentage) that can see them on an ‘open’ basketball court.

So they need their own courts.