OT: Womens U.S Hockey Wins Gold!!

[ViperGTS]

 

[JoeSixPat]

Very touching to do that - amazing job by Hellebuyck - Canada dominated shots on goal and he stopped nearly everything

 

[JoeSixPat]

The top echelon of hockey is always a good reminder of how our culture often limits excellence in sport and life.

Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers" noticed that almost ALL great hockey players were born early in the year, January through March.

Why is being born early an indicator of being great in sports? No ACTUAL reason, aside from the fact that we group kids by birth year when they start out in sports we start culling the "best" right from the get go

Well, not surprisingly those kids who were born in January of a given year were more physically adept than those born almost a year later.

So we took the "best" and developed them more, leaving those with the same or more potential behind. Gladwell points out that if we adopted a system that even developed kids grouped in 6 month age brackets they'd probably have twice as many great players!

We do this in our culture and society all the time, not just in sports, but it's a great illustration.

Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell - ESPN Page 2

Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Outliers," explains why some success in sports might be more about birth dates than talent.

www.espn.com

Q. Do you know of any junior sports leagues that are trying to change the way they sift talent in order to level the playing field?

A. As far as I know, none. I brought up this very fact with one of the most senior officials in the Canadian national junior hockey program, and pointed out that Canada was squandering the talents of hundreds of boys with late birthdays. I asked [an official] why he didn't just start a parallel league, with a cut-off in late summer. He shrugged and said it would be complicated. Complicated! I don't think, as a society, we are always particularly smart about how to make the best use of our talent. And if we're this bad at sports, imagine how bad we are at other things -- like getting the most out of young people's brains?

 

[ViperGTS]

 

[Boomer B]

Congrats to the U.S. Can’t miss open nets like Canada did in the 3rd. Always comes back to haunt you.

 

[JR52]

The top echelon of hockey is always a good reminder of how our culture often limits excellence in sport and life.

Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers" noticed that almost ALL great hockey players were born early in the year, January through March.

Why is being born early an indicator of being great in sports? No ACTUAL reason, aside from the fact that we group kids by birth year when they start out in sports we start culling the "best" right from the get go

Well, not surprisingly those kids who were born in January of a given year were more physically adept than those born almost a year later.

So we took the "best" and developed them more, leaving those with the same or more potential behind. Gladwell points out that if we adopted a system that even developed kids grouped in 6 month age brackets they'd probably have twice as many great players!

We do this in our culture and society all the time, not just in sports, but it's a great illustration.

Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell - ESPN Page 2

Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Outliers," explains why some success in sports might be more about birth dates than talent.

www.espn.com

Q. Do you know of any junior sports leagues that are trying to change the way they sift talent in order to level the playing field?

A. As far as I know, none. I brought up this very fact with one of the most senior officials in the Canadian national junior hockey program, and pointed out that Canada was squandering the talents of hundreds of boys with late birthdays. I asked [an official] why he didn't just start a parallel league, with a cut-off in late summer. He shrugged and said it would be complicated. Complicated! I don't think, as a society, we are always particularly smart about how to make the best use of our talent. And if we're this bad at sports, imagine how bad we are at other things -- like getting the most out of young people's brains?

Not applicable to this team, basic level research will show that.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Not applicable to this team, basic level research will show that.

Yes I think most people understand that if you look at 25 players you won't see that - though 100% of ignorant people will cite that as "statistical proof that statistics lie!"

But as you know Gladwell focused on THOUSANDS of kids through 2001 and found that yes, there ARE significantly fewer olympic hockey players born in later months

And then as you read in the ESPN article from a little later, they looked at the NHL and 700 plus players, and found yes they TOO had a lot more pros born in Jan - March.

So I'm not sure the birthdays of 25 people on the olympic hockey team are really going to undermine that research.

 

[ViperGTS]

 

[Patjew]

Yes I think most people understand that if you look at 25 players you won't see that - though 100% of ignorant people will cite that as "statistical proof that statistics lie!"

But as you know Gladwell focused on THOUSANDS of kids through 2001 and found that yes, there ARE significantly fewer olympic hockey players born in later months

And then as you read in the ESPN article from a little later, they looked at the NHL and 700 plus players, and found yes they TOO had a lot more pros born in Jan - March.

So I'm not sure the birthdays of 25 people on the olympic hockey team are really going to undermine that research.

Jack Hughes Gladwell of being a hack.

 

[italian pat patriot]

Today in Milan an Epic Game
Probably the best ever for myself
Phenomenal

 

[JoeSixPat]

Today in Milan an Epic Game
Probably the best ever for myself
Phenomenal

Italy is doing themselves proud as a host country in this Olympics period - the competition all around has been great.

 

[sb1]

Tough to watch Marchand out there. Looked so slow. I think he's close to done.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Im not sure whos idea it was to hand out stuffed animals to hockey players but it paid off in a big way

 

[ViperGTS]

Very cool angle. One thing that always stood out to me is the lack of noise dude to no announcers during the games.

 

[ViperGTS]

Oh and one more thing imo. I do agree this isn't be talked about enough. McAvoy isn't a goalie, but if he didn't have the awareness and smarts to do this, they probably lose to. This was just as much if not more of a play than Helle's save imo.

 

[JR52]

Yes I think most people understand that if you look at 25 players you won't see that - though 100% of ignorant people will cite that as "statistical proof that statistics lie!"

But as you know Gladwell focused on THOUSANDS of kids through 2001 and found that yes, there ARE significantly fewer olympic hockey players born in later months

And then as you read in the ESPN article from a little later, they looked at the NHL and 700 plus players, and found yes they TOO had a lot more pros born in Jan - March.

So I'm not sure the birthdays of 25 people on the olympic hockey team are really going to undermine that research.

Must be an 'Outlier'......well, except if you looked at the last Olympics it was 16 out of 26. Seemingly, it has little impact at the Olympic level.

Guess it's not a problem for the US men's Olympic team, and maybe it's just an outdated concept (2001 was 25 years ago).

 

[Brandon_Cox]

My first reaction every time I see Connor Hellebuyck's face is "Are we sure that isn't Andrew Luck?"

 

[sb1]

Wonder how fans up in Toronto and Winnipeg will feel about gold medal winners Matthews and Hellebuyck. Lol

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Wonder how fans up in Toronto and Winnipeg will feel about gold medal winners Matthews and Hellebuyck. Lol

I'm sure they will get cheers.
Us Canadians are proud bunch, but not bitter.

 

[Boomer B]

I'm sure they will get cheers.
Us Canadians are proud bunch, but not bitter.

Matthew’s won’t get booed because he won the medal. As you say, we are proud but we aren’t bitter. That being said, Matthew’s may be booed in Toronto for how underwhelming the Leafs have been this year.