You know, I've been thinking.
It is so typical to choose randomly at fun, casual sporting events. For example, everybody lines up and are numbered off, or names are randomly drawn from a list or something. This is supposed to be the most unbiased way to make teams, right? Wrong. Here's an important fact about "randomly" drawing teams:
The drawing is always biased toward the winning team, especially in a tournament structure.
The teams are already biased! The best team is going to win, regardless of the method of choosing! The teams will always be biased in a tournament structure, because one team will end up as the winner. They're already better than everybody else, they just haven't proved it yet. A tournament always has unfair teams. Nobody starts on a footing commensurate with anybody else. The only thing a tournament is for is to tell everybody where they are in relation to everybody else. Then the question becomes: what is the motivation for joining a tournament? If one team is already better than everybody else, why does everybody think they have a chance?
I tell you, we all see things wrong when it comes to selecting teams.
1 comment:
This is a very good point, my friend. I have never thought about it before, but it makes perfect sense when you say it like that. Or I guess doesn't make perfect sense. Well done.
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