Why an American will NEVER be a World Champion

When a American wants it and is willing to work for it they will have it, why because that's America!  

Interesting topic and one that I have been thinking about over the last few days. It seems to me that intelligence mostly nurture and not nature. Or, to quote Edison, "What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration." Without getting into the whole "Nurture Vs. Nature" argument (both sides are valid, the issue is how you blend the two together), America has an increasing tendency to nurture skills and pursuits that aren't terribly productive. Do a Google news search on the topic of school music programs being neglected and even closed down in favor of the football program.

Someone in this thread mentioned that great geniuses are born and not made; "The cream rises to the top" and "Nature not nurture" are other ways of saying this. The "cream" is anyone who has a natural mental aptitude for some type of thought. That aptitude can be applied to many different disciplines with nearly equal success. However, if a culture is so immersed in vanity and physical pursuits it can drag down those with natural talents or divert them away from an otherwise stellar performance in a certain field.

Anyways, I just found it a bit odd that I should be in agreement with Cheater_1. However, don't count America out just yet... anyone heard of Ray Robson? Maybe not quite Bobby Fischer... not yet anyway. 

EDIT: I just say "Anothernewjack's" comment concerning Ray Robson. I see I'm not the only one who's watching Ray...

Yes, and the whole time you are laughing, you get to live in Morocco. And we get to live in the US. So we laugh too. Louder and better.

Mr Cobblepot, have you actually seen Japanese League Baseball? Lots of tiny, short-sighted chaps running about and falling over.Great fun, but more family entertainment than serious sport to most.The Japanese also prefer proper football.

Anothernewjack.This is another problem with your society, that you turn children into objects of entertainment, spelling B's, talent contests, beauty pageants etc.The result is usually a twisted,confused and arrogant individual, spoiled rotten and having missed out on their formative years, unable to interact with the real world.I hope very much that young Mr. Robson does not turn out like this, but he is already suffering an unhealthy amount of media attention,is clearly under pressure to do well , so I worry.

This sort of crippling of young children, like child obesity, is nothing short of child abuse.(Not necessarily the case of Ray Robson)

Duffer1965, I have lived in several countries, so I can experience the rich diversity of culture, religion, history and food that the world offers.I would not choose to live in the beautiful U.S.A., however, because of the average calibre and attitude of the people who live there, although I'm sure you're an exception.

       I do agree though, that Americans laugh louder, usually embarrassingly so.

FIrst off, BASEBALLFAN, you CONTINUALLY post to my topics. So much so that I thought you were a stalker (at worst) or a troll (at best).

Second, ARMCHAIRQB (post #36), you need to go read the constitution or the history of the USA, BOY, before you spout off. Brush up on your facts..you're dead WRONG.

I'm sure the caliber of person in Morocco is quite high. I have no intention of finding out, however. And that you don't want to live in the US causes me to lose not one moment's sleep.

Vishy Annand has chubby cheeks....

I completely agree with cheater_1's argument's regarding the American school system.  Unfortunately, strong teachers' unions keep teachers in place who care nothing about eduction and couldn't teach their way out of a cardboard box.  The American school system is a complete sham.  It is providing an education for the lowest common denominator of children, those whose parents can't teach their children the alphabet nor to count to 100 before sending them off to Kindergarten. 

My second grade daughter (7 years old) is limited to calculations as "difficult" as 22+3 in her advanced 2nd grade math class, and she's only one of two children in the class (the others are having difficulty with such large calculations...).  Alan Greenspan said over a year ago that the American labor pool had to change itself to back a "Brain based Economy" as physical labor in the US is becoming non-existent (look at the fate of GM/Ford/Chrysler and all of the auto suppliers).  To support the US educational system, we are paying top dollar when compared to other industrialized countries (on a dollar per child basis). We should therefore be able to produce such an educated group that Greenspan is talking about.  At this rate we seriously need immigration to provide the level of educated folks that the US needs to economically compete with the rest of the world.

Entitlement is a big problem.  I blame it on the liberal attitudes that are overtaking our culture from the educational and media establishments that came from my parent's generation.  Why earn something when society owes it to you.  You can see this from cheater_1's examples regarding lottery systems, lawsuits and also in the way Americans use credit.  We spend money we haven't earned while being completely unconcerned about saving.  Who do we expect to provide for us at these times...the government, who we feel owes us this support.

I find it extremely ironic that this housing/credit crisis we are going through was caused by liberally increasing the availability of credit to extreme credit risks and now that they are unable to pay back their mortgages we're all in the tank.  This is what we get for trying to give everyone the "American Dream" and not expect everyone to earn it.  What ever happend to the American work ethic.

As far as cheater_1's argument regarding America producing another World Chess Champion...I consider Bobby Fischer a bit of an exception.  His parents (regardless of who you believe his father to be) were both European immigrant scientists if I recall correctly and can hardly be called typical Americans.  Other than a fluke occurence, the odds of another US World Champion are remote, simply because the lack of support for Chess in the US directs the pool of our exceptional children into other avenues than chess.

My son's elementary school in not very big, but their chess club has around 40 members.  I have been selling my boards at both local, and state tournaments, and it seems to me that there are plenty of U.S. children playing chess.  I believe the catch is, retention. 

I saw something about a U.S. city chess league that has started.  I'm not sure how well the players are paid though, I wonder if they have televised drafts.

 This is an outrage !! Surely you count the annual SI swimsuit issue as scholarly?! 

Lol Yes we do!  I nearly commented that there's a new American "world" champion every year. 

haha, and a ridiculously cheeky grin even for someone who just won the world championship!

 WOW !!  Where/when did you go to school?  They used to teach this stuff in school when I went (back in the 60s) but from listening to people today they seem to have stopped ! Are you an old geezer like me or did you go to private school or, better yet, were you home schooled? The US was NOT founded as a Democracy and I dont know when it became one but so many people today seem to think it is ! I think the US ceased to be a real Republic though after the War between the States and has been going down hill ever since. The education system has certainly got much worse since the 60s without doubt ! When the feds get involved in anything it always does......

I love the Benjamin Franklin quote but perhpas that's because my surname is Franklin

I think an American will become World champion, one day. But you think the USA is bad England hasn't had a world champion since Howard Staunton (His status was unofficial but we all know he was champion). As long as you have a good tutor and you work hard you can be world champion. Natural talent does come into it. But hard graft is the main reason why you'll become a champion. Maybe there is just a lack of talent out in America?

It's probably a lost cause to educate some people but MLB has several top-notch players that came out of Japan, S Korea, Latin America....

Maybe someday the USA can be as good at what Morocco does, whatever that is.

goldendog, I was comparing the leagues not the countries. But if you compare the countries, the US would rank below "Latin America", though if you (rightly) split Latin America into Republica Dominicana, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, etc. then I'm _guessing_ that US only ranks behind the Dominican Republic. Japan is definitely top 3. Maybe it's top 1, though I'd still put my $$ on Pujols.

Well, once again Cheater_1, you have made some interesting and sadly valid points. I have a friend who is Russian and comes from the "Russian State School" of chess. Based on what he has told me, both about their former training programs and those of other countries, there is good reason for the United States disability in producing world champions.

Sorry Oz, was not addressing you...but rather the Moroccan resident who hosts

racist stereotypes of the Japanese and who is ignorant of MLB.  One of my points is that serious baseball is spread about a significant part of the world (> billion population). It is ignorant to laugh at the sport as if it were trivial.