1 |
Previous | 1 of 3 | Next |
|
This page
All
Subset
|
W. A. Patón THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN (EMERITUS) IN ALL MY YEARS-NOTES ON HANDICAPPING Some months back, while attending an afternoon gathering, I happened to be chatting with three friends when the conversation turned to golf, and one of the group told of a notable victory he had recently achieved—by one stroke—in a match at the "club" with an opponent he'd never beaten before. The narrator, a man of about 65, and no athlete, was obviously elated over his victory, and there was a touch of bragging in his tone. I was surprised when he named his victim, an old student of mine, who played in the low 70's as a member of the varsity team in his college days and is still a very fine golfer. I expressed my astonishment and then came the moment of truth. The "winner" admitted that in the handicapping for this match he was allowed a margin of 20 strokes. In other words, he won by a scare of 98 to the 79 taken by his opponent. I moved away from the group at that point for fear of saying something that would sound a bit nasty. I might add that my boasting friend was an execu-tive with a large corporation for many years, and I don't believe he has ever been accused of an anticapitalist point of view. A few weeks after this incident I was having dinner at the home of a couple who are among my best friends. The man of the house has been an ardent golfer, from school days on, is still much in-terested in the sport, and often follows what is going on in a major professional tournament by way of the T.V. There was another guest present, another long-time and good friend, who likes golf, and also is addicted to keeping in touch with tournament news. After dinner we men spent some time watching a showing on T.V. of the later stages of some matches between leading pros in a tournament re-cently concluded. I was reminded of my experience in listening to the account of how an inferior player scored a "win" over an ex-cellent player, by taking only 19 strokes more than his rival, and after the T.V. was turned off I told the story to my two golfing friends of the dinner party. Somewhat to my surprise both men supported vigorously the pre-vailing handicapping practice in the amateur game. Without this system, they both insisted, there could be no genuine competition
Object Description
Title | In all my years--Notes on handicapping |
Author | Paton, William Andrew, 1889-1991 |
Subject |
Sports betting Handicapping |
Abstract | I don't like handicapping, in any sport, and never have. It's an egalitarian practice-as I see it-without any significant merit. I'm firmly committed to the view that a society in which awards are commensurate with performance, productivity, is preferable to any egalitarian system. We should avoid like the plague all efforts to harass, restrict, or handicap the talented, the efficient, the superior performer. This is just as sound a stance in economics generally as in sports. |
Citation | Accounting Historians Journal, 1976, Vol. 3, nos. 1-4, pp. 029-031 |
Date-Issued | 1976 |
Source | Originally published by: Academy of Accounting Historians |
Rights | Copyright held by: Academy of Accounting Historians |
Type | Text |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2005 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | AHJ3-1976 p29-31 |