Refinement Culture (PT 1) : Enter The System

3/24/2021 Reﬁnement Culture (PT 1) - The Lindy Newsletter
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Refinement
Enter the System
Culture (PT 1)
Paul Skallas
Aug 24, 2020 48 9
There has been a subtle shi in the last 20 years in a some aspects of life. It has to do with
re nement of things, games, products and aesthetics. It’s hard to describe exactly WHAT
Re nement Culture really means. It’s easier for me to show you some of these changes you
may or may not have noticed. And through the examples, a de nition will be eshed out.
Let’s start with professional sports. I think you can clearly see some of the symptoms of
re nement culture there. Then we can move on to other areas.
Sports - NBA
https://paulskallas.substack.com/p/reﬁnement-culture 1/14
If you look at the graphic above you will see how the game of professional basketball has
changed over the last twenty years. You can probably notice it if you’ve been watching for a
long time. Gone is the mid-range jumper that players like Michael Jordan and Karl Malone
built their careers on. Now the game has shi ed to 3-point shooters and players who drive to
the basket for close shots. How did this happen? Almost every team now has an NBA analytics
department in the front o ce. Data is collected using cameras that record every movement of
both the ball and all 10 players 25 times per second. Data analytics has brought an explosion in
attempts for three-point shots. In 2012, teams averaged about 18 three-point attempts per
game. In 2017, that number reached 27.
Why? It’s really just common sense and math, backed up by data. Essentially, data showed that
the reward of taking a three-point shot outweighed the risk. On average, teams that take more
three-point shots ultimately score more points over the course of a game. The Golden State
Warriors, who won a ton of championships the past few years are a perfect example of this
philosophy. Other teams have followed.
Teams also crunch large data sets on defenders for other teams. They determine where they
had the most and least amount of success against various o ensive attacks, such as long range
shots, midrange jumpers and driving the lane to the basket. Teams then take that information
to isolate a player who is good in one area against a defender who isn’t. The ipside is true, as
well. Teams attempt to get their defenders on a speci c player, particularly in critical
situations, if that defender has a statistically better chance of preventing a score. The entire
game has changed over the last 20 years because of technology, data science and math.
Looking at the picture above feels like seeing a once bio-diverse land, teeming with all sorts of
ora and fauna, reduced to rats and weeds.
Where do we see this with other sports?
Sports - Soccer
Total volume from outside the box continues to decline year on year in the English Premier
League. From 7.2 per team per game in 08/09 to 4.7 last season. Conversion rate (goals scored)
has doubled in that time.
% of all shots from inside the box continues to rise year on year. Now almost 9% higher than in
08/09. This is all due to Soccer teams using data analytics to change the way they play. The
game today does not resemble the game from 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years ago. It may never go back
to those times and style. This could be permanent style for the majority of teams and games
over the next few decades.
You can read more on how teams like Liverpool are using analytics and how it’s changing how
they play.
Sports - Baseball
Baseball was the arguably the rst sport to embrace the data analytics revolution. It was called
the Moneyball era of the 2000s and introduced many new stats that I didn’t know existed.
There is an emphasis on walks combined with increased strikeouts due to better pitching &
more willingness to play high-strikout prone batters in exchange for power/HRs. All of this is
driven by data.
This year, you're waiting on average, 3 minutes and 52 seconds between balls in play, a record.
If you watch a fair amount of old baseball games on YouTube you notice (eyeball test only) that
the games moved along a crisp pace. It was rare that a game went +2.5 hours. Much more
enjoyable to watch. Batters stepped up to the box ready to hit, and they didn't really leave the
box. Pitchers got the ball back and threw. There was no walking around, no fussing on the
rubber, adjusting your batting gloves. But every at-bat is more re ned now. More rituals at the
plate, more strategy, more stats, more everything….
Singles and steals in baseball have gone the way of mid-range jumpers in basketball, just as
homers and strikeouts have increased alongside three-pointers.
Outcome maximalization across sports has created "smarter" games with less variety and more
all-or-nothing play. The xation with quanti able success can lead to a collective attening of
the human experience. Perhaps we need to include more randomness in the game. Each home
eld or home court should have distinctive features, di erent playing surfaces, or outdoor
elements. Think of how fun the wrigley eld ivy is, or the boston green wall. Maybe put a dog
or cat on the playing eld.
Only randomness can save the sport from becoming boring. And sports a er all is just another
genre of entertainment.
Sports - Aesthetics
The data analytics revolution along with technology has changed sports for good. But there is
another element other than style of play or strategy. There is aesthetics in sports. Let’s look at
how Olympic gym routines have changed over the years:
Farbod Saraf
@farbodsaraf
This is how gymnastics in the Olympics has changed over time

#HowThingsWork
August 17th 2016
37 Retweets 54 Likes
Olympics: Greek ideal of ἀρετή, at human scale.
Circus: exploitation of deformities, unscaled
Current Olympics: exploitation of deformities!
Peter Horobin
@PeterHorobinUK
Awesome Ted talk on ‘are athletes actually getting faster?’
Technology has improved, better selection of body types, genetics &

mindset..plus weird athletes have gotten weirder! Take Phelps & El
Guerrouj - 7inches difference in height but same leg length
youtu.be/8COaMKbNrX0
December 19th 2018
13 Likes
Modernity turned Olympic athletes into Roman gladiators, captives.
The Greek ideal was to never do activities that reduce one's humanity.
Andre Agassi & his wife Ste Graf (both famous tennis players) forbade their children from
taking up tennis because he saw his career as performing like a gladiator.
In the early Olympic games, the British were shocked and appalled when they found that the
Americans trained for competitions.
If you’re interested in athletics as it once was, slightly premodern, run on a clay cinder track,
jumpers still doing the straddle, beautifully lmed, see The Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Based on
physiques, It looks like there’s not too much steroid (another aspect of re nement culture)
taking yet.
Brand Logos
Let’s shi away from sports and on to another topic of re nement culture. Let’s discuss
contemporary logos. The current aesthetic is supposed to be “clean” and frictionless. They are
de-aging skin, smoothing hair, and brightening his eyes. They could be trying to make him
look “healthy”.
For some reason they made the Quaker Oats man younger, slimmer and virile. Why? I have no
clue. What does this have to do with Oats? I have no idea.
They did it to Captain Highliner too. Now he’s Silver Fox captain.
They shaved Little Caesar’s chest.
Chuck E Cheese with one of the biggest downgrades. He’s thinner, wearing tight pants, looks
“healthier” and more “realistic”. But it all ends up somehow just weird and disorientating. CGI
is a step back. It looks more “re ned”, but it also ends up looking bad, ugly and it doesn’t mean
much.
Automobiles
I remember growing up and driving and being in the passenger seat of cars. Every car would
be a di erent world. It’d be a totally di erent experience, both riding in it, driving it, the
aesthetics, the interior and if it would even last. They were distinct! I now get into an uber (I
don’t drive much anymore) and it’s all the same thing. If it’s a newish car made in the past 5-10
years, it’s all the same. What make? What model? It doesn’t matter. It’s all pretty good. They all
run smooth. They all have electronics on the dashboard.
Let’s take a look at some of the cars I’ve driven in my life:
Driving the Saab really made me feel like a character from a Godard lm from the 60s.
….End of Part 1………….
48 9
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Write a comment…
Patrick Aug 31, 2020 Liked by Paul Skallas
The Saab really is an enjoyable car to drive. Very distinct. Your points on cars really hit home.
3 Reply
1 reply by Paul Skallas
Scotto Aug 25, 2020 Liked by Paul Skallas
Enjoying this one Skallas. Has to be capitalism. Must be.
1 Reply
2 replies by Paul Skallas and others
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3/24/2021 Reﬁnement Culture (PT 1) - The Lindy Newsletter

Where do we see this with other sports?

This is how gymnastics in the Olympics has changed over time

August 17th 2016

Olympics: Greek ideal of ἀρετή, at human scale.

Circus: exploitation of deformities, unscaled

Current Olympics: exploitation of deformities!

Awesome Ted talk on ‘are athletes actually getting faster?’

Technology has improved, better selection of body types, genetics &

December 19th 2018

Modernity turned Olympic athletes into Roman gladiators, captives.

They shaved Little Caesar’s chest.

Let’s take a look at some of the cars I’ve driven in my life:

….End of Part 1………….

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