Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures argues technology has improved baseball and football but degraded soccer and basketball

@rabois this is true and one of the things I genuinely would have been con in ds would be the other way around.

@buildanything omg this VAR stuff is worse than ever.

@rabois Has VAR really made soccer worse? Or is it just the application of it?

@imallag global lesson here the tech is basically the same.

@rabois is it the tech or the ppl behind it?

@rabois When a sports’ rule system inherently relies on judgement, instant replay and tech enabled nuanced “capture” sucks. Will always be contested and be lame.

MLB - No judgement required for if the runner was / wasn’t safe at first or if the ball was fair / foul

@rabois It has not. There used to be random illegal things happen I. High stakes matches in the WC because the ref would miss them. Technology has made soccer 10x better albeit with some annoyance.

@rabois @imallag The ball sensor tech FIFA is using is totally incomprehensible. Zero transparency

I think it’s because in the NBA we miss the era of gritty defense & grinding. The speed, strength, precision, and “game theory” of the sport are significantly better - what’s missing is the high stakes conflict.

In this there is a lesson, that sports fans don’t just watch for more scoring or moves - but for the conflict and overcoming of it.

It’s the reason why hardcore basketball fans still like Jordan over LeBron - because Jordan was dropping 35/night despite getting beat up by the Pistons. Not just because he dropped 35/night.

The challenge makes the game more exciting.

@4484 @buildanything soccer not the NBA has improved the accuracy of the calls, probably made them less accurate.

@rabois @buildanything always better to get the right calls with tech vs wrong calls without.

@rabois I hear what you are saying but in soccer at least players started becoming professionals in tricking refs, “taking dives”, and trying to fake into advantages - so it’s not ideal and not like the old days (more clinical and less flare) but it was getting out of hand.

@rabois nba and soccer got swamped by hype culture, not tech

@rabois Are you referring to just slow VAR / chips in the soccer ball?

@Sheldonbishop01 those are the same.

@rabois I disagree. There used to be way too many erroneous (none)calls, intentional or not. And although the tech may not be perfect, it’s better than leaving just to the three refs on the pitch.

@rabois You spelt cricket wrong ;)

@rabois Are you referring to analytics?

@rabois Interested to know why you think it has made football worse?

If anything it has made teams more likely to go for 2 and 4th down, resulting in more high leverage plays and excitement

@rabois why do you think its made the NBA materially worse?