Sports (Does Not Equal Sign) Meritocracy

Hey, remember when I celebrated the NBA’s playoff system for being a meritocracy? Yeah, not so much in the South African Olympics teams. From the New York Times Olympics blog:

Elsewhere in the realm of odd-sounding Olympic pronouncements, there is a “furore” over the South African government’s request that the country’s men’s field hockey team have 50-50 representation between whites and players of color, which works out to eight players of each variety. The South Africa Hockey Association said it will see if it can meet the request, which is up from last year’s agreement that 6 of the 16 players would be of color — but also short of the 12 or so called for by a black member of parliament.

Gee, here’s an idea: how ’bout the best players make the team? No? Ah well…