If the Tall Run Things, Why Aren’t Americans Taller?

By Frank Deford 老马 译

究竟是大个子更好还是矮个子更好？两者间哪一类更容易获得成功？ˬ更受人们的青睐？

Did you see that Yao Ming got married not long ago? Well, if you were there in Shanghai you couldn’t miss it. After all, he’s 7'6", and his petite bride, Ye Li, is 6'2".

But then, this is telling. Americans are getting shorter. Well, we’re not getting shorter, it’s just that Yao Ming and Ye Li and lots of other people around the world are getting taller. Good grief, Dutchmen now average — average — more than 6 feet.

However, for about the last 50 years, our guys have been stuck at around 5-feet-9-and-change. No wonder we don’t win basketball games against other countries much any more. How can this be? The very image of the American was of that long-legged, rangy, raw-bone type.

Now our most popular sport, which is significantly known as “American” football, features some fat 300-pounders. Maybe the American century1 was really just the tall century. Why shouldn’t we have ruled the world? After all, studies have shown the long and short of it2: Tall men do better in life. They win the best jobs and the best-looking women. And a study at Princeton reveals that tall people are simply smarter than the wee ones. Me being 6'4", I accepted this news with the height of smugness3.

Our two greatest American leaders, Washington and Lincoln, were exceptionally tall, and right up until the end of the American century — the tall century — it was unusual for the shorter presidential candidate ever to win. Indeed, given what a mess of things the shorter choice, George W. Bush, has made of his presidency in the fat century, Hillary Clinton’s main obstacle may not be that she’s a woman, but that she’s shorter than most men.

In sports, though, the best athletes still get taller. Some basketball guards now are the size of centers of a couple generations ago. Cal Ripken4, who just went into the Hall of Fame, might best be known for his iron-man credentials5, but his lasting influence was to prove that a shortstop could be a tall stop.

Nonetheless, honesty compels me to offer this grudging addendum to the Princeton study. That is, it is the little guys who invariably end up running sports. I call it the Coxswain Authority — coxswain being the peewee who sits forward in the back of the scull and just screams at the giant rowers: “Stroke, stroke, stroke ...”

The Coxswain Authority is especially, ironically evident in basketball. Hoop coaches in the tall sport are invariably short guys. Oh, occasionally a forward like Phil Jackson or Don Nelson becomes a successful coach, but the really big guys are still thought of as mindless goons. Generally, we just assume that the little players are the brains6 of the outfits.

As a tall person, I say it is time to end this gross discrimination in sports and let tall people have their rightfully ordained place, smartly running games, the way we run everything else so very well.

不久前姚明结婚了，你看到了吗？呃，如果当时你也在上海，你应该不会错过的，毕竟，他有着7英尺6英寸的身高，而他“娇小”的妻子叶莉也有着6英尺2英寸的身高。

然而，这个事实有着很大的说服力。美国人正在变得越来越矮。呃，不是我们在变矮，而是姚明和叶莉以及世界上很多其他人正在变高。天哪，荷兰人现在的平均身高是6英尺多——那仅仅是平均身高啊！

然而，在过去的大概50年里，我们自己人的身高却在5英尺9英寸左右停滞不前。难怪我们再也不能在篮球比赛中¾¬常战胜其他国家了。怎么会这样呢？典型的美国人形象可是有着大长腿、四肢修长、骨瘦如柴的啊。

知名的“美式足球”是我们最流行的体育运动，现在里面却有着一些体重达到300磅的胖家伙。或许，“美国世纪”只是“高人”掌控天下的时代。为什么我们没能执掌天下呢？毕竟，研究已¾¬表明了事实：身材高大的男人在人生中会做得更好。他们能得到最好的工作，能赢得最美丽女人的芳心。普林斯顿大学的一项研究表明，身材高大的人就是比身材矮小的人更加聪明。作为一名身高达到6英尺4英寸的人，我对这条新闻沾沾自喜，并且欣然接受。

美国最伟大的两位领导人华盛顿和林肯都长得非常高。直到“美国世纪”——也就是“高人世纪”——结束之前，长得较矮的总统候选人当选总统都是一件极不寻常的事。乔治•W.布什是总统选举中获胜的一个长得较矮的候选人，然而在“胖人世纪”中，他在任期间把事情搞得一团糟。对于希À¬里•克林顿来说，也许她要当选总统的最主要障°¬并不在于她是一名女性，而是她比大多数男性都要矮上一截。

但在体育运动中，最好的运动员仍在变得越来越高。现在篮球中的一些后卫们有着几代前的中锋们的个头。也许刚刚进入美国棒球名人堂的卡尔•里普肯是以他那铁人般的成就最为知名，然而，他所产生的深远影响却在于，他向世人证明了，大个子也可以打好游击手这个位置。

即便如此，良心促使我不得不把普林斯顿大学这项研究的一项补充说出来，尽管我很不情愿。那就是，在赛跑运动中最终赢得比赛的往往是那些小个子运动员，我将这称为“舵手权威”。舵手就是那个面朝前方坐在划艇后面、冲着那些大个子划手们大声喊着“划！划！划¡¬¡¬”的小个子。

具有讽刺意味的是，“舵手权威”在篮球中尤其明显。篮球这项“高人”运动中的教练们通常都是由个头矮小的人来担任的。噢，偶尔也有一些像菲尔•杰克逊和唐•纳尔逊这样的前锋球员最终成为一名优秀的教练员，但是那些真正的大块头球员仍然被人们看成是头脑简单的傻子。通常，我们只是把小个子球员们当成是全队的大脑。

作为一名高个子的人，我要说的是，到了该摒弃体育界中的这种错误歧视的时候了，应该让“高人”得到应有的地位，让“高人”们也能在比赛中灵巧地发挥，就像我们在其他领域所完美展现的那样。

1. “American Century” is a saying coined by Time publisher Henry Luce used to claim preeminence of the United States during the 20th century.

2. the long and (the) short of it:总的情况，要点。例：The long and the short of it is that he can’t cope.(总之，他这人拙于应付。)又如：The money isn’t there, and that’s the long and short of it.(钱不在那里，情况就是如此。)

3. smugness /`smVgnIs/ n. 自满，自我欣赏。smug adj.<贬>自满的，沾沾自喜的，自鸣得意的。

4. Cal Ripken:即 Cal Ripken Jr.，里普肯(1960～)，美国棒球运动员，因为他连续参加了无数场比赛，所有被称为“棒球界的铁汉子”(Iron Man of Baseball)。

5. credentials /krI`dWnSElz/ n.(表明一个人有资格做某事或起某种作用的)成就，资历。

6. brains:极聪明的人，智者。例：Some of the best brains in the country are working on this project.(从事这项工程的是全国一些最优秀的人才。)