Why are some people just better?

No, this has nothing to do with race, gender, religion, politics, or any other such nonsense. I'm talking about sports. It seems certain peoples are just better at some athletic endeavors than others.

There's a few things I think I understand. For it's size, the Dominican Republic certainly churns out it's fair share of major league baseball players. That might well be, at least in part, because due to the climate young boys can, and do play the game year-round. It's almost a way of life. By the time they're 20 years old or so, it should be no surprise the cream of the Dominican crop is REALLY good. I get that.

But there's a lot more things I don't understand.

In recent years, South Korean women have been dominant on the ladies pro golf tour (LPGA). But wait a minute. They can't play and practice year-round in their homeland. Last time I looked, South Korea has some pretty brutal winters. So how do they do that?

Why is it that Kenyans, both men and women, seem to win every big-time marathon that takes place? One might logically assume that other distance runners the world over are going through the same training regimens. Do the Kenyans have some sort of built-in genetic advantage? Beats me.

There's several other examples.

Mexico has produced a slew of boxing champions over the years, though mostly in the lighter weight classes.

The Russians are good at a lot of things, but does anybody doubt their supremacy in the game of chess?

The Chinese rule ping-pong.

The Bulgarians used to rule weightlifting. Is Bulgaria still around or is it called something else these days? I dunno.

The French make great wine, the Polish great sausages, and the Italians great pasta dishes. And the Germans know a thing or two about beer. Those aren't sports? Well, they ought to be. I won't get into the Scottish and that delicacy they call "haggis". If you don't know what it is -- look it up. Give me a cold pizza or 3 day old KFC anyday over that stuff, but I digress.

For that matter, tastes in sports the world over seem to greatly differ in some cases.

Few outside the US give a rat's behind about American style football. Yet much of the rest of the world is futbol (soccer) crazy. Conversely, no matter how hard the soccer proponents have tried over the years to promote it in the States, for the most part it has been met with a collective yawn -- at least at it's highest levels. To be sure, millions of boys and girls avidly participate throughout elhi -- but after that --  the popularity of soccer in the US takes a nosedive, unless it's something special like the Olympics.

Why are the folks down under so good at Australian rules football, while nobody else seems willing to even participate? Because they're the only ones crazy enough to play that sport. Ever seen it? This is not for the faint of heart. A man's game if there ever was one. It's positively brutal. Imagine an NFL game with the same hard hitting, but no helmets or pads, and you're getting close. Those guys make Crocodile Dundee look like Barney Fife.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.

Ya gotta love em. It seems they know a bit about sailing, swimming, and playing poker too. Or was that the New Zealanders? I don't know. They all look alike to me.

Regardless, let the rest of the world sort these things out. I have enough problems of my own in the ongoing cage match with J as to who makes the best lasagna.