Split theme today. Lately I've been participating in a weekly group bicycle ride. I'm pretty sure that I'm the youngest person that does it, and I probably have the worst/cheapest/oldest bike in the group. I'm also among the more physically fit people in the group. Nevertheless, guys that are totally out of shape will blow by me on their three thousand dollar bikes. Cycling, and by extension triathlon, is a sport where you can really truly gain big time performance advantages simply by spending money/having better equipment. If my bike weights twice as much as some one else's, they're just going to go faster than me, even if we're pedaling at the same intensity.

1. Leaving aside debates about PEDs, what is an area of life where people can close a performance gap only by spending money/having better equipment, that you think is a bunch of bullcrap?

2. Conversely, what is an egalitarian sport/activity where there are no ways to purchase performance?

3. Tomorrow marks September callups - who do you have as people who should/should not get called up, and who are your predictions for who actually does get called up?

4. If you could berate an empty chair on national television, who would you pretend was sitting in that chair?

Bonus: favorite Boulevard beer?