And I think the point illustrates that starting with “goals” rather than “tools” can be problematic. There are the goals of the internal (sport-specific) authorities, goals of external authorities (general law-giving and norm-generating institutions), and there are the goals of the fans (themselves divided into fans-of-a-particular-team and fans-of-the-sport-in-general). These overlap, but they’re distinct, and it’s difficult to come up with a standard that prioritizes them in a consistent and coherent manner.

Instead, I’ll hypothesize that “governance,” meaning respecting all of those interests at once in a flexible framework, is itself a viable methodology, and that the “aesthetics” of governance is viable representation of that domain — where some of the interests overlap, but many don’t, and the best that the regime can do is flexibly anticipate and respond to different stresses. Many of the “aesthetic” criteria in play are internal, but some are external and still widely accepted as legitimate (take Title IX, for example).

I’ll also submit that the NBA’s decision to suspend Stoudamire shows precisely how an inflexible and one dimensional adjucative regime can lead to wrongheaded results.

Note how different it would be if we were just looking for the “fastest” sprinter….or allowed “anything goes” in soccer or football (see, e.g., the flying wedge).

As for the aesthetics of each sport–very interesting term of judgment there. I think you’re suggesting that there are no criteria external to the game to judge it–that it’s a matter of artistry.

As for “who should determine”: I suppose the team owners (or sponsors) should nominate a board. My only worry about self-governance is that the board may soft-pedal safety concerns, or promote unfair and wasteful competition, merely to increase the audeince for the sport vis a vis other sports. (i.e., may turn a blind eye to steroids in bball, or crashes in NASCAR). That possibility makes me want to see some people outside the sport, with no financial interest in it, make the calls.

Finally, as to substantive guidance on performance enhancement, here’s my hack at it:

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/05/limits_of_perfo.html