05/08/24
June 28, 2009
While Recovering, Rockies’ Francis Revels in Physics of Pitching : Elastic-band stretches brought thoughts of forces and harmonic motion. In the pool, he watched every exercise obey the fluid mechanics he learned in college. As his arms pushed down paddles and his body lurched forward, Francis uttered words to his trainer that, safe to say, he would not if his Colorado Rockies teammates were any closer than Los Angeles. “What number of Newton’s laws is that one, Scotty? You know?” No. “Third,” Francis beamed. “Third.”
posted by tommytrump to baseball at 11:30 AM - 5 comments
Doesn't Shaquille O'Neal have an advanced degree in mandibular telekinesis?
Doesn't Bill Romanowski have a doctorate in orthosociopathogenics?
Then there are John Daly, Ryan Leaf, and the late Christopher Bowman, who have all undertaken arduous long-term studies of chaos theory as it applies to the diurnal terrestrial continuum.
posted by beaverboard at 03:17 PM on June 28, 2009
This particular physics graduate liked the article. However, knowledge of aerodynamics made me understand how to swing a cricket ball, but never helped me to actually do it.
posted by owlhouse at 08:19 PM on June 28, 2009
Thanks for the link, tommytrump. At first, I thought, hey, where's the Canadian angle? But then I remembered Francis is from BC. (Kidding, of course -- love the north-of-the-border coverage from you.)
Here's another article about a smarter-than-average pitcher that I enjoyed recently.
posted by holden at 11:57 AM on June 29, 2009
I had seen that article. Interesting stuff, even if he's not a Canuck.
posted by tommybiden at 01:04 PM on June 29, 2009
This is a nice article about a rehabbing pitcher. It's too bad the author falls for the idea of the "dumb jock" when comparing Francis's above average intellect to others. I think that intelligence is the norm among athletes rather than the exception. We are all too used to the stereotype given us by the entertainment industry. I seem to remember another example of a really smart athlete who was "gawked at" for his brains. That would have been Fran Ryan, PhD in mathematics, who was the quarterback for a very successful Cleveland Browns team some years ago.