11/21/24
October 29, 2009
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
I question your premise, at least where hoops is concerned. If attire-related advantages were significant, there would be some basketball players who didn't wear the long baggy shorts and derived benefit from it. Elite athletes spend hundreds of hours a month working on their game, study film and work with trainers. They're not stupid.
posted by rcade at 08:27 AM on October 29, 2009
They're not stupid.
rcade, have you seen the Antoine Walker article that was posted yesterday? Or your article about Larry Johnson? Or the Andre Aggasi did meth article? How about the Yankees wouldn't sign black players article? Would you like to reconsider?
I know that both are blanket statements and I respond in jest. However I do think that beaverboard may be on to something. Just this past year we have seen the controversy about the attire that swimmers wear making a difference in performance. How about the concerns from last fall about the amount of padding that players such as Dwayne Wade wear under their uniforms? I don't think it is that far from the realm of possibility that the attire could have an influence on some of the athlete's ability to perform.
Perhaps it should be on the athletes to begin considering their uniforms as more than just an opportunity to make a fashion statement and worry about concentrating on the events between the lines. Just last year there was a game at UMass where I watched our point guard Chris Lowe's shorts drop as he was running back up the court. It didn't matter on that play as he held them up until the next stoppage in play, but if the opposing point guard had been paying closer attention, he would have had a very easy time getting past C-Lowe who could only defend with one hand. The shorts were dropping only because Chris insisted on keeping the draw string on his shorts loose. This wasn't the first time those of us on the side lines had seen that his shorts were loose/falling, and it wasn't the last. It was just the only time that the other team could have truly made an advantage of it had they noticed.
posted by Demophon at 10:42 AM on October 29, 2009
When I said they were not stupid, I meant that they were not stupid about their game. Basketball is not a sport where speed differences matter down to the second. Though I will grant you that players who cannot keep their pants up would suffer a performance penalty.
posted by rcade at 10:53 AM on October 29, 2009
This is interesting. I think that many of today's basketball players are as much influenced by fashion as they are anything else and that the baggy uniforms are a direct reflection of that. I can't say that they hinder a basketball players performance, but I cannot see any possible advantage to what must be some drag on them caused by the excess fabric Maybe it's infinitessmal. Same could be said for the over-sized baseball unis. Maybe that is what has been making Manny be Manny all this time.
posted by THX-1138 at 11:29 AM on October 29, 2009
Ancient Greek athletes performed in the nude, glazed in olive oil and a light dusting of sand. The earliest observed baggataway/tewaarathon games were contested wearing nothing more than a loin cloth. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that some of you arguing in favour of the more streamlined (read: tight-fitting) or performance-enhancing uniforms are longing for those early times and the aesthetic (read: homoerotic) pleasure derived from observing fit bodies in motion. "Get rid of those baggy shorts and put those boys in some spandex!"
I realize this is more "lockerroom" talk than huddle talk, but don't dismiss the idea entirely. There is an aesthetic to sport ... baggy shorts is just one variation.
More on-topic, however ... what fascinates me most is the way in which clothing is becoming increasingly engineered to "enhance" performance, not simply inhibit less.
posted by Spitztengle at 12:05 PM on October 29, 2009
what fascinates me most is the way in which clothing is becoming increasingly engineered to "enhance" performance, not simply inhibit less.
And even when it can't possibly have an effect, it's marketed as if it will (I'm looking at you, Underarmor). While they might make a wonderful base layer of the highest quality, they market it as a wear-it-alone training tool that, apparently, helps 13 year-olds get obscenely ripped and act like Ray Lewis. Maybe it's my grungy old t-shirts that are holding me back at the gym.
If we're going back to naked athletics, I say we start with the bowlers. Meeeeooooooww!
posted by tahoemoj at 12:27 PM on October 29, 2009
There has to be some aesthetics here. Would kids want to play basketball if they had to wear tight spandex shorts?
posted by bperk at 12:28 PM on October 29, 2009
If Nike spent millions advertising one-piece skin-tight baskitards and paid the top players in the game to wear them, yes.
posted by rcade at 12:41 PM on October 29, 2009
I know it was a topic yesterday, but the report is that Vince Young will start the next game for the Titans
posted by Debo270 at 01:18 PM on October 29, 2009
It appears Kerry Collins deal with the devil was only for one year
posted by Debo270 at 01:46 PM on October 29, 2009
In a move that will thrill SpoFi fans worldwide, Fox will have a camera on Brett Favre the entire game this Sunday.
posted by dfleming at 02:41 PM on October 29, 2009
Fox will have a camera on Brett Favre the entire game this Sunday.
You mean they weren't already doing this?
posted by MeatSaber at 02:54 PM on October 29, 2009
You mean they weren't already doing this?
I guess when he took a leak at halftime, they darted the camera away. No more.
John Madden should be punished for his crimes against sportscasting by having to call the BrettFavreCam. "Oh definitely, I think the man knows how to shave a face! You can see the cross pattern he uses. Incredibly effective!"
posted by dfleming at 03:15 PM on October 29, 2009
Fox will have a camera on Brett Favre the entire game this Sunday.
That's awesome! I cannot wait to see Favre on Sunday with a little football throw in there.
/reloads my heater and places it on my temple
posted by BornIcon at 03:31 PM on October 29, 2009
Did you know that he's just a kid out there playing a game? You know, a gunslinger?
posted by tahoemoj at 03:52 PM on October 29, 2009
Juan Pablo Montoya on Twitter: "Guess what I'm having for lunch.....TACOS!!!!!....and I'm serious about it!!!!"
posted by rcade at 04:28 PM on October 29, 2009
Fox will have a camera on Brett Favre the entire game this Sunday.
Well ESPN missed the Favre plays his old team angle a few weeks ago.
posted by tron7 at 06:12 PM on October 29, 2009
Dear Universe,
Baggy basketball shorts are not reducing performance through increased drag. Though thank you - that was truly funny.
Maybe you just don't like them.
Best,
Weedy
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:02 PM on October 29, 2009
This shows a type of uniform optimization in basketball.
If only chicobangs was still around...
posted by owlhouse at 09:37 PM on October 29, 2009
This shows a type of uniform optimization in basketball.
If only chicobangs was still around...
posted by owlhouse at 09:37 PM on October 29
I really like it on the ladies, but maybe more low cut and shorter. Heck, the nude athlete in this case sounds like a good idea. And my wife just slapped me, DANG!
posted by kerrycindy at 10:41 PM on October 29, 2009
While most of the SpoFi folks are likely watching game two of the World Series ... I'm glued to a wild 5-5 draw between the Red Wings and Oilers with 6 minutes to go. I ever used to be a hockey fan ... but this game can really grow on you.
posted by Spitztengle at 11:52 PM on October 29, 2009
I flipped channels when it was 4-1. Whoops.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:40 AM on October 30, 2009
Juan Pablo Montoya on Twitter: "Guess what I'm having for lunch.....TACOS!!!!!....and I'm serious about it!!!!"
And someone told me last week it was a bad comment by Greise because he was Columbian. I knew they had Tacos there.
posted by Debo270 at 09:22 AM on October 30, 2009
Tacos aren't Colombian cuisine just because Montoya ate them. If Griese wanted to make an ethnic funny about a Colombian, he should've said he was eating chunchullo (grilled or fried small intestines).
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posted by rcade at 09:55 AM on October 30, 2009
I know that tacos are not from columbia, I just like to lump everything south of Mexico in as Mexican because i am ignorant. Just like Bob Griese
posted by Debo270 at 10:04 AM on October 30, 2009
Your comments are so arch I can't tell if I agree or disagree with you.
posted by rcade at 10:13 AM on October 30, 2009
Incidentally, when Taco Bell opened in Mexico, they couldn't call hard-shell tacos "tacos" because Mexicans don't think of those as tacos. They gave them the new name tacostada. Bob Griese was stepping into a culinary minefield.
posted by rcade at 10:16 AM on October 30, 2009
I guess I'm more ignoranter than Debo. What the he!! is arch???
posted by pullmyfinger at 10:17 AM on October 30, 2009
I guess I'm more ignoranter than Debo. What the he!! is arch???
We are equally ignorant. I dont know what arch is either?
posted by Debo270 at 10:33 AM on October 30, 2009
Archie Bunker? Thats my guess.
posted by Debo270 at 10:34 AM on October 30, 2009
arch (adjective): "marked by a deliberate and often forced playfulness, irony, or impudence."
posted by rcade at 10:37 AM on October 30, 2009
O well wrong again. I was thinking Arch like Archie, then figured ignorant like Archie Bunker. I like my definition more than rcade's.
Either way, Good job Montoya.
Thank you rcade for helping to expand my vocabulary today. It is greatly appreciated.
posted by Debo270 at 10:43 AM on October 30, 2009
Guys, you can get tacos in places like Luang Prabang in Laos and Lake Toba in Sumatra, so I'm guessing they're easy to find wherever Montoya might be.
posted by owlhouse at 05:36 PM on October 30, 2009
I wonder if any sports consultants are doing uniform-related performance optimization studies for major US sports leagues.
Watching Sabathia pitch last night, I can't believe his uniform wasn't hindering his delivery in some way. With his pants dragging on his legs like that, he can't be achieving optimum fluidity and range of motion. As good as he is, wouldn't he be even better if he made a few changes to his togs?
Same deal goes for the excessively large, swishy basketball shorts. It's got to have an effect on the athlete one way or another. Even if you're only gaining incremental improvements or advantages, at an elite level, those increments are significant.
At some point, performance has to win out over "style" (I'll be generous and call it that).
In other sports, every aspect of the uniform's impact on performance is studied carefully.
I'm not looking to see futuristic outer space baseball uniforms, god forbid. Just smarter tailoring to start with. Sabathia looks like a teddy bear in borrowed pajamas.
Someday, a football team (Oregon, perhaps) is going to tweak the structural design of their pads and unis and start outplaying their opponents when they gain some ease of movement and ROM.