12/21/24
January 11, 2010
Sports Greatest Innovations: The top ten inventions that changed sport forever.
Professionalism, what's that?
posted by boredom_08 at 08:39 PM on January 11, 2010
Free agency. Digital timing devices.
posted by grum@work at 09:13 PM on January 11, 2010
The modern tennis racket.
posted by owlhouse at 11:12 PM on January 11, 2010
Artificial snow...refrigerated ice surfaces...$8.00 beers
posted by dviking at 11:17 PM on January 11, 2010
posted by tommybiden at 12:19 AM on January 12, 2010
or $.10 Beer Night in Cleveland. The airplane and instant replay come to mind, too.
posted by apthomason at 12:28 AM on January 12, 2010
TV no way that sports are anywhere near as big as they are now without it
posted by dviking at 01:56 AM on January 12, 2010
posted by Joey Michaels at 04:20 AM on January 12, 2010
The tee peg.
posted by JJ at 07:20 AM on January 12, 2010
(see also: revolutionising the game of golf again by eliminating the tee peg - let's see the top guys hit it 350 yards off the deck.)
posted by JJ at 07:24 AM on January 12, 2010
The game of tennis has been revolutionised and will from now on be played on a magic carpet.
When I read the link title, I thought Fed and Rafa were going to "kick off" (as in, start a fight). That would have been better.
It did give me an idea - not unlike an idea I had years ago when Fed and Agassi played on top of the Burj al Arab in Dubai - for a new form of tennis to be played on an elevated platform (supported from below rather than suspended from above) with a 30 foot drop on all sides. If/when you fall off onto the crash mats below, your opponent can carry on serving (and building up points) at your empty half until you climb the ladder and re-emerge through the trap door in the middle of the court.
The sport would of course have to be played in full-body spandex and each game would have to be started by a scottish umpire dressed like an NFL referee shouting "Tennis players, ready?!" and then blowing a whistle. It might also help to give the players animal-based sobriquets and cartoonish moments to camera during which they could snarl, growl or quack as appropriate.
In the final set, the court would be moved around by remote control, and if we reached a champion's tie break, spikes would randomly protrude from the floor and the crash mats below would be removed to reveal a swirling mass of endless cloud, much to the delight of Brian Blessed. Roger Federer, despite having been relatively mild mannered throughout would suddenly and incongruously shout "Bastard!" at Rafa, while in the ladies final, Adam Scott would animatedly shout from the sidelines: "Anna, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the sport!"
posted by JJ at 07:33 AM on January 12, 2010
Mark McGwire's story line prior to yesterday. That qualifies as an invention.
posted by beaverboard at 08:15 AM on January 12, 2010
Not sure about the table tennis bat.
How can you argue with "A wonderful bat for screwing"?
posted by yerfatma at 09:43 AM on January 12, 2010
Until Ozzy bites its head off...
posted by JJ at 10:27 AM on January 12, 2010
Tommy John surgery, Monster seats at Fenway.
posted by smithnyiu at 10:57 AM on January 12, 2010
Goalie masks? Not great for screwing but the kiddies sure freak out at Halloween
posted by tahoemoj at 11:04 AM on January 12, 2010
Tommy John surgery
Yeah, that's a really good point, though it's more advances in medicine overall and I suppose those aren't sport-specific, but the difference in what an ACL tear means now versus when I was kid is amazing. Before Bernard King, an ACL tear meant the end of your career, full stop, no questions asked. Now it's a year on the shelf, tops.
posted by yerfatma at 11:36 AM on January 12, 2010
Adrian Beltre would agree that the greatest sports-related invention is the cup.
posted by Howard_T at 03:17 PM on January 12, 2010
I don't read too good. Did these or this make the list?
posted by THX-1138 at 04:54 PM on January 12, 2010
Steroids
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:58 PM on January 12, 2010
Whistles are used by referees to officiate sporting matches.
True enough, but pealess whistles don't gum up with the game on the line.
posted by Spitztengle at 06:41 PM on January 12, 2010
Cheerleaders.
posted by graymatters at 10:56 PM on January 14, 2010
Not sure about the table tennis bat. There must be more important inventions out there.
Off the top of my head: the fibreglass vaulting pole, running spikes, goal nets for football, sprung floor gymnasiums, professionalism.