04/26/24
September 07, 2004
Bras and Bars: In 1977, runners Hinda Miller and Lisa Lindahl sewed together a pair of jockstraps in an effort to keep their chests from jiggling while they ran........................ "I think this is going to be a hot concept nationwide," said O'Harro.
...or not.
posted by garfield at 01:37 PM on September 07, 2004
Hmmm they ranked WUSA above MLS. Let me check which one is still in business. /snark
posted by trox at 01:43 PM on September 07, 2004
Slightly interesting, but given they list Air Jordans at #1, why bother with what's plainly a product-placement ploy? Let ESPN have their fun, sure, but this total-market-saturation thing is starting to wear me down. If they're so powerful in the sports world, why don't they get out of Nike's ass for a second and help mediate the NHL labor talks so that they'll have some programming in the winter between reruns of NFL Tonight and Watching Poker Players Eat Pizza?
posted by chicobangs at 01:45 PM on September 07, 2004
(Sorry for the derail.)
posted by chicobangs at 01:45 PM on September 07, 2004
the thread is ripe for derails. hell, that's its purpose, imo. rant and rave away. Personally, I was fascinated with the sport bra story, and wondered if Miller and Lindahl realized this innovation had in fact already been developped around the time of bobby socks and poddle skirts: the bullet bra.
posted by garfield at 01:52 PM on September 07, 2004
It's actually not a bad list. Two quibbles; * I personally would have put the yellow line as roughtly the first ten items. No kidding. It drives me nuts to watch games on ESPN Classic without the line. * if my editor had said '100 things' I would have said '75 of these really aren't innovations of the past 25 years, just something rehashed in a different way- can we just cut it to 25 items?' Seriously, would have been better with more detail and less stretching.
posted by tieguy at 02:09 PM on September 07, 2004
btw, Happy Birthday ESPN. You've given me a taste of managerial success via fantasy sports, shown me a world of detail I didn't know existed, and got me hooked on sports stars' drama like a supermarket momma. You're the best!
posted by garfield at 03:05 PM on September 07, 2004
In 1988, Alexander Julian designed the new purple-and-teal Charlotte Hornets uni. According to Uni Watch guru Paul Lukas, "this was not only the first time a 'real' clothing designer had designed a major sports uni, it was also the start of the purple and teal craze." Now I know who to have killed for all these god damn day-glo uniforms...
posted by grum@work at 04:36 PM on September 07, 2004
I'd have listed "Rotisserie/fantasy sports", "sports talk radio" and "Madden video game" as being the most innovative changes for the fans. All three of them gave the average Joe a chance be part of the action, or at least feel like it.
- Fantasy sports - you learn to study the players more intently, and learn the details of the game and how it is played (and who plays it best)
- Sports talk radio - whether it's listening to the coaches talk, or your fellow fanatic rant about the team, everyone gets a chance to express their opinion
- Video games - play as your favourite team, root for your favourite player from the game, learn (some) of the details of how it's played
posted by grum@work at 04:44 PM on September 07, 2004
ESPN: committed to preserving an insular, chauvinist attitude towards US sport in which the spectacular triumphs all for 25 years... and going strong! Biggest innovation in the last 25 years? The backpass rule. Watching complete replays of older matches (especially West Germany in the World Cup) becomes achingly frustrating.
posted by etagloh at 07:41 PM on September 07, 2004
etagloh, what changed about backpasses?
posted by billsaysthis at 10:18 PM on September 07, 2004
keepers used to be able to pick them up. now a pass played back to your keeper cannot be handled unless it is played with the head (or not passed back with the foot, i guess). so the pass back to the keeper means the the game is quicker and the keeper has to kick it (an added level of danger). the tactic now occasionaly leads to goals via miscues rather than the stultifying delay/safety tactic of killing 30 seconds of playing time.
posted by gspm at 10:25 PM on September 07, 2004
in addition to the back pass rule, note the crack down by football referees on tackles from behind. and red cards for fouls committed by the last defender. as a sometime central defender i know from experience that these two changes give a big advantage to strikers, and make the game flow better. i wonder if anyone has done an in-depth analysis of whether this has led to more goals?
posted by owlhouse at 11:38 PM on September 07, 2004
I guess I wasn't paying atttention before these changes, they all seem quite proper to me. Thanks for the explanation, guys.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:41 PM on September 08, 2004
"These 100 innovations are a potpourri." ...and I'm pretty sure they're listed in no particular order of importance, so I think the discussions about "why was x ahead of y" can be set aside.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:22 PM on September 08, 2004
As with every list, lets dismantle, discredit, revel and reconstruct the Top 100 Sport Innovations of the last quarter century.