More video that doesn’t have George C. Scott saying, “My Groin!” The Science Of Ball To Groin at glumbert. (Some annoying ads — and nothing else — tend to pop up on the video) This time, tennis balls (the projectile, not the target), while last time it was a baseball, but with a cup. Very different goals (though the same target), very different results.
Category Archives: Sports
How Does That Work, Again?
I just read that the Chicago Bulls won the NBA draft lottery, meaning that the team with the worst record did not gain the first overall pick in the draft. Color me shocked. It was termed a “surprise” in some stories. Maybe it was a surprise that they won it, but not that the Heat — who, with the worst record had a 25% chance of winning the lottery —didn’t. Before the 1994 draft, the weighting was adjusted to give the team with the worst record a 25% of drafting first. Since that time, the team with a 25% probability has won exactly once: the Orlando Magic in the 2004 draft. (The Cavs in 2003 had a 22.5% chance, by virtue of being tied with Denver for the worst record.)
Whoever ends up in the cellar this year had better be praying for some regression to the mean.
Take Me Out, Out, Out to the Ballgame
A map of Armstrong and Aldrin’s moon walks, superimposed on a baseball diamond. One fly ball to right-center, and nothing else left the infield. Apparently Armstrong had a wicked slider and Aldrin a nasty cut fastball.
(A couple of years ago, a friend had the opportunity to meet Buzz Aldrin. My suggestion: as you’re shaking his hand, say, “Wow! I can’t believe I’m meeting someone who actually knows Neil Armstrong!”)
Is There a Draft In Here?
Zach Feinstein declares for the NBA draft. It’s free. The deadline for “early entry” declarations is 60 days prior to the draft (which is June 26), so if anyone desires to go this route, it’s too late for this year. (One has to wonder if it will remain free once this gets into the wind. OTOH, how can they charge more than a few bucks? College players don’t have jobs.)
The short story is that I, Zachary Feinstein, have declared for the 2008 NBA Draft. As a 5’8″ 130 pound Caucasian, I am the perfect candidate for professional basketball. Also, I do not play basketball.
You see, I am not currently on my college’s basketball team (Division 3 just for reference) nor did I try out to be. I was at no point on my high school’s basketball team nor did I try out to be. I was at no point on my middle school’s basketball team nor did I try out to be. The last time I was on a basketball team was before Bill Clinton got caught with his pants down.
So there you have it, I, Zach Feinstein, am in the 2008 NBA Draft.
Make sure to check out the scouting report, too.
Now, I wonder: what about the NFL?
Celebrate! Celebrate!
Dance Boff to the muuuusic.
It’s May 8th, which is National Outdoor Fornication Day.
Don’t listen to any of the schism-mongers who tell you it’s May 1st. I know there are those lyrics that might suggest otherwise
Mini-Hoops
Over at Popsci, the physics of tossing a ping-pong ball into a beer cup, with videos of, well, tossing a ping-pong ball into a beer cup, under various conditions you’d find in a dorm (starting with the unlikely presence of beer cups).
These guys are pretty amazing. And the nonchalance with which they accomplish each trick shot adds a certain understated humor to this entertaining video. But though the guys seem to be developing a seemingly useless (if highly impressive) skill in their spare time, there’s quite a bit of complex science at play.
I think being able to edit out the misses tempers that amazing/impressive just a little. Mostly it reminds me of how much free time I had in college, even though it didn’t seem that way at the time.
Odd Odds
I have an odd sense of humor, bordering on the macabre. OK, it’s pretty much an open border and I visit there often, because I don’t need a passport.
I read the results of the Kentucky Derby and the unfortunate news of Eight Belles. But because I don’t really follow horse racing much and when I hear about it always seems to be about an injury to a horse and how you deal with that, what flashed through my mind (along with Gary Larson’s cartoon about veterinary medicine, where the chapter on horse ailments was so easy) was along the lines of
The 3-1 favorite, Big Brown, won the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby Saturday in commanding fashion, paying $6.80. Eight Belles finished second and paid $10.60, and later buckled, collapsed and was euthanized, which went off at 26-1 and paid $52.50.
Sportsmanship
OK, it’s technically sportswomanship.
Pop quiz, hotshot: What do you do when a senior who has hit the only home run of her career gets injured — she was so excited she missed first base, and when she turned to tag it, messes up her knee to the point she can’t complete the circuit?
Umpires confirmed that the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.
What do you do? What … do … you … do?
Well, if you’re the other team, you aren’t forbidden from assisting her. So you carry her around and let her touch all of the bases. ‘Cause you’ve got loads of class.
Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky’s left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game’s history hit all three players.
Taking One For The Team
Former MLB player Mark Littel puts his balls on the line provides empirical data in a kinematics experiment to demonstrate the effectiveness of a cup.
Cinematic commentary: Neither the acting nor the dialogue are as good as in the classic “George C. Scott hit in the groin with a football”
You won’t hear anything as good as, “Oh, my groin!”
Things I Don't Understand, part MCDLXVII
Why does Arlen Specter care that Bill Belichick has been taping since 2000? He’s all upset that the NFL destroyed tapes, but as far as I can tell, it was the existence of the tapes, not their content, that was the problem. Belichick and the Pats were found guilty and penalized. Why not destroy the tapes? Doesn’t Specter have anything better to do?