It was the summer of 1989. Basketball season was over, Football was about to start mini camps and no body was caring about Baseball. It was the summer of 89' when Harry met Sally.
A romantic comedy featuring the hysterical Billy Crystal and the delightful Meg Ryan. Abo ut a man and women co nfronted with the problem: "Can a man and a woman be friends, without sex getting in the way?" It will forever be remembered for the Meg Ryan's portrayal of the fake orgasm. Highly debated at the time and very controversial.
Well here we are 20 years later. No Harry, no Sally and no fake orgasm. But we still have two couples confronted with a different problem . A highly debated and very controversial problem. When Science met Sports.
From the evolution of leather caps in football, from wooden shafts in golf, to cow guts being used for tennis racket strings. Throughout history science has changed sports for the better. Recently there has been some controversy about how far science take us in sports.
When is Science to much?
When has the game been changed so much that it is not recognizable anymore?
Remember speedos? Me too, its a miserable thought, but it's what swimmers used to wear when they competed in the pool. This week Micheal Phelps lost his first race in for years to Paul Biedermann of Germany. Biederumann wore a 100 percent polyurethane Arena suit, while Phelps stuck with last year's Speedo LZR Racer, which is less than half polyurethane.
Beirdermann cut four seconds off his previous best time.
Today FINA, the governing body of swimming has anounced it will ban both the LZR and the Arena suit. Pl acing restritions on the length and the fibers used to make the suits.
Other sports have done similar actions t o prevent the sport from changing too much from its roots. Golf has placed restriction on the cubic centimeters of a driver. Tennis has a similar rule on how large the racket head can be.
With restrictions in science, it holds sports true to form. But does it allow for growth and evolution? Or do sports grow through the players participating in them? A highly debated and controversial subject. Something to rival the fake orgasm.
-Ryanhs
Recent Comments