Sport Science

[ricojes]

A show called Sport Science created by Fox Sports Net was on MSG before the Sabres game and was really interesting. I missed the beginning, but they hooked up athletes to all these monitors and camera's from every angle in an attempt to get a better understanding of the science behinds sports. Here's a blurb about the show:

 

Fox Sports Net launches a 13-week series of shows called “Sport Science.” They’ll appear at varying dates and times on the regional carriers of the sports network.

 

It’s part science, part reality TV and part gym rat habitat. For the show, producers used an airport hangar in southern California as a lab to test the science behind the various amazing feats that happen in various sports.

 

The action of a 50-yard touchdown pass, a three-point basket shot up under time pressure and a hockey wrist shot, among many other things, were all filmed to be broken down scientifically and explained.

 

Along with the physics at play in a particular sports activity, athletes performing the actions have their bodies hooked up to monitors to gauge the biological actions taking place inside their body as they exert themselves.

 

Anyway, last night they had a couple interesting tests. One was using a weighted baseball bat to warm up before stepping up to the plate and another was using a weighted golf club to warm up before teeing off. They found that the warming up with a weighted baseball bat threw off timing and caused a batter to miss the sweet spot of the bat. The finding were similar with golf. After warming up by swinging two golf clubs the golf pro lost 30 yards on his drive as well as missing the sweet spot of the club.

 

The one I really found interesting was when they tested if keeping the laces out made a difference when kicking a football. And it did indeed make a huge difference. With the laces in, after just 6 inches, the ball was rotated 15 degrees, 12 inches 30 degrees, 18 inches 45 degrees...yada, yada, yada. They found that keeping laces in on a FG attempt of 40 yards could hook the ball by as much as 10 feet, obviously decreasing accuracy. So keep those laces out Moorman!!! That's as far as I am willing to take this one.....