Athletes, then and now and their kinetics

[Spaceman Spiff]

Something I've always wondered...

Why did athletes back in the 40's and 50's look so...different, for lack of a better term...playing their sports?

Why'd Bob Cousy look so funny dribbling a basketball but Allen Iverson looks fluid and relaxed?

Why did old school quarterbacks look awkward throwing a forward pass back in the day compared to the qb's we now know?

Why did pitchers look funny in their windups back in the day?

And when did it all change?

[China]

You'd look silly too if you had to dribble around the court wearing wooden shoes. Some of it is probably due to the cameras/film used and how it makes them look. And some of it is just that people were just goofy and not as coordinated back then.

[HOF44]

Not sure about everything, but part of it is that you couldn't turn the ball over and carry it back then like they allow now. That probably attributed to it looking funny by todays standards.

[zoony]

I heard Dan Reeves on NFL Radio talking a few weeks back about modern weight training. He was playing with the Cowboys when the team introduced a weight training regimen for the players - which was sort of a first for NFL teams. This was around 1971 iirc.

Anyways- Reeves said that he remembers Bob Lilly- who'd never lifted weights in his life, and was just a "farm boy" according to Reeves- simply used to pick up weights and fling them around like they were nothing. And to look at Lilly, again according to Reeves, you'd never guess it.

The other host on the show (can't remember who it was) then proceeded to talk about his time with the Chicago Bears in the 1980s. He remembered Richard Dent, who was the laziest guy on the team when it came to weight training. Basically, he didn't do it. Nobody on the team had ever seen him do anything other than jog, basically.

So in comes Richard Dent one day and somebody challenges him (with $$$) to bench press 400 lbs. The entire team gathers around because everyone was sure Dent would basically lose his $$$ and a bit of his ego (which was enormous). But Dent simply laid on his back, grabbed the bar, put up the weight, and grabbed the pile of cash- like it was nothing.

All God given strength. It's amazing, some guys just have it. A few other anecdotes is Chris Samuels never lifting weights until he got to the NFL- and of course Portis choosing this past offseason as the first time in his career he ever got serious about training. (some say he'd never lifted weights). I've seen Portis up close and he's huge. His neck and shoulders and biceps are just enormous. Not cut up- but enormous. All apparently just God-given.

I think the point is that we have a tendancy to watch some of those old films and tell ourselves that there is no way these guys could compete today in the era of modern weightlifting and training techniques. But I think that we are really selling these guys short. Sure it is more competitive today - but those guys who played the game back in the day were some badass mofos too.

Sort of off topic, but not really.

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[PokerPacker]

as time has progressed, so have the mechanics of the game. Also, professional sports weren't always the big commercialized spectacle there are today.

anyways, I think most of it is just progression of the mechanics of the game. someone discovers a more effective and efficient way of playing and it becomes the new standard. Take hockey (which I know you hate) for example. If you look at the goaltending of the past to the todays goaltending, you'll see that today's goalies are far superior. goalies used to be smaller and more agile (at least they had smaller equipment) and were meant to move around a LOT in the net. then came the Patrick Roy with the Butterfly technique where getting into position, cutting off the angle, and taking up as much of net as possible were the focus rather than to to rely solely on the reactions of the goalie. it is a smarter and more efficient style of play so it became the norm.

[Zguy28]

I think the point is that we have a tendancy to watch some of those old films and tell ourselves that there is no way these guys could compete today in the era of modern weightlifting and training techniques. But I think that we are really selling these guys short. Sure it is more competitive today - but those guys who played the game back in the day were some badass mofos too.

Sort of off topic, but not really.

.....

Well when the fastest guys back then ran 4.4 40's I'd say they would have trouble competing, at least in football. Linebackers are running 4.4's nowadays. Speed would kill the old guys.

I remember an old guy I used to work for years ago. His brother played for the Redskins back in the 40's or something. Those guys played for extra cash, then went back to their real jobs.

[PeterMP]

I think more than weights or anything it is the changes in the rules. Cousy COULDN'T do the things with the ball the Iverson does because they were illegal. Iverson looks like a better dribbler because he has more control of the ball, but that's because he does things that would have been called carries and walks in those days.

I used to play with an older guy, who was pretty good, but he used to say if he GREW up playing the way people did today, he'd be as good as a lot of guys playing NOW (in the game I was playing in), but when he grew-up the hand HAD TO stay on the top of the ball. The hand COULD NOT even go to the side of the ball, and he couldn't unlearn that.

I believe with respect to football. The size and shape of the football has changed too, which makes it easier to throw.

Things have changed in baseball too with respect to the height out the mound, the glove, and the interperation of the balk rule.

I think the differences you see our as much as changes in the rules as they are anything else.