Re: Hops

1

But does he bathe regularly?


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:01 AM
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Damn. He could jump over my head.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:03 AM
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3

I could do that.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:08 AM
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4

Isn't that how they used to do track and field high jump before the flow was invented?


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:10 AM
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5

Though it's unseemly to disparage a stranger's mother, she obviously copulated with a kangaroo.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:10 AM
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Man. Professional athletes are truly amazing. I wonder how weird that is in the NFL, or if there are lots of guys who could do that.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:10 AM
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7

flow = flop.


Posted by: SP | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:10 AM
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8

What you aren't picking up on is that everything in that video is really short.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:12 AM
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9

Man. Professional athletes are truly amazing. I wonder how weird that is in the NFL, or if there are lots of guys who could do that.

More than you'd think, I bet. Sometimes they publish the vertical leaps of some of these huge guys. I want to say that I've see 300+ lbs guys with 36"+ verticals. Not precisely the same thing--I'm not sure a 300+ lbs guy could draw his knees up like that--but still.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:21 AM
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4: nah. They did this thing called the western roll, or a scissors technique. In high school. There were other styles, too.


Posted by: TJ | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:38 AM
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11

Wow. That wasn't even all that much of a running start.


Posted by: mrh | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:38 AM
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That wasn't even all that much of a running start.

A running start doesn't really help with two-footed take-off.

What I mean to say is, Ben could do this.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:40 AM
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13

The posts around here lately are making me feel fat. And lazy.


Posted by: stroll | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:43 AM
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14

Two (lesser known, I believe) Tiger Woods stories:

1. The Stanford driving range when he attended was right next to some dorms and the others on the golf team would from time to time dare one another to aim for the dorms but intentionally hit a slice such that the ball would curve back to the range. None of them would do it but the first time this gets posed to Tiger he say "sure no problem," sets up and does it easily.

2. Also at Stanford, for fun the team would sometimes chip balls at one another and at one point two of them are doing this as Tiger's walking off the range with his driver. One of them chips a ball at him and without stopping he smacks the ball as it's bounding towards him 300 yards down the range.

Plus there's all that stuff he does in his commercials.


Posted by: Ugh | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 11:50 AM
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The only place I've ever watched world-class athletes up close is off Portlock Point near the end of the Molokai kayak race. At that point they've been paddling for 2+ hours in challenging open water in boats with about the stability profile of a floating log, and conditions off the point are like paddling in a very large washing machine, with waves coming in, reflecting off the cliffs, intersecting at funny angles, etc. And these guys go through that with stroke form that's hard to distinguish from Olympic paddlers sprinting on dead-flat water.


Posted by: DaveL | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 12:01 PM
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Tim gets it in 9 - it's the tuck that makes this astonishing - his ass clears the bar by as much as his feet, but his back is (essentially) straight up vertical. Agility/flexibility is so much more important than even most athletes realize - every few years, some wiry middle-infielder type bulks up to get a little more power at the plate and watches his fielding go in the crapper while his hitting barely improves because he can't flick those bulky arms out the way he used to.

10: If anyone can't figure out what these terms imply, picture someone essentially hurdling over a 5' hurdle, either straight-on or from the side. Either way, intuitive but oh-so-inefficient compared to the Flop.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 1:47 PM
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17

15: Those Orientals are really something.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 1:52 PM
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18

17: South Africans and Aussies, mostly. Some of the local guys are very good, but not quite on the same level.


Posted by: DaveL | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 2:02 PM
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19

You cannot do this.

Wanna bet?


Posted by: Michael Jordan | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 2:03 PM
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20

18: Crap. I suck.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 2:04 PM
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21

Where does 'hops'='ability to jump' come from? I never saw it before Megan From The Archives' blog. Basketball slang, or what?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 2:40 PM
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21 - it's pretty common slang amongst ultimate players, although I doubt we get the blame for inventing it.


Posted by: ptm | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 3:03 PM
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I figure I could jump over something about as high as my belly button, maybe a little higher. No doubt it wouldn't take much exercise to increase that by a few feet.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 3:59 PM
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I want to say that I've see 300+ lbs guys with 36"+ verticals.

Definitely. Not uncommon with the powerlifters as well. There's 300+ powerlifters jumping up onto platforms well over 40 inches high.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 4:08 PM
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I'll get you these, Ben, if you share with us a video of yourself using them in the prescribed manner.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 4:11 PM
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One of my favorite all time athletes is Franklin Jacobs, a 5'6" guy who held the world indoor high jump record for about a week in 1978. The bar was 59 cm (~ 2 ft) over his head, a world record which has been tied by the present world champion, a Swede named Holm who is about 5'11". Jacobs has apparently disappeared from sight entirely; a lot of track athletes do that (Lindgren, Rono).


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 4:16 PM
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20: I thought that was well-established. Although I don't remember whether swallowing has come up.


Posted by: DaveL | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 5:27 PM
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24: If they land in a squat it doesn't count as 40".


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 5:51 PM
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Gerry Lindgren is alive and well and living in Honolulu. I see him running marathon clinics down by Kapiolani Park from time to time. Not sure what else he's doing--teaching, maybe?


Posted by: DaveL | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 6:01 PM
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27: A woman has to retain some mystery.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 6:04 PM
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I don't remember whether swallowing has come up.

It only counts if you can keep it down.


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 01-31-07 6:12 PM
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