Clueless writing about our sport

[jc203]

ESPN's Sports Science features sometimes provide some interesting numbers but their analysis of the recent NBA Dunk Contest strays way into the twilight zone of cluelessness.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14785403

Here ESPN decides that Aaron Gordon could have been a medalist in the last OG High Jump on the basis that his butt was an estimated 7'7" above the floor in his mega-spectacular final "sitting in mid-air" dunk. It was a really fun dunk to watch but ESPN ignores:

1) Gordon's body position throughout the flight would never have allowed him to clear a bar anywhere near 7 feet. No analysis of the ht. of his center of mass.

2) He used a high-jump-illegal two-footed take off (Atticus may deem it to be a track legal "gallop-step" but that is another story!)

3) ESPN at least notes that Gordon DID push off to propel himself upward while grabbing the ball when he was already in the air.

The ESPN guy also seems unduly impressed that Zach LeVine traveled 14.8 feet horizontally while dunking. I'd bet that Powell, Lewis, Beamon and others could have dunked while continuing to travel another 14 feet... their only problem would have been holding on to the ball :-)

Gordon and LeVine are amazing aerialists but the ESPN claims about them are clueless.

[booond]

Conley did the free throw line dunk and he's four inches shorter than LaVine.

[tandfman]

Here's a good one, from the Washington State school newspaper.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/sports/article_0e9de070-de8d-11e5-b3e2-6b876faaeb0e.html

Take a look at the photo at the top of the article, and then read the caption.

[Powell]

ESPN decides that Aaron Gordon could have been a medalist in the last OG High Jump on the basis that his butt was an estimated 7'7" above the floor

ESPN ignores:

1) Gordon's body position throughout the flight would never have allowed him to clear a bar anywhere near 7 feet. No analysis of the ht. of his center of mass.

Even if his center of mass was high enough (it's actually higher than the butt), it doesn't mean he could get close to it in a horizontal position. My guess is jumping vertically is much easier. And in HJ, it's not just the center of mass that has to be above the bar - every single part of your body must be.

[dukehjsteve]

That's a good ( bad ! ) one !

[tandfman]

Here's a guy writing a preview of the USATF Indoor Championships. Although it's headlined as a men's preview, in fact it's limited to the distance runners. But that's not the clueless part. Among those he says people should be keeping an eye out for is Nick Willis!

http://isportsweb.com/2016/03/01/2016-usa-indoor-championships-mens-preview/

(For the benefit of someone in the next century who is reading this thread, Nick Willis is a New Zealander who is not eligible to run in the U.S. championships.)

[tandfman]

Did you know there was a hammer throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships? Neither did I.

http://www.easternecho.com/article/2016/03/anthony-jones-places-seventh-in-hammer-throw-at-ncaa-championships

[booond]

Did you know there was a hammer throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships? Neither did I.

http://www.easternecho.com/article/2...-championships

That would up the excitement factor.

[cubehead]

I have to wonder what is the point of this thread anymore. It was a good laugh once but making fun of someone calling the weight throw the hammer seems pretty silly when the sport is begging to be talked about. Obviously the guy knows nothing about track but still went out of his way to write something about the guy. And here it is a big laugh. Ha ha.

[jc203]

I stumbled upon a MaxPreps list of the 10 most untouchable HS records compiled in 2011. For the most part it is reasonable (although it notably omits Nehemiah's 12.9) but it includes the remarkably mis-informed passage:

"Kim Gallagher and Mary Decker (later Mary Decker-Slaney) had some sensational battles starting as age group runners so they toughened each other up until both were among the best in the nation by the time they were seniors."

[Alan Shank]

In an article linked from the front page, there's a large photo of a Ukrainian woman with the caption: "...Ukraine's Anastasia Mokhnyuk looks at her time in the 200..."

Across her chest, we see:
TOYOTA
FODOROVA
BEIJING 2015

I guess all those Slavic names look the same to some people.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, CA, USA

[Alan Shank]

Here's a good one, from the "Daily Nation", linked on the front page:

(This was in the "In Summary", on the left edge)
o Final day of final AK weekend meet promises fireworks at Kipchoge Stadium

o It was on the same track in the Principality that the policeman posted a 1,500m PB of 3:26.69 last July, a mark just 0.69 seconds shy of Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record.

Hmmmm. I saw this race, and I could have sworn I was in Monaco!!

Elias Makori is the author.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, CA, USA

[LopenUupunut]

Here's a good one, from the "Daily Nation", linked on the front page:

(This was in the "In Summary", on the left edge)
o Final day of final AK weekend meet promises fireworks at Kipchoge Stadium

o It was on the same track in the Principality that the policeman posted a 1,500m PB of 3:26.69 last July, a mark just 0.69 seconds shy of Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record.

That's just a sloppy summary, not clueless writing as such; Elias Makori seems perfectly aware it was in Monaco.

[tandfman]

Here's an interesting article. The headline might have been (but isn't) An Idiot's Guide To Olympic Track & Field. The article seems to assume that the reader has never heard of the sport at all.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2016/04/26/rio-2016-olympics-athletics-guide/

What earns it a place in this thread is this astonishing bit of mis-information:

>>Gold medals available

45<<

In fact, there are 47. What makes the writer's inability to count to 47 even worse is that this non-fact appears immediately below a listing of all of the events.

[lonewolf]

I don't think the author had ever heard of the sport before.