Monthly Archive for March, 2011

Altitude Training: Challenging Conventional Wisdom

Published on March 31, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Randall L. Wilber, in BBC Sport

As elite athletes prepare for the 2012 London Olympics, many will be seeking to maximise their impact with training sessions at high altitudes.

A popular destination is the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, where athletes arrive from around the world, swelling the local population in peak season.

Altitude training has been used by endurance athletes for many years but there is growing evidence that the conventional wisdom should be challenged.

Training at altitude – where the oxygen level is considerably lower – allows athletes to increase their red blood cell count. This enables them to compete more effectively at sea level because more oxygen is delivered to the muscles.

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What the Circus Can Teach Us About Sports Injuries

Published on March 30, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Gretchen Reynolds, in The New York Times

Can the tears of a clown contribute to the twisted ankle of a clown? According to an offbeat new study of the psychological underpinnings of sports injuries, the answer is a guarded yes, depending on just what occasioned those tears.

For the study, appearing in the April issue of The British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers turned to a unique population of 47 athletes. Each had been, until recently, an elite competitor in gymnastics, trampoline, swimming or diving. But all were now retired from competition and hoping to join the circus. They had, in fact, entered a rigorous, specialized training program that could, if they succeeded, earn them a slot in a Cirque du Soleil troupe.

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Eff You

Published on March 24, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

By Stephen Squibb, in N + 1

In week six of the 2007 NFL season, Kyle Eckel, the fourth-string running back for the New England Patriots, ran for a one-yard touchdown with nineteen seconds left. Given that his team was already beating Dallas by fourteen points, reigning sports theorist Bill Simmons offered the play as an example of the ”Eff You TD.” Four weeks after that, playing against the venerable Joe Gibbs, New England created a second category, the Eff You Second Half, going for it on fourth and one from the Redskins’ seven, up 38-0 in the third quarter. New England’s motivation was clear. Following the opening game of that same season, the Patriots had been caught video-taping their opponent’s defensive coordinator signaling on the sidelines. This practice, widespread, largely useless and actually legal until the 2006 season, nevertheless looked like grand larceny when attributed to the decade’s most successful franchise by a media already hysterical over steroids in the dugout and point-shaving on the court.

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Duke of Flatbush, a Brooklyn Icon

Published on March 1, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

By Dave Anderson, in The New York Times

“Willie, Mickey and the Duke,” the Terry Cashman song about three center fielders, defined New York baseball in the ’50s.

For old times’ sake, Willie Mays returned recently to the Harlem streets above the old Polo Grounds where he made that over-the-shoulder catch for the Giants in the 1954 World Series, but Mickey Mantle is mentioned mostly as a revered name in Monument Park at the new Yankee Stadium. And now Duke Snider is gone too, dead at 84, but still cherished by anyone who saw him play for the Dodgers in Brooklyn.

They don’t make center fielders like that anymore. With the big ballparks now, most center fielders are gazelles who can chase down balls lined into the gaps and hit for average, if they hit at all. Willie, Mickey and Duke not only were sluggers, they could also run.

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