Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with athletes

Who are the best athletes nobody has heard of?

Fireland — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:37:36 -0800

Who are the absolute legends of obscure sports? I realize even the most popular sports in one part of the world are unknown in another. But I'm generally looking for, say, the best female badminton player ever or the greatest Buzkashi champion, as opposed to, say, Michael Jordan.
(Clips of them doing their thing would also be cool).

Famous people quitting their day jobs to do humanitarian work full time?

querty — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:37:26 -0800

Have there been any pro athletes / CEOs / celebrities (famous actors and musicians) in the past 100 years who have quit their careers midway to do humanitarian work full time? I want to make a case that people at the top do not care. They don't want change.

Let's say if Kobe Bryant goes on the news tomorrow and announces that he's quitting pro sports to do humanitarian work full time. That would be the perfect answer for my question.

Would like to hear some names, see some links and articles.

Unretired number?

beukeboom — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:45:38 -0800

Has any athlete ever had their number un-retired? The only one I can think of is Jackie Robinson; but that is/was a tribute. Any athletes so disgraced that their school/team took their number down from the wall/rafters?

What are your favorite blogs about running?

peep — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:18:58 -0800

I want to read some blogs by runners and people training for triathlons. I'm looking for day-to-day life sort of blogs, not like pro or semi-pro athletes writing only about training. Just ordinary people with full time jobs who happen to be runners and triathletes.

One example of a blog I like is Earthmovers and Sandcastles.

Googling brings me many link farms and dead links. Not to mention crappy blogs.

What are your favorites?

What does a fit 40-year-old normal guy look like with his shirt off?

Cool Papa Bell — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:25:22 -0800

Got any photos and ideas of what a tall, reasonably fit, 40-year-old man look like with his shirt off? I'm looking for photos and names of tall (i.e. 6 feet and over) 40-year-old men, shirts off, that are reasonably fit and in shape.

Images of most professional athletes, like Laird Hamilton, aren't terribly useful, because their bodies are often not reasonable for workaday slubs to aspire to, at least not in the short term.

Same for guys like Hugh Jackman whose physique is part of his calling card and the result of intense personal training beyond the reach of mere civilians.

George Clooney might fit the bill, but I can find only the one image via Google, and it's just plain goofy.

Articles on athletes earning less than you think

wangarific — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:45 -0800

Every once in a while a mainstream newspaper or magazine does an article on how little the 100th ranked athlete (or lower ranked athletes) makes in a particular sport. I can distinctly remember reading about stories of nascar teams barely scraping by but can't seem to find these types of articles anymore, anyone know of any? Thanks.

Teaching resources about racial concepts: their biological validity and various cultural expressions

LobsterMitten — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:22:51 -0800

I need teaching resources about race: the biology of human "races"; why "race" is not biological but social; how racial categories have shifted over time and place; and related questions on teaching about race? This is as a supplement to reading The Mismeasure of Man in a university "Critical Thinking" class. I need more science and verifiable cross-cultural examples to back up my "there are no biological races" claim. Give me your best clear, scientific teaching resources (websites, books, examples) about why the idea that humans belong to different biological races has been discredited.

Two objections I'm especially interested in answers to:
1. Sickle cell anemia, Tay Sachs disease etc. Some groups do have biological characteristics in common (eg susceptibility to certain diseases). Why not then say that race has some usefulness in making biological predictions?

2. "Why are blacks such great athletes? I heard they have extra tendons in their legs, and more ATP." (!!!) I have a student who is very attached to racial categories. What do scientists make of the observation that, for example, many Kenyans seem extra well-suited to be long distance runners? Is there any good science on this?

Another request - evidence that race categories are arbitrary and shifting.

3. Pictures and info on different racial categorization systems that have been used in different places and times -- the more different from present-day USA, the better.

4. Sources of quotes etc on past racial categorizations (eg, the filthy Irish) that would discriminate against people who would now be considered "white".

Foot In Shower

LoopyG — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:38:49 -0800

I have a mild case of athletes foot. I have read a fair bit about making it go away, and so far that treatment is working pretty well. But what should I do to my shower to make sure I don't get it again, and that no one else in my house gets it?

Olympic doping scandal

np312 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:39:06 -0800

Help me find interesting articles, books, interviews about American steroid scandals in the Olympic Games. I'm currently obsessed with this topic. All the easy avenues (wikipedia, surface google-searching the subject) have been well-traveled-- I am looking for some more in-depth explorations on the ethics of Olympic doping by Americans. (I'm more interested in the Olympics than, say, the Tour De France scandal.)

Very interested in the Wade Exum involvement, especially, but mostly about all the different players involved, from the USOC to Carl Lewis to smaller, less-well known angles of this issue. Like how it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between cold medicine and steroid use, sometimes, and what the ramifications are on an athlete's career once they've been accused of doping.

Does anyone have any good written media suggestions on this subject?

Academic credit for high school sports?

Brian James — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:25:46 -0800

Do high school athletes receive academic credit? Are high school athletics, generally, strictly extra-curricular, or do they appear on a high school transcript somehow? Do they receive a grade?

If athletes don't get any school credit for these sports, how do they satisfy their physical education requirement? Is it waived, or does the sport count somehow towards that credit?

Which athletes are the smartest?

dead_ — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 11:35:37 -0800

Which sport's athletes have the highest and lowest average IQ? This question came up at dinner the other night, and nobody had any real facts to back up their opinions... of course, the definition of sport may come into play here. For example, is chess a sport? Anyway, I'm curious what you'll say.

Can you recommend a well-written figure skaters bio?

orange swan — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 09:19:53 -0800

Can you recommend a well-written figure skater's autobiography or biography? A lot of athlete bios are commerical drek, and are products rather than books, though there are some thoughtful and intelligent ones here and there. So, if anyone could steer me to one of the latter, I'd be profoundly grateful. I'm reading this as research for a writing project, not for pleasure, and am hoping to find something that is at least painless to read.

What to do with your old childhood trophies?

orange swan — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 20:06:17 -0800

What have you done with your old childhood and teenage-era athletic awards and trophies? Did you keep them, or did you throw them out? What do/did you feel towards them, either way? And if you threw them out, did you find a means of disposal that allowed both for environmental concerns and the fact that you had your full name engraved on some of them?

What's the point of running with sunglasses, even at night?

adrianhon — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 11:38:16 -0800

Why do runners and other athletes in the Olympics wear sunglasses? Orange-tinted glasses seem to be most popular, even when events are taking place at night. Is it because, in some cases, they're running under the glare of stadium floodlights?; do they somehow make them focus better?; or is it all a style thing?

2004 Olympic Athletes

mcwetboy — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 10:26:46 -0800

I'd like to know the number of athletes from each country competing at the Olympics -- basically, the size of each country's delegation -- for a little project I'm working on. The Athens 2004 site and the news orgs' sites I've checked do not provide such information, from what I can tell.