Tag: sports

Skating

  In Tulia, Texas, where I lived as a kid before we moved to Saskatchewan, when you said you were going “skating” it was understood it would be on a wooden surface with rollers attached to your feet. Imagine my shock, then, when I found out that up here, “skating” meant sliding on thin metal …

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Skiing

  I’ve written about the skating, tobogganing and curling, but there’s a major winter sport I’ve yet to explore (and no, it’s not competitive car-boosting). That’s probably because, while I’ve skated, tobogganed and curled, I have yet to strap two long, skinny pieces of fiberglass to my feet and go careening down a mountain or …

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Curling

I’ve written about the science of skating, and before that about the science of tobogganing. Now let’s look at a third winter sport, the one that’s hardest to explain to your relatives in Texas: curling. Curling apparently originated in Scotland, probably starting with people tossing small rocks at targets on frozen lakes and rivers, like …

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Horse racing

Horses have been domesticated for more than 6,000 years, Ill bet that when the first Central Asian nomad with a horse met the second Central Asian with a horse, the first one said, “Race you to that tree over there” and the second one said, “You’re on,” and their friends wagered a skin of fermented …

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The science of swimming

  This summer, people will flock to lakes, oceans, rivers and “concrete ponds” for the express purpose of plunging themselves into the water and flailing around madly. It’s called swimming, and it’s pretty strange behavior, considering the human body is not at all designed for water locomotion. Nevertheless, it’s been going on for a very …

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IndyCar racing

You can keep your hockey, your baseball, your lacrosse–this week, my favorite sport is in the spotlight, as 33 drivers contest the Indianapolis 500. No other sport involves as much science and technology as automobile racing. Public fascination with technology first made it popular: at the first organized race in France 100 years ago, the …

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Tennis, anyone?

It’s summer, and love is in the air…also, love-15, love-30, game, set, and match. Yes, it’s tennis time, and the air is filled with the distinctive “thwock” of balls hitting racquets and balls hitting courts, plus the occasionally equally distinctive sound made by a player who just missed an easy return. Of course, being the …

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Bicycles

I wouldn’t call myself a “serious” cyclist, since I don’t wear neon Spandex shorts and top, a colour-coordinated helmet, leather gloves or fancy cycling shoes. Heck, I don’t even have a water-bottle. But I do cycle a bit, and as I was puffing my way along the bike path the other day it seemed to …

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Baseball

I’m lousy at baseball. Fly balls fly right over me, line drives make me duck, and I can’t run the bases worth a darn–but that’s all right, since I seldom hit the ball. So to write this column about the science of pitching, I turned to an expert: Robert K. Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics …

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The science of pitching

I’m lousy at baseball. Fly balls fly right over me, line drives make me duck, and I can’t run the bases worth a darn–but that’s all right, since I seldom hit the ball. So to write this column about the science of pitching, I turned to an expert: Robert K. Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics …

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Skydiving

  “Go!” yelled the instructor. Over strenuous objections from brain and body, I let go of the airplane’s strut and stepped sideways into 3,500 feet of air. I fell: two simple words that don’t do the experience justice. I’d been training all day. I was supposed to arch and count to five. I didn’t. Every …

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Golf

‘Tis the season to chase little white balls over big green spaces, and to contemplate, while combing through waist-high grass, the history and science behind your endeavours. The Romans played a game called “paganica,” chasing a feather-stuffed ball around the countryside with a bent stick, but the Scots usually get the credit (or blame) for …

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