Content tagged with “sports” under “Stuff I Looked Up”

“In the context I decided to investigate, it refers to the starting defense of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. To differentiate players during practices in the 1960s, the Nebraska coach put his defenders in black jerseys, and the name stuck. When Nebraska keeps opponents to a low score, it…”

“This is just another name for ‘bear.’ It was a name of a bear in a Dutch children’s fable from the 12th century. Most people know this as the name of two major sports teams: the UCLA Bruins in college sports, and the Boston Bruins in NHL hockey. The UCLA team is very prominent with the bear…”

“This is hard to describe in words. You sort of have to watch it visually. Here are two great videos (literally the first two results when searching YouTube for how to play cricket ): How to Play Cricket (2:00) How to play cricket: The Basics (7:06) It’s tempting to compare this to baseball, because…”

“This refers to the outside-most defensive players that rush the quarterback in American football. In a 4-3 set-up, it’s the defensive ends In a 3-4 set-up, it’s the outside linebackers Those players are on the ‘edges’ of the defensive line scheme – the edges of whatever format is expected to rush…”

“No one agrees where this came from. One story: there was a person that waited down the driving range to see where the ball landed. This caddy was known as a ‘fore-caddy.’ Yelling ‘Fore!’ was a way of warning the fore-caddy that a ball was on the way. However, there are other origin stories. Here’s…”

“This is a relatively new track-and-field event. It’s a multi-event – like the decathlon and heptathlon – where athletes compete in multiple disciplines over two days for a combined score. There are 20 events (it’s sometimes called the ‘double decathlon’). They appear to be held in quick succession,…”

“ ‘Piste’ is French for trail or track. So, ‘off piste’ is a skiing term for backcountry skiing, meaning to ski in areas that are not groomed slopes at ski resorts. As an idiom, ‘off piste’ could mean to do something unexpected or outside the ordinary. ”

“Until 1968, professionals were not allowed to compete in the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments: the Australian Open, the French Open, the U.S. Open, and the British Open (Wimbledon). These four tournaments were reserved for amateur players, to make them ‘fair’ to players who could not devote their…”

“I had a conversation with my friend Ben about this. Ben (and his son) was a competitive runner in college: Me: In a running race, what’s the purpose of a pacesetter? Ben: The pace setter helps make sure the pack of runners doesn’t get out too fast or slow. This is often used when some runners are…”

“For most everyone, there probably is no difference – the terms are likely interchangeable. But, in a strict sense: Parkour is about efficiency – moving from point A to point B in the least amount of time Freerunning is more artistic and incorporates acrobatic movements for style alone The word…”

“There are five alpine (meaning ‘gravity-based’) skiing events in the Olympics: All of them involve navigating a course down the side of a mountain while turning to go through ‘gates’ demarked by flags. They’re differentiated by how close the gates are, which dictates how often the skier has to turn…”

“This is a sport – it’s kind of like ping pong, but it’s played on a curved table, with a larger ball, and you can only use your feet. (So, perhaps it’s nothing like ping pong?) It was invented in Hungary in 2012, so it’s quite new. It’s gradually being adopted around the world, and there’s a small…”