I am sure all of you know more about modern basketball shoes than I do, but are the shoes safe?
I began thinking about this during the Cal season, long before the Kevin Ware injury. The reason for this was that I noticed that several of our Cal players were slipping, or stumbling, and falling on the court during games. I am not talking about intentionally falling when taking a charge, stepping on or tripping over another player's foot, or getting shoved to the floor on contact. I am talking about good athletes, like Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs just slipping or stumbling and falling in the open court while dribbling, with no physical contact with another player. Brandon Smith was another player who fell down for no apparent reason at times. As I look back on over 50 years of playing and watching basketball, I have never seen so many players fall down, with no apparent cause.
Then comes the tragic injury to Kevin Ware. Ware did nothing other than take a running jump at a player to block or bother a shot, with no physical contact with the player. He landed on two feet, and he suffers a compound fracture (which injury, incidentally, I have never seen or heard of in the same 50+ years of watching games).
This is all leading me to believe that there may be something faulty or lacking in the design of the modern basketball shoe. Honestly, I know nothing about them, but these shoes look so oversized. I suspect that with all the influence on jumping in the modern game, that the shoes are designed more for jumping than anything else. Is this true?
50 years ago, shoes were made of canvas and rubber. The sole was designed to give the best traction in all directions, and the rest of the shoe, being made of canvas, was designed to be light. The shoes were primitive, but the objective was to make them light, for speed in running, and with good traction for both lateral side to side movement, and running forward or backpedaling. And very few times did I ever see a player fall down without contact, for no apparent reason.
Rick Barry has recently introduced a new basketball shoe, designed to protect the ankle from sprains, which he is attempting to market. He feels such a shoe would benefit a player like Seth Curry, for example, who has ankle problems. Are there other shoes on the market that try to protect the player from injury?
I'd like to hear what those of you who are more knowledgeable about modern shoes would say about whether there is any relation between the increase in falls without contact and the shoes the modern player is wearing.
Thanks in advance.
I began thinking about this during the Cal season, long before the Kevin Ware injury. The reason for this was that I noticed that several of our Cal players were slipping, or stumbling, and falling on the court during games. I am not talking about intentionally falling when taking a charge, stepping on or tripping over another player's foot, or getting shoved to the floor on contact. I am talking about good athletes, like Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs just slipping or stumbling and falling in the open court while dribbling, with no physical contact with another player. Brandon Smith was another player who fell down for no apparent reason at times. As I look back on over 50 years of playing and watching basketball, I have never seen so many players fall down, with no apparent cause.
Then comes the tragic injury to Kevin Ware. Ware did nothing other than take a running jump at a player to block or bother a shot, with no physical contact with the player. He landed on two feet, and he suffers a compound fracture (which injury, incidentally, I have never seen or heard of in the same 50+ years of watching games).
This is all leading me to believe that there may be something faulty or lacking in the design of the modern basketball shoe. Honestly, I know nothing about them, but these shoes look so oversized. I suspect that with all the influence on jumping in the modern game, that the shoes are designed more for jumping than anything else. Is this true?
50 years ago, shoes were made of canvas and rubber. The sole was designed to give the best traction in all directions, and the rest of the shoe, being made of canvas, was designed to be light. The shoes were primitive, but the objective was to make them light, for speed in running, and with good traction for both lateral side to side movement, and running forward or backpedaling. And very few times did I ever see a player fall down without contact, for no apparent reason.
Rick Barry has recently introduced a new basketball shoe, designed to protect the ankle from sprains, which he is attempting to market. He feels such a shoe would benefit a player like Seth Curry, for example, who has ankle problems. Are there other shoes on the market that try to protect the player from injury?
I'd like to hear what those of you who are more knowledgeable about modern shoes would say about whether there is any relation between the increase in falls without contact and the shoes the modern player is wearing.
Thanks in advance.