7 Feet Ain't What It Used To Be

Back in the days of my youth, long long ago, the 7-foot high jump was, I believe, a barrier.  It represented something like the 4 minute mile, the 16 foot pole vault, the 60 foot shot put.  Wikipedia confirms it was a barrier, which was broken in 1956.

But now it's not.  Reston's Rashaan Jones, a high school junior, cleared it this week in an invitational meet.  Congratulations to him.  From the blog post:

Jones is among only seven others in Virginia high school indoor track history to have ever successfully cleared seven feet.

Does Anyone Follow Track? Read Long Jump

This is a great piece on long jumps and Carl Lewis. Hat tip to the Browser.  I remember Ralph Boston's salad days, if I recall that was just after the breaking of a bunch of different records which seemed unbreakable: 4 minute mile, 7 foot high jump, 16 foot high jump, 60 foot shot put, 10 sec 100 yard dash.  In those days track was a major sport, a major amateur sport, along with tennis. College football and basketball were more prominent than their pro counterparts, boxing was big (the Friday night fights with Sugar Ray Robinson, Carmen Basilio, the ageless Archie Moore).  Think I'll dream on the glories of yesteryear and skip blogging this weekend.

Surprising Stat of the Day

Via Marginal Revolution, from this site:

An African-American child raised in a lower-class family is 37% less likely to become a professional basketball player than is an African-American child raised in a middle- or upper-class family, according to Joshua Kjerulf Dubrow of the Polish Academy of Sciences and jimi adams of Arizona State.

Parenting--Tiger Moms and Pushy Families

The "tiger mom", the Yale law prof who talks about pushing her two daughters to perfection by behaving as a "Chinese mother" is getting lots of attention.  I'm also reading Condolezza Rice's memoir, which describes how her parents pushed her and pushed her (it's interesting, not great, but interesting).  This ties into a Tyler Cowen post on a study which indicates that environment makes the most difference for people in less fortunate conditions while genes make more difference in the more fortunate conditions.  (Think of this example: if food is scarce, you don't get many tall basketball players; if food becomes plentiful, genes for height can be fully expressed.  Stole that from a book I read which I'm too lazy to look up.)

Over my lifetime parents have invested more and more effort into rearing their children and giving them advantages.  I think that's a reflection of the good times we enjoy.  In the 19th century, a good parent was a good provider or a good homemaker.  Do those things well and the environment would take care of your kids.  Now with most Americans middle class or better, the competition is stiffer.  But because less is under the parents' control, there's more premium on the margins.  It's rather like athletes in track.  When I was growing up, the times for the mile were being lowered slowly.  Then came Bannister and Landy and the breaking of the 4-minute barrier and then fell quickly.  Now it takes more and more effort and training to eke out any world record in either the mile or 1500.

A Lawyer Knows Soccer

David Post at Volokh Conspiracy made a bet at 23  to 1 odds that Spain and the Netherlands would be in the World Cup final.

Surprising Stat--Lefties

No, I'm not talking about my fellow liberals but about baseball.

From a Times article on the scarcity of left-handed catchers in baseball:

But right-handed catchers do not seem to struggle throwing past lefties; besides, while right-handed hitters made 62 percent of major league plate appearances 50 years ago, it is now almost even, 56 percent to 44.

I know Mickey Mantle wasn't the first switch hitter in baseball, but he was the greatest one .

From a human perspective it's a lesson in how adaptable people can be, particularly when they have large financial incentives.

Break Up the Nationals

The Washington Nationals baseball team has been mocked for most of the year, but today they won their eighth straight. Who knows, perhaps President Obama will be able to invite them to the White House before his term is up?