My Holiday Jones Experiment.
by oldcat'69 on Jan 2, 2012 1:44 PM EST
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PrintI've been defending Terrence Jones for his unusually bad ballhandling and shooting since he badly dislocated his pinkie, so, after my workout a couple of days ago, I decided to test my hypothesis that the reduction of hand "spread" with the pinkie taped to the ring finger on one's dominant hand can severely decrement the ability to shoot and handle the ball.
Some background: I'm almost 65, an old ball player, can't run for crap, can barely get both feet off the ground and have the relfexes of a sloth. But I can still shoot, as long as the range is five or six feet inside what it used to be.
So my experiment went like this:
I taped my right-hand pinkie to my ring finger and went to work shooting free throws. Normally, after a little warm-up, I can hit aboutt 17-19 out of 20 (no pressure, no defense, remember). Well, with the two fingers taped together, and after warming up, I hit one, missed one, hit 11, missed one, and hit six. Looks like I disproved my own theory, or did I?
Jump shots were another matter (realizing that "jump" in my case is a gross exaggeration). Very tough to get the ball into shooting position on the impaired hand without taking a lot of time. Two-handed rebounds were tough, too. Too much instinct and not enough time to position the hand to control the ball. And think about the pain involved with dislocating the proximal interphalangeal joint (I looked it up!!!!!) on the pinkie to the point that it would point sideways about 45 degrees.
So, while I went into my experiment with an outcome in mind (the surest sign of a terrible researcher, or one with an agenda), and seemed to disprove my own theory, in the end, I stick by my defense of Terrence. I think his progress in rebounding in the Loo (you do know what that means in the UK, don't you?)-uh-ville game shows that the pinkie is making progress.
So, I ain't giving up on the kid yet. And when Miller re-gains his shooting touch (progress there, too), Teague becomes a college point guard (more progress, although slower than Cal wants), and Wiltjer gets a confidence booster shot, LOOK OUT.
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Yes, we really have to hand it to him for this one.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
Well, I did have
have three days off (in a row!!!).
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 2, 2012 3:44 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Only Kentucky fans can appreciate the dedication of other Kntucky fans
Bravo, sir. for the experiment, the write-up, and making at least one ASoB fan LOL at the hair salon.
And add my echo to the crowd who thinks TJ will be just fine. I’d rather him take the time he needs to recover and come back hungry, humble and healthy to demolish the competition during conference play and post-season.
Proud member of the Big Blue Nation - Let's Go Cats!!!
I think that Jones
has turned the corner as long as he doesn’t re-injure his finger. He will be fine when we need him most.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
When we really need him,
he’ll be there.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 2, 2012 3:45 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
The injury could turn out to be a positive.
He was struggling with some issues before it happened. Then he missed games because of it and now he is having to work hard to compensate for it plus man up and play through pain. If it gets back to 100%, he might just be unstoppable.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
It's easy to ":man up"...
… when it’s the other guy’s pain. One of the first things you find out when hurt a finger is how many times you inadvertently stub it in everyday life. [ It also applies to a hurt pedal-extremity.] My personal experience was an extremely jammed finger, which hurt somewhat at the time, and then was excruiating the next day. Like a fracture of the finger or a dislocation the basic treatment is sufficient rest to allow it to recover. The use of a brace like TJ’s is mainly to prevent further injury. But the brace while permitting some use dimishes both control and your “touch”.
To make your experiment more true life I would suggest smashing your finger then bracing and taping and repeating your test drills. (I would recommend using a rubber mallet rather than a common hammer to avoid exceeeding the desired level of damage. I realize you may require more than one blow with the mallet, but at our age fractures don’t heal as quickly as they used too, LOL)
I await your results with bated breath, and a great deal of admiration to your commitment to the scientific method.
What if I just
just take a pair of vise grips and twist it out of joint like TJ did? Your “man up” point is exactly right. I saw several times in the second half of the UL game ( just watched replay today) where it looked like he flinched away from contact with that left hand.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 2, 2012 9:47 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
whatever works..
but as for me the “gradual” approach wouldn’t work. I don’t like pain, ..it hurts. I could not drill my own teeth, the minute it started to hurt I would be backing off. I was trying to find you a way to “get ’er dun” without having second thoughts. Now you could take enough of the local elixir of the gods that you weren’t having any second thoughts (enough of any of the sour mashes work for me), but you might over do it, which would invalidate your experiment.
You could always enlist a lab assistant, check in the personal ads for S&M, so the work go done properly. Heck in Lexington you might even be able to enlist other test subject for such an important area of exploration in sports medicine.
You might consider a pipe bender too, which would allow for an exact and measurable bend.
Another old Cat (1968)
Al (in Canada)
by blenheim bard on Jan 2, 2012 10:28 PM EST up reply actions
I have known some
chiropractors that could do it for him at a reasonable rate.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
Oldcat'69 you may have missed a calling!
I don’t think it would take much and you could turn your ‘Holiday Jones Experiment’ into a real research project. I’m serious! This seems an issue that would benefit from some rigorous study and, if accepted by the National Science Foundation, we’re talking real money – many times millions of dollars.
Again, I’m serious. You may think the issue trivial, I don’t btw, but the NSF has funded research grants for research into much less robust questions, e.g.:
$315,000 to Michigan State University to research if playing FarmVille on Facebook helps people develop and maintain friendships.
$1 MILLION to Indiana University to analyze whether parents respond to trendy baby names. The finding: They do. Which is probably why they’re trendy.
$50,000 went to the University of California-Davis to develop educational rap and music videos with titles like “Money 4 Drugz”.
$80,000 so Duke University could figure out why the same schools always seem to win March Madness. (My personal favorite!)
$2 MILLION to Cornell University to figure out if people who post photos from the same place at the same time are probably friends or somehow connected. Their finding was . . . yes, generally, those people ARE friends or connected.
$1.5 MILLION to the University of California-Berkeley to create a robot that folds laundry. The only problem is that it takes 25 minutes for it to fold just one towel.
And $559,681 to the College of Charleston to figure out how long a shrimp can run on a treadmill.
Given what these guys got funded, if you have any friends who work at a university, the opportunity seems one you shouldn’t pass up. I’d certainly volunteer to be a subject in your study – your ‘Holiday Jones Experiment’.
Talk about Synchronicity!
I forgot all about "funding’ and the popularity of such “stump money” projects. And Kentucky always was a favourite place for such projects, especially if they could be carried out in “depressed economic area”, which covers a whole swath of ground now days.
Sorry I should have thought of this,instead of concentrating on methodology, but that is the power of “overmind” of the BBN.
by blenheim bard on Jan 2, 2012 10:33 PM EST up reply actions
I'd have taken just $5.00
and hired some kid to chase my misses!!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:52 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
For the right kind of money I would volunteer to have my pinkie broke exactly the same way as TJ's
Only talking about 20 grand or so – wonder if a foundation would hook me up with those kinds of funds and if so me and oldcat could do our thing and give feedback to the source on our accomplishments – you got a guinea pig oldcat – find the funds.
A man is nothing more than a summation of his scars!
As a trained scientist
I believe I have found a bias in your experiment.
If you usually hit 17 to 19 out of 20 then you are shooting free throws at a level far above Jones with an uninjured hand. It would stand to reason that even injured you would still hit free throws at a better rate than him. I suggest that you stand behind Jones with your hands taped to his and then see how many you hit.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
bias??.. rather different baselines
but there is some validity in your observation. I don’t know what percentage of FT Jones makes in practice condtions, no doubt a lot higher than in game conditions. Tthe military has observed a noticable decline in accuracy of marksmanship from the range to battlefield conditions, something about having someone shoot back is rumoured to be the cause.
during a game you have all the arena distractions (noise and motion, etc.), you have an elevated heart rate from the physical exertion, fatigue effects, and even the pain from the contact that put you on the charity stripe.
Obviously the testing conditions would have to measure the relaxed, non-stressed, uninjured baseline. Then a test score after physical exertion, say running the concourses at Memorial Coliseum (which I remember are 1/4 of a mile from PE class). Then a test with the experimental injury, but otherwise unstressed, and finally the stressed injured test. i would guess that the last would show a marked difference in as much as the increased blood pressure would cause a parallel increase in the pain level.
by blenheim bard on Jan 2, 2012 10:54 PM EST up reply actions
I guess I was looking at it like this.
Comparing an extremely good free throw shooter to an average shooter assumes that any variable introduced would have the same or similar results. Confidence and excellent muscle memory would most likely buffer the better shooter to some extent from significant decreases in shooting ability. I think the only conclusion we can come to with any degree of confidence is that the injury has not helped Jones’ current shooting slump. With that said, we cannot rule out that it may cause him to focus on the mechanics of his shot and that will hopefully result in a return to his pre-slump performance, if not even better. While the element of hope carries little weight in science, it is a renewable resource that certainly keeps our engines running.
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
KyWineman, ...
It may not be a linear factor in the pathology. Rather, it may be curvilinear, perhaps with multiple nodes. Also, it should be stressed that the number, gender and professional credentials of the physical therapists is a crucial factor as well as whether any other large or small muscle groups were involved in the various rehabilitative therapies. Understand, the willingness of the subject to undergo certain specific rehabilitative therapies long term may be at issue.
I agree totally and completely
with whatever that was you just said. :)
I am all for people expressing their opinions, as long as they back them up with facts.
Yeah, well, as I said,
all I had watching was the blue-heads, over-feds and nearly-deads walking around the second level track around the basketball floor. With 23,000 watching, the floor might have gotten slippery.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:47 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Only an old UK Hoops player would even "think" of doing this
Let alone going out and actually doing it! :-)
Nicely done OC, nicely done…
And speaking of the “Loo”, and completely off topic, the Spousal Unit and I were watching the Bourne Ultimatum the other night and we were at the part where they have the fight scene in the bathroom. She asked “Where’s the toilet?” and I said “You see that hole in the floor?” She looked at me like I was cross-eyed or something… Can’t figure that out for some reason??? :-)
If your wings don't sweep....
"Think"???
That’s the best compliment I’ve had today, Eagle. Thanks!!!!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
And you should have heard my
17-YO daughter when we took trips when I was stationed in Turkey. It was worth the price of admission, which was 15 months dealing with “bakshish” (that’s bribery for those of you who haven’t been there).
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:50 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I can only guess at some of those conversations, but they do make me smile!
Yeah buddy, I remember that word… You still got any of your carpets and copper pots?? :-)
If your wings don't sweep....
Yep, sitting on my
recliner on a Bushir now, and looking across the room at a Boukhara and my personal favorite, an Iranian Tabriz. The copper pots adorn a shelf in our bathroom and are played with by the grandaughters when they’re washing the walls, er, uh, taking a bath.
It was a long time ago in a land far, far away, and I’m glad I’m in the good ole USA where I can conduct my basketball experiments in peace. :-))
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 4, 2012 8:21 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Nice!
Got all mine stored for the moment, but they’ll reappear eventually… I just have to nag enough! :-) Love the use of the copper pots!
I sometimes feel like I spent a lifetime over in that neck of the woods. Spent 3 out of 4 consecutive birthdays over there, deployed from various locations. And I agree, there’s no place like the good ole USA!
“Hey Abi, shine shoes??”
If your wings don't sweep....
Just want to say
I found the experiment and the entire thread highly entertaining.
Funny????
This was a serious scientific experiment. Of course, some folks had to mess it up with words like “synchronicity” and the like. On the other hand, you’ve got to remember that I learned the “scientific method” in a small school in rural Kentucky. :-))
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:52 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Hoping for no groin injury
OldCat, love your experiment & thread; for yours, TJ’s, & the team’s sake, I really hope Jones doesn’t suffer a nasty groin injury……………..
"Life should be fairways, greens, blue skies, & fresh powder."
Yep, those vise-grips
aren’t getting nowhere near that area!!!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:40 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
can't run for crap, can barely get both feet off the ground and have the relfexes of a sloth
LOL. Sounds like me: vertical leap of two coats of paint, hands of stone and glacial speed. Of course, I couldn’t shoot either. Before I grew three inches in three months when I was 16, everybody said “He may not be big, but he is slow.”
Slogan for the NCAA: If it ain't broke, break it.
Me, too.
I always tried to compensate for lack of height by being excessively slow, but I was the other way around. Tallest in class in sixth grade, about same size in HS.
My problem really was that I had too much turned down for foot. For a guy that was 6’1 and 150 lbs, I surely didn’t need size 12 feet. Now, if I could have traded about three inches of foot for height, I coulda been a contendah . . . Well, maybe not.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:43 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Oh, yeah, my feet
would have been lighter and I could have run faster. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 3, 2012 5:44 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Thank you Oldcat69 and all who have commented
Just got off work, thought I’d read Glenn’s pre-game and got this gem first. The remnants of the tropical storm that blew up the east coast last year blew down my goal. (Pole was rusted and the wind was impressive), Otherwise I might go out and see if my stats changed from adding splint and tape to the mix.
You guys and gals are the best and I truly enjoy dropping in here to read these fine conversations.
Great experiment, oldcat!
I can hit aboutt 17-19 out of 20 (no pressure, no defense, remember).
That is still a pretty high percentage.
What would you shoot under the pressure of putting a video camera on yourself and filming the 20 free-throws in a single, continuous take for upload to YouTube? (We could also have someone trying to distract you by waving one of those Ashley Judd hockey posters under the backboard while you are shooting…. not that I am sure what that would actually prove.. it could just be one of those sacrifices made for the sake of scientific observation…)
.
"I'm not present I'm a drug that makes you dream I'm an aerostar I'm a cutlass supreme In the wrong lane Trying to turn against the flow I'm the ocean I'm the giant undertow I'm the ocean..." - N. Young
Well, Ashley might be a distraction,
wineman, but you and I have had lunch together, remember? ;-o
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 4, 2012 8:24 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Volunteering to stand next to Ashley
has nothing to do with your experiment. :)
Making waves in a sea of blue.
Just thinking about Ashley
under the basket, I made only 15 this morning. Now see what you’ve done???
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 4, 2012 8:28 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think UK has missed a great opportunity
over the years by giving her the seats they have.
They should have given her two tickets, behind each of the baskets so she could change seats at halftime and always be in a position to mess with the opponents on the free-throw line.
.
"I'm not present I'm a drug that makes you dream I'm an aerostar I'm a cutlass supreme In the wrong lane Trying to turn against the flow I'm the ocean I'm the giant undertow I'm the ocean..." - N. Young
He may have been pulling my chain...
but I think it was Jim Dinwiddie who told me about a woman with no panties who flashed the players at the free throw line at one of the away games. He said it would have been a whole lot more distracting if she had been 30 years younger and a hundred pounds lighter. (I tutored JD among others in their psychology courses.) Now that would be a distraction.LOL
BwaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaa
Now there’s a classic tale for ya… Thanks for the story bb, now to find my screen cleaner!
If your wings don't sweep....
Jim was/is a really good guy.
I played against him once in HS and he was a year behind me at UK. I think he is or was a judge in Leitchfield. Not bad for a skinny left-hander.
I’d be willing to bet the flasher stories were true.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . .who spends himself for a worthy cause . . ."
by oldcat'69 on Jan 4, 2012 8:26 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
A pleasure to "coach"
Liked working with him on his studies, no big ego, basketball was a way to get an education. He and the other basketball players always wanted to understand the material, football players wanted a copy of the test to memorize. Just like learning the play book, but they were all convinced they were going to star in the NFL, and make mega bucks Glad Jim was successful in life.
I unfortunately would not have seen you play. I rented an apartment near Maxwell and Rose, which became a parking lot for FB & BB games. The guy who took care of it got sick and I filled in one Saturday. the landlord seemed to like my math better than the other fellow’s and so I parked cars for the rest of my UK career. I never got to see a JV game after that, but I was much richer for the experience. lol
by blenheim bard on Jan 4, 2012 1:45 PM EST up reply actions
Oh my goodness...
.
I think I would probably still be shooting free-throws like Shaq a month later…. maybe two.
.
"I'm not present I'm a drug that makes you dream I'm an aerostar I'm a cutlass supreme In the wrong lane Trying to turn against the flow I'm the ocean I'm the giant undertow I'm the ocean..." - N. Young
Had A Holiday Johnson Experiment
But I don’t want to talk about it.
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
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