NFL players: height and weight over time • Hacker News Board

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#71

Post by bernardom » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 9:32 PM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #18

S_A_P wrote: post #10

I wonder if this has compounded the TBI and concussion issue over the years. I think sports medicine in general has gotten much better and the average player is probably bigger and stronger and thus able to hit harder than 20+ years ago...

I noticed this with the NHL. Players are way more fit resulting in a faster game with more brutal body-checking. That compounded with improved protective equipment has allowed players to have a lot less regard for others safety.

Also, it has become accepted to check a lot more now than in the past.

There was an awesome blog post about the '70s-era Broad Street Bullies and how "soft" they look if you're used to today's NHL: http://www.mc79hockey.com/2014/05/the-broad-street-bullies-w...

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#72

Post by at-fates-hands » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 9:33 PM UTC

silverbax88 wrote: post #46

skierscott wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Malcolm Gladwell has looked at this issue[1]. He sees football as being analogous to dogfighting. Popular at the time and with fans, but the science behind it is scary. I've experienced a severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI), meaning I've seen many brain doctors. I have seen a neuro-omptomolgist (brain-eye doctor) who sees a football player who can't even add up his checkbook (meaning he can't add, not this his check…

When I was in high school I was a Division I football prospect. I had multiple schools after me: Alabama, Florida, LSU, etc. I really wanted Miami (this was the '80s) but deep down I really wanted to play basketball. I only got a little sniff of DI basketball interest but I went on a football visit to Florida and saw massive guys hitting each other and thought "I'm going to get killed" and never took the football sch…

You sound remarkably similar to what Wayne Gretzky said after he retired. The last two years of his career, his Dad kept asking him if he was going to play another year.

He basically said, "I don't know. Every year I go back to camp, the guys are bigger, stronger and hit harder than last year."

When you look around the league, it's obvious how much bigger these guys have gotten. Look at some of the current LA KINGS forwards:

Jeff Carter - 6'4" - 212lbs

Dwight King - 6'4" - 230lbs

Anze Kopitar - 6'3" - 224lbs

Jordan Nolan - 6'3" - 221lbs

I'm assuming their heights are all reflected without wearing skates, which adds a good 2" to those heights. This is one of the reasons many pundits said LA won the cup in 2011. Big, strong forwards and a merciless forecheck. I still remember one of the announcers saying, "Imagine you're a defensemen and everytime LA drops the puck into the corner in your end and you have two of these guys hurtling towards you as you go for the puck. It's a defensemen's worst nightmare."

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#73

Post by Theodores » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 9:47 PM UTC

This article serves to illustrate how different America is from the rest of the world. Outside America nobody knows what NFL is beyond that it is some strange variant on the football theme, related to football in no more way than how a whale is related to a dog.

Then there are 'customary units'. Outside America nobody knows what a pound of weight is, is that pound of 'customary units' the same as an 'Imperial' pound? Nobody knows, particularly when applied to body weight. The height situation is better, there are places like the UK where Imperial measurements are used for height, but, in mainland Europe and beyond, I doubt anyone knows what 6' tall means.

I imagine that in America it is hard to see this perspective on how different America is, and, most of the time with most HN stories there is no cultural barrier to understanding things, yet this story is an edge case and reminds me how different American culture really is.

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#74

Post by slyall » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 9:47 PM UTC

torbit wrote: post #64

Anytime I see a post about football I wonder how it is different from rugby, so I'll just post this intresting article "In rugby, the only collision (i.e., running at speed for the purpose of forcing a player to the ground) is when one has the ball. The other 29 lads on the pitch are there for support. In American football, 21 of the 22 players had better be colliding with someone on every down - at full speed. In gr…

The local paper posted an article a few days ago about relative sizes of Rugby players ( The "All Blacks" are the New Zealand national team ) compared to 20+ years ago.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&obje...

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#75

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:02 PM UTC

at-fates-hands wrote: post #72

silverbax88 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in high school I was a Division I football prospect. I had multiple schools after me: Alabama, Florida, LSU, etc. I really wanted Miami (this was the '80s) but deep down I really wanted to play basketball. I only got a little sniff of DI basketball interest but I went on a football visit to Florida and saw massive guys hitting each other and thought "I'm going to get killed" and never took the football sch…

You sound remarkably similar to what Wayne Gretzky said after he retired. The last two years of his career, his Dad kept asking him if he was going to play another year. He basically said, "I don't know. Every year I go back to camp, the guys are bigger, stronger and hit harder than last year." When you look around the league, it's obvious how much bigger these guys have gotten. Look at some of the current LA KINGS f…

[deleted]

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#76

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:03 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #73

This article serves to illustrate how different America is from the rest of the world. Outside America nobody knows what NFL is beyond that it is some strange variant on the football theme, related to football in no more way than how a whale is related to a dog. Then there are 'customary units'. Outside America nobody knows what a pound of weight is, is that pound of 'customary units' the same as an 'Imperial' pound?…

[deleted]

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#77

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:04 PM UTC

mathattack wrote: post #60

I find it interesting that a break appears in 1993 where the Extremely Huge (lineman) separate from those merely Very Large. My old man once commented that he his Big 10 college alma mater once had someone on the football team whose only virtue was being 275 pounds.

[deleted]

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#78

Post by drpgq » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:09 PM UTC

incision wrote: post #6

Craig M. Booth has done some very nice visualizations on this subject [1]. I found this chart comparing height/weight of 2013 rosters by position [2] particularly interesting and this set [3] covers a question that anyone who has read Outliers has probably wondered about. 1: http://www.craigmbooth.com/category/nfl/ 2: http://www.craigmbooth.com/height-and-weight-of-every-active... 3: http://www.sportsballweekly.com/t…

For number 3 and NBA players, wouldn't the fact that having to be so tall would trump the age effect? Being 7 feet tall is an extremely rare statistic event, so whether the player is born in January or December isn't material.

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#79

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:10 PM UTC

logn wrote: post #50

1238488462662 wrote: post #16

Steroids. Relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger,_Stronger,_Faster*

Steroids don't make you taller. Also if you devote yourself to nutrition and weight lifting, as a 6 foot male it's not too hard to exceed 200 pounds. I don't doubt steroids play a part, but there are many other factors (in addition to just the fact that football became a national obsession so is attracting more potential players). And prior to 1940, the same players played offense and defense, along with limited subs…

[deleted]

Re: NFL players: height and weight over time

#80

Post by 1238488462662 » Wed, Jun 04, 2014, 10:23 PM UTC

logn wrote: post #50

1238488462662 wrote: post #16

Steroids. Relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger,_Stronger,_Faster*

Steroids don't make you taller. Also if you devote yourself to nutrition and weight lifting, as a 6 foot male it's not too hard to exceed 200 pounds. I don't doubt steroids play a part, but there are many other factors (in addition to just the fact that football became a national obsession so is attracting more potential players). And prior to 1940, the same players played offense and defense, along with limited subs…

Watch the movie.