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The Future of Space Sports

Loether writes "Space.com has a fun article about how astronauts aboard the ISS play 'sports' in zero gravity. It talks about learning how to throw in a straight line instead of the arc we all take for granted, relay races, and using large water filled bags as medicine balls. 'We realized that you could toss and catch and then go for a ride on this big thing as it takes you away.' The astronauts also put out a request for new ideas for space sports. Have any suggestions?"

40 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Remember by glwtta · · Score: 4, Funny

    The enemy gate is down!

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    sic transit gloria mundi
  2. Run around the tanks? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jogging around the water tanks à la Skylab maybe?

  3. Play A Man's Game by BigBlueOx · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fizzbin.
    Maybe you'll be one of the few who have ever gotten a Royal Fizzbin. BTW, the odds of actually getting a Royal Fizzbin have never been computed but are known to be astronomical.

  4. Zero G Arena needed, but... by GrueMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    While the ISS may not be the best for this, how about zero G paintball? That would kick ass. ISS is relatively confined to have much in the way of sports. Zero G Racketball could get interesting, but again, need more space.

  5. Like the submitter who asked for console-like PC by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Funny

    games, I'm going to have to suggest "zerogfindthesausage" as a good one to play.

  6. Hmmm.... by Angst+Badger · · Score: 3, Funny

    The astronauts also put out a request for new ideas for space sports. Have any suggestions?

    You mean other than the obvious one we all wonder about?

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    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
    1. Re:Hmmm.... by alan_dershowitz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Mmmmm, Street Fighter II. But how would that be different in space?

  7. basketball by OrochimaruVoldemort · · Score: 4, Funny

    in zero g, the white guy could finally compete with the black guy (flaimbait, i'm sure)

    --
    If people can get past, can they get future? Best way to confuse a stoner
    1. Re:basketball by iamhigh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why would that be flamebait? It is merely a statement of facts. Blacks make up 12-15 percent of the population, but 90+ percent of professional athelets.

      It pisses me off to no end that we can't conlude that one race may be better at things than another (due to P.C.).

      --
      No comprende? Let me type that a little slower for you...
    2. Re:basketball by Sciros · · Score: 2, Interesting

      professional athletes Depends on the sport. Hockey is predominately white, though that's largely due to regional culture (that goes for "winter sports" in general, I guess). Soccer seems to not favor the athletic tendencies of any particular race. Tiger Woods is like 100 races in one so golf's a wash. In Baseball, American Football, and Basketball there are many black athletes but it's not necessarily because of their physical advantages. Certainly the greater muscle mass, height, and high vertical jump mean a lot, especially for particular positions in football and basketball. But if you look at the MVPs in both sports lately, as well as how the US has fared in international competition (in Basketball, at least), physical ability isn't the only factor that determines performance. The fact that it's important to play intelligently above all else serves as something of an equalizer. Certainly when you mix playing smarts with uncanny physical talent, as we see in players like LeBron James, you can see that perhaps the "theoretically best" (for basketball, at least) player would be black for the sake of natural physical form/ability, but that theory isn't very useful in reality.

      And if you look at trends, the NBA for instance is becoming much more international in terms of its player makeup. More players are coming from South America, Europe, and China than ever before, and I expect that to continue.
      --
      I like basketball!!1!
    3. Re:basketball by Orange+Crush · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Correlation != Causation. I don't know where you're numbers come from, but the 12-15 percent of the general population figure agrees with a quick bit of Googling. Determining the demographics amongst all professional athletes is much more difficult. Are you looking at primarilly basketball and football? What about baseball, soccer, hockey, swimming, golf, equestrian sports, etc?

      We can spout off and conjecture all we like about why blacks might dominate certain professional sports--maybe it's a mix of physiolgical differences, cultural upbringing, politics and/or economics--but is there any compelling evidence why blacks might be particularly suited for certain sports beyond having more individuals participating in those sports?

    4. Re:basketball by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're totally right on. There was a time that a significant portion of pro basketball players were Jewish, too. Was it because of cultural or economic reasons? No, of course not. Sports pundits of the time indicated that shorter men would be better at basketball because they would have greater balance and agility... A quick Google search on "jews in basketball" reveals that and other interesting statements.

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      The CB App. What's your 20?
    5. Re:basketball by Gman14msu · · Score: 2, Informative

      Blacks make up 12-15 percent of the population, but 90+ percent of professional athelets.

      Wait really? What a ridiculously misguided statement! Seriously, who is modding this up? Let`s take a quick look to see how inaccurate you are.

      First off, let`s decide what sports to look at. I`ll go with the basketball and the NBA, MLB for baseball, and the NFL for football. I won't even count NHL hockey, and leave one of the biggest sports in the country NASCAR, off the board for a few reasons, A) I think you weren`t considering drivers athletes at all when making that claim, and B) them being termed athletes in the first place is a debatable claim.

      So first off the NBA, let's look at the Season Racial and Gender Report Card 2006-2007

      This states that 75% of NBA players are African-American, and during the 1994-95 season there was an all-time high of 82%. Hmm, not quite 90%+, but let`s look at other sports!

      The MLB, which is notoriously losing it`s African-American makeup, had only 8.5% African-American players during the 2005 season! 2005 Race and Gender Report Card

      Wow! 90%+ is there, but wait! It`s 90%+ NON-African-American players! And if you want to bring out Latinos and other races into the picture, 28.7% of players were Latino, and 2.5% were of Asian descent. Leaving over 50% of MLB players white! Not exactly one race being better at something than others now is it?

      Finally we can move onto the NFL. Which in 2003 had a historic high of 69% African-American players. 2004 Race Report

      So no not really 90%+ black players at all! In fact not even close in any of the major sports leagues in the United States. I`m reasonably sure the statistics are consistent for the top soccer leagues around the world, particularly, in Europe, such as the English Premiership and the Primera Liga in Spain. FIFA has made rules that these leagues require a minimum threshold of native players on the club teams so it`s less likely that the teams would consist of over 90% black players.

      Seriously though I can`t believe the parent post was so blatantly incorrect and modded up like that. Do a little research or at least have SOME knowledge of what you are talking about before you go crazy. Christ, you could watch an hour of ESPN and see that the 90% figure is wrong.

  8. Flying by David+Frankenstein · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I read it somewhere one time. Give me some wings and Zero-G, and I can use them to 'swim' if I can push enough air around. Would be even more fun with Small-G.

    1. Re:Flying by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Informative

      Are you thinking of The Menace From Earth? I know that was the first thing I thought of.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  9. new olympic sport by purpleque · · Score: 2, Interesting

    speedfloating...neither foot can touch the ground during the entire race.

  10. Calvin Ball by LordSkippy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Calvin Ball!

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    My karma is in a nose dive
    1. Re:Calvin Ball by esocid · · Score: 2, Funny

      You used an exclamatory sentence in the no punctuation zone, you have to hop on one foot while I peg you with this waterballon. Now, hold still dammit. Hey, where's your mask?

      --
      Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
    2. Re:Calvin Ball by weirdcrashingnoises · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You asked a question in the exclamatory only zone, you must now ...

      (frik i havn't read these in so long i forget the awesome penalties they made up :( hmmm)

      ... you must now mod this post insightful.

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      sigs... don't talk to me about sigs....
  11. Flying. by geekoid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't confuse Activity, competitions and sports. Sorry, I needed to gt that off my chest.

    Any ways..
    Gymnastics would be very interesting, as would wrestling.

    I suspect someone would create 'wings' that strap onto your arms to help you 'swim' around. That could be an interesting race.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  12. Re:Clever "Dept." by Ironsides · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Speaking of which. If they want Zero G and low G sports, I suggest reading through the Science Fiction section a bit. The Enders Game battles were some of the first to pop into my mind. Then there are the human butterfly (strap wings to yourself and fly) sports on the moon from "This place has no atmosphere". There was one in the Tom Swift series that started with "The City in the Stars". I'll have to reread it to check what it was about. Some form of low G basketball if I remember right. There was another series that had a sport where you tried to get around the (quite large) station as fast as you could. You used tow ropes to pull yourself along by realing in your line by hand. A relay/sprint in zero G if you will.

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    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  13. Re:Aloft? by bostongraf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And can it be considered a world record if it takes place outside of Earth's atmosphere?

  14. Two man juggling by myxiplx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well you can't very well juggle on your own in space, and I doubt Nasa would appreciate you bouncing balls off all the equipment, but you could probably learn to juggle 5 balls between two people.

    Of course the trick is to work out a path where the balls won't collide, and to learn the direction to throw them in, but it'd make for a great publicity video if they worked it out :D

  15. Re:Mod Parent Redundant! by hansamurai · · Score: 2, Informative

    The department is usually a total throwaway that I don't even bother reading it. Kind of like most articles.

  16. Flatulence races? by bonkeydcow · · Score: 4, Funny

    Flatulence races? Do you have enough fuel to make it across the finish line?

    1. Re:Flatulence races? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Funny

      Fartracing FTW!! BRILLIANT!!! Kudos good sir.

      Sadly, without gravity, the gas in your gut doesn't separate out, so, (wait for it) "in space, nobody can hear you fart".

      Thanks, try the veal.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  17. Re:...'cause many of us are wondering about the... by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Funny

    As opposed to the original kind of mambo, where one person lays down and the other one stands on him?

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  18. Re:Mod Parent Redundant! by glwtta · · Score: 3, Funny

    Huh, must've glossed over the Department.

    Rest assured, I just feel terrible about myself.

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  19. Re:It's all fun and games... by snowraver1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was thinking the same thing. I, personally, would not be playing with a water balloon near my life support system... But, that's just me.

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  20. Re:Hide and seek? Or VR Descent? by Clovis42 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I imagine it'd be pretty cool to play Hide and Seek in a 3D environment

    Er, like outside in meatspace, maybe?? I'd like to play a 1D game of Hide and Seek.... Or a proper 4D hide and seek... I know he's around here somewhere... but WHEN??

    I suppose you mean it is 3D since you can float off the ground, but you can climb up stuff in regular gravity hide and seek too.
    --
    Clovis
    ^ Clovis, look! It's that guy you are!
  21. Re:Pissing contest by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Funny

    A 0-G pissing contest might prove interesting.
    Just what we need - code review meetings in outer space.
    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  22. Re:Skeet shooting by thestreetmeat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Most things in here don't react too well to bullets.

  23. Re:Skeet shooting by purpleque · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not a fan of the lady's are we Trebek?

  24. Re:Clever "Dept." by smellsofbikes · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was thinking the same thing -- the carbon dioxide thruster games that Asimov wrote about in the Lucky Starr games, where you have a single big CO2 pressure tank with a nozzle you can aim, and your goal is to maneuver in a cubic mile of space and knock your opponent through a set of goalposts, or the (in)famous Dr. Who episode where he was stuck in space and threw a cricket ball at something, bounced it off, caught it, and knocked himself to safety. (Which they did WRONG since he would've received 1 chunk of push from throwing it, and a second from catching it again, and they only showed the second part. Lame.) Or, another Dr. Who sport: solar racing, using sails. (again, implementation lame, since they looked like ships complete with hulls and there's no way to tack, but there was a cool idea buried down in there somewhere.)

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    Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  25. Re:How about 3D Jacks? by fracai · · Score: 2, Funny

    First round you have to grab one jack. Second round, two. And so on. I'm afraid I'll need at least one more data point to start extrapolating your "And so on" with any degree of accuracy.
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    -- i am jack's amusing sig file
  26. Throwing in a straight line, and other tricks by RabidMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's amazing how, even as a wee child, we learn to account for gravity in everything we do. (I know that it's an obvious statement, but ponder it). We learn to throw in arcs, we learn how things bounce, based on their elasticity or density, we learn how to throw higher/lighter, lower/harder to do different arcs, we learn how to throw things that are light vs heavy ...

    then, to have to relearn that in space. It would be an interesting study in learning and adapting to see how people learn this, then, when they return back to Gravity, how they re-adjust.

    --
    We emerge from our mother's womb an unformatted diskette; our culture formats us. - Douglas Coupland
  27. Ultimate (Frisbee) by HeyBob! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm surprised no one's brought up Ultimate (Frisbee)
    A spinning disc has lift so th throw it to some one, you'd throw it down and it would rise to them!

    1. Re:Ultimate (Frisbee) by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A spinning disc has lift


      No, it doesn't. A frisbee gets no lift from the fact that it is spinning.

      Because of its shape (it's an airfoil) it does get lift from moving forward, however. It gets *stability* from the spin, which helps maintiain the the edge-on direction of movement that gives it lift.
  28. Re:It's all fun and games... by Bastard+of+Subhumani · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't like playing with an ugly ball of mostly water.
    Er, welcome to slashdot - most of us would jump at the chance.
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  29. Re:Mod Parent Redundant! by nog_lorp · · Score: 3, Funny

    I find repetition funny, that's why I watch Family Guy.

    *someone gets hurt*
    Aah... Aah...
    Aah... Aah...
    ...