168
Atlanta Boy’s High School basketball player shooting a free throw against Tech High School in 1921
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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I cant explain but that kid is in his fourties
Far fewer empty calories available for inexpensive snacking.
Also more after school jobs with physical labor, and more cigarettes everywhere
Even the dude on the right looks a bit too old for school
He has to report for work in the coal mines right after the game is over.
Redshirting at its finest
Yeah, makes me wonder if the image has been AI “enhanced” at all
My eyes are up here, ref.
They grew up quick back then
There are pictures from the St. Louis vs St. Louis world series in 1944 that show young kids having beers and smoking cigarettes. Considering that was decades later, I can only imagine what kids were up to in the 1920s. Surely they were drinking and smoking too
Probably cocaine. Chock-a-lit tasting speed would be closer to those ww2 era kids
Not mine but, hey...
Silly children! They should know better than that. You don't eat wet paint, you let it dry and then pick off flakes, like crisps/chips.
That ref definitely makes deliveries to speakeasys on the side.
Did they ever have problems where the ball bounced off one of those floorboards at just the right angle and yeeted itself in a random direction? Also, kneepads for basketball?
Kneepads were still worn by a few players into the '80s. Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwan, and Magic Johnson wore them.
Kneepads because of those floorboards
I mean, that's what I thought too. Nothing like having to pause the game so the medic can pull a five-inch splinter out of a player's kneecap.
Wait until yall hear that in 1910s-20s folks in the US were racing on oval tracks made of wooden boards.
Even when the cars did not crash, racing on a board track was exceedingly dangerous due to flying wood splinters and debris, and due to the primitive tire technology and head protection of the era. In one oral history taken from a driver, he told a tale of wooden shards driven into the faces of drivers and riding mechanics, and sudden catastrophic tire failures caused by track conditions. Cars were fitted with anti-splinter devices to protect their radiators. Other safety devices also hadn't been invented yet (seat belts, roll bars, or fire protection). Drivers often were ejected from their cars and would fall tens of feet (several meters). Drivers and riding mechanics often were driven over by their own or another car. Pete DePaolo wrote in his book Wall Smacker that racing on boards was "a great sensation, tearing around a board speedway dodging holes and flying timber."
Had they invented dribbling yet?
BRING. BACK. THE. KNEE PADS.
I distinctly remember seeing players wearing them (and elbow pads and visors and mouth guards) in the present day. It’s just optional equipment now.
Bring back referees wearing bowlers.
That ball must be heavy as fuck.
Well, shooting like that is statistically better. Players only shoot like they do now because it looks cooler, not because its more accurate.
Because it's more practiced not because it looks cooler.
Players will have hundreds of thousands of "normal" shots. They might have a few hundred of these shots. It's not worth practicing like this because it's the only situation to use it.
A "normal" free throw shot is still taken differently since basically no player takes it as a jumpshot. A lot of the time their release is also a bit different.
Free throws are very high value shots and are worth getting good at. The reason people like Rick Barry endorse this method is the motion has fewer chances for variability; there's less room to slightly change your shooting motion because of the mechanics.
You are correct however that the most important point is what is most practiced. Most players don't want to risk changing things up significantly by the time they reach the pros. Though the ones who shoot FTs very poorly absolutely should try.
And probably because that stance is a great way to get the ball stolen immediately in any context other than a free throw.
Back when points were rare as hens' teeth.
And at least a modicum of safety gear.
I'm not sure there's ever been much safety gear in bball. Maybe a tooth guard and a cup, I guess.
Actually flak vests seem to be worn sometimes today, and significantly help with blows to the rib cage, evidently.
I noticed the kneepads.
That ref? Ed Harris.
Rick Barry’s dad, probably.
Wish Tech High School would reopen. The building going vacant is a shame.