The Drubbing

A team of students and professors at Clemson Univeristy are attempting to do for basketball, what the inventors of the radar gun did for baseball. The operative word being, attempting. Clemson University civil engineering professor Scott Schiff and his students are working on a contraption that measure the g-force exerted on the rim by a player dunking the ball. The unit they’ve tested at the University of Clemson has measured forces upwards of 30 G’s. They’re hoping to get their sensor system approved for use in other venues to further their “research”.

Anyone remember Darvin Ham? No? I didn't think so.

According to an article about the research on PhysOrg.com, “When a 240-pound forward slam dunks a basketball, some fans probably wonder how much force is being generated into the goal.” No fan wonders that! Some geek that got lost on the way to the physics lab and stumbled into the arena thinking it was a giant particle accelerator wonders that.

“Fans not only love seeing a dunk, they love knowing how much energy goes into a dunk. It’s the same entertainment value of measuring the speed of a baseball pitch,” said Civil engineering professor Scott Schiff. Actually Scott, it’s not even close. The force of the dunk has no impact on how easy or difficult it is for an opposing player to do their job. A  dunk with a force of 35 G’s isn’t going to make an opposing player’s jumpshot any more or less difficult.

Chcolate Thunder, Daryl Dawkins, knew how to throw down

So let’s see what someone involved with sports has to say about the research. “Anything that adds to fan enjoyment of the game, we support, and we’re always happy to support student research.” That came from Mike Money of the Clemson University athletic department. Notice he didn’t say that they support this research, and that this product adds enjoyment for the fans. Way to play it neutral Mike.

So I’m left wondering, wouldn’t it be a better use of these aspiring civil engineers to be developing stronger bridges or road surfaces or levees for New Orleans?

In all honesty. If the dunk isn’t hard enough to break the hoop, backboard or stansion, then I don’t care how hard it was. That’s the only measurement that matters to me.