If you had control of the crowd behind a free throw shooter at a basketball game and you wanted him to miss what would you do?
Here's one highly entertaining way:
Help us come up with some others!
Omni Brain
An exploration of the serious/fun/ridiculous - past/present/future of the brain and the science that loves it.
The Homunculus
Steve Higgins is sometimes a Psychologist, sometimes a Neuroscientist, and sometimes even a Human Factors Engineer. He works for the U.S. Government. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Psychology.
Search
Recent Comments
- Sharon Scott on The Brain Hat
- swiss on Why IQ matters - a graph.
- Rosanna on Touchy feely new age bullshit.
- Mathias Stewart on Lab tech afraid Ted Williams' cryogenically frozen head about to become zombie beats it to death
- pembe maske on Psi. A debate.
- dmabs on Psi. A debate.
- supratall on Why writing journal articles is hard
- orjin krem on Walking on water
- dermojin mavi boncuk hapı on Does ESP exist?
- kombi servisi on Psi. A debate.
Recent Posts
- What I'm actually doing for the government
- Watermelon Brains
- Psi. A debate.
- So I walked into the women's locker room and no one saw me!
- Two cool optical illusions...
- A blast from the past and a personal update
- Disney's purposeful accidental view
- Walking on water
- ionpsych... get it! hahaha.
- The tree of (BLT) life
Archives
- October 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- February 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- October 2009
- September 2009
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
Blogroll
Glial Cells
Axons
« Messing With Stupid Animal Rights Extremists | Main | Creepy-crawling delusion »
What is the best way of distracting a free throw shooter?
Category: Popular Culture • Sports
Posted on: November 7, 2007 3:17 PM, by The Omnibrain
Find more posts in: 
Brain & Behavior
Humanities & Social Science
Brain & BehaviorHumanities & Social ScienceTrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/55016
Comments
Preface: I watch a lot of rugby.
Rugby kicking genius Johnny Wilkinson claims that his accuracy is based on focusing on a person in the crowd who he will "kick the ball to".
I figure all you need to do is have everyone in the crowd put their hands in the air leaning to the right and wiggling their hands. then just as he comes into kick everyone moves their hands to the left. It should be a big enough motion to put him off.
Yay sportsmanship!
Posted by: Hadyn | November 7, 2007 3:50 PM
I do not think you CAN distract a good free-throw shooter (90% and above in my book), they are too focused, and have practiced too long, and their muscle memory is too good.
However, a Shak-type? Yes, almost anything can distract them, including a sudden silence, and I think that every shooter has a certain, personal tipping point of what will and will not distract them. This looks like a great research project for some under-grad, but remember: PROMISE TO NEVER GIVE THESE REULTS TO DUKE OR YOU WILL BURN IN HELLL FOREVER, IF THERE WERE A HELL!
Posted by: J-Dog | November 7, 2007 4:23 PM
I think it would be more effective to shine a 50 mW laser in his eyes.
Posted by: Tegumai Bopsulai, FCD | November 7, 2007 5:27 PM
Another of the many reasons I hate basketball. It is very poor sportsmanship to distract people like that, but apparently it's all right in basketball.
Posted by: Stephen Downes | November 7, 2007 7:38 PM
If everyone sitting behind the basket just before the shot simultaneously holds out a regulation basketball hoop and net (or one that looks reg), the real hoop might get lost in the background.
Posted by: Dave S. | November 8, 2007 1:03 PM
i think the best way to make a free throw shooter to miss is to but presure on the shootter. This will increase the heart rate. Making them lose concentration. therefore making them miss the shot. but if you are shaq or ben wallace then no matter what they will miss...haha
Posted by: Billy Bond | March 10, 2010 8:51 AM