Skip to main content

Are Athletes Really Getting Faster, Better, Stronger?

Since I had to write a blog on a speech or debate, and I don’t really remember any speeches from school, I went on Ted.com and listened to a TED talk. I choose a talked that peaked my interest and it was about sports. The speech was by David Epstein a sports science reporter and his speech was: Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger. David Epstein was trying to prove that athletes are not really gaining in attributes but are better because of three reasons: Innovation, Democratization, Imagination. 

 The first point of innovation he face an example of Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt. In 1936 Jesse Owens was the fastest man in the 100 meters, but if Jesse Owens would have ran with Usain Bolt he would have finished 14 steps behind Bolt, which is a lot in the 100 meters. This wasn’t because Usain Bolt was purely faster but because of innovations like starting blocks and synthetic tracks, Jesse Owens had to run on a cinder track which was pacted ash and he had to dig divots in the ground to start. 

 Biomechanical analysis of Jesse Owens joints shows that if Jesse Owens ran against Usain Bolt in new technology he would have came one step behind. Along with new technology people realized different body types were better for different sports. People used to believe that the average body type was the best but when this belief went away athletes became better. 

 Lastly Epstein made the point that people nowadays push themselves to new limits. Before people were scared that they were going to get hurt but now people can push to extreme limits, for example we realized that running endurance is actually good for our bodies.

All of the points that Epstein made, made complete sense. He didn’t try and persuade the audience with anything besides facts. He used Logos to show that the three points: Innovation, Democratization, and Imagination, were the reason athletes are better now. He used research and facts to persuade the audience, he didn’t try and persuade them with emotions like most speeches try and do.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Abby BartonJune 6, 2016 at 6:03 PM

    It is always refreshing when you hear a speech full of facts, statistics and science, rather than fallacies.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weight of Glory

In Mr. Cline's class a few weeks ago. We took the day off in a way from our normal classes. Instead of continuing to read the books we were assigned and discussing them, he read us the sermon by C.S Lewis "The Weight of Glory." Its a long sermon, but one worth reading. It is about the confusion many people have on the topic of what we desire the most. He explains after much background information, that we all desire true happiness. And through that happiness, we long for heaven, our true home that we were designed for. He explains that glory is not what many people think of as being "famous" in heaven. But more that we are honored by our Lord and Father. For it to be like the scripture passage "Well done, good and faithful servant." C.S Lewis does a fantastic job at being persuasive here, and if read by the right person aloud, can have an excellent effect. He clears up lots of points that people bring up that are not true. Such as the point of glory...
9 comments
Read more

Stephen Curry (Brita)

I saw this commercial for Brita water on YouTube and on T.V.  Stephen Curry, a professional basketball player that plays for the Golden State Warriors, endorses and promotes the product by saying "not all water is the same."  In this advertisement he makes Brita water seem better than the other leading brands of water by saying "You are what you drink."  He also says "some water can dribble, drain threes, or even drain a buzzer beater."  With these claims, he is implying that drinking the Brita water it could make you better at basketball and help you become better and as good as him. Brita uses a celebrity to sell it by implying that it could improve your basketball performance.  This advertisement is false because water is not going to change your skills and abilities.  It tries to persuade you to buy it because a professional basketball player drinks it.  I feel as though it may persuade some people to buy it because of Stephen Curry endorsing it....
8 comments
Read more

Marilyn Monroe's Shampoo

While browsing on Google I found an old advertisement.  The ad was for Lustre-Crème Shampoo. It featured Marilyn Monroe, known for her beauteous looks and her parts in different movies. One of her movies was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Lustre-Crème was attempting to sell their shampoo through the use of fallacies. By saying that Marilyn Monroe that tells you nothing about the actual product: it simply attracts you to the pretty face in the picture. Using this as an argument of why someone should buy your product is quite illogical. Just because Marilyn Monroe uses it doesn’t provide assurance of its abilities. They attempt using snob appeal by trying to make the audience believe that they could be like Marilyn Monroe if they use the same product as her. They use appeal to illegitimate authority by using Marilyn Monroe to promote their product. Although she herself is a customer, this is still rather irrelevant. She herself has no type of expertise in hair products and knows nothing t...
3 comments
Read more