Journal articles on the topic 'Golf ball size Mushrooms'

Background. The kinesio-taping method, which is becoming increasingly popular, may provide support and stability to joints and muscles without inhibiting range of motion. Objective. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of kinesio-taping of the gluteus medius muscle on x-factor (torsopelvic separation), ball flight distance and accuracy (smash factor ratio). A specific aim was to determine whether a correlation exists between hip abduction strength and x-factor, ball distance and accuracy. Methods. This study is a one group pretest-posttest quasiexperimental design which took place at a golf facility. Twentynine amateur golfers with handicap of scratch ±2, who were between the ages of 18- and 25-years, participated in this study. Biomechanical outcomes were recorded with and without kinesio-tape applied on the gluteus medius muscle of the trail leg. Biomechanical golf swing analysis with the iClub™ Body Motion System determined the x-factor at the top of the backswing. Ball flight distance and accuracy were measured with FlightScope® and dominant hip abduction strength was measured with the MicroFET Hand-held Dynamometer. Results. Kinesio-tape is effective in improving the relative hip abduction strength (p<0.001), although the effect size was small (Cohen’s d=0.24). With regard to the biomechanical outcome measures, namely x-factor (p=0.28), ball flight distance (p=0.53) and accuracy (p=0.1), there was no significant improvement. Conclusion: Even though the relative hip abduction strength was improved, there was no effect on golf swing biomechanics. This can be explained due to the fact that x-factor, ball flight distance and accuracy are dependent on a combination of body movements to produce the golf swing. Keywords. Golf, X-factor, pelvic stability, taping

Purpose: Portion size measurement aids (PSMAs) are used extensively by dietitians. In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, we explored the degree of consistency and concordance between measured and putative volumes of selected household and sport-related PSMAs that are commonly used for nutrition education and dietary assessment. Methods: An online search of portion size resources yielded several governmental and academic descriptions of household PMSAs (e.g., a compact disc, a nine-volt battery) and sportrelated PMSAs (e.g., a golf ball) and their purported dimensions. The spherical items were purchased locally and measured using electronic digital calipers; measurements were then converted to volumes, in millilitres. Results: Overall, we observed a high degree of heterogeneity in how different educational resources related sport-related PSMAs to portion sizes of food. The mean percentage of error between the measured and putative volumes of PSMAs varied considerably. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the inaccurate use of PSMAs can lead to systematic bias in nutrition education and misreporting of dietary intake during dietary assessment. Dietitians should exercise caution when using PSMAs because these may not reflect the true portion size they are meant to represent.

An aerofoil commonly used in aerospace engineering to produce lift is also employed in the motor sport industry to produce downforce for improving traction during cornering. This paper investigates aerofoil surface modification through ‘golf ball dimpling’, used to reduce flow separation behind a golf ball. The studies of other researchers have shown that this type of design can have a positive effect on improving aerofoil performance. However, no optimization information of dimple sizing is given in literature. Therefore, three types of dimpling sized at 5, 10 and 15 mm are applied to the surface of a NACA 6615 wing at 25% chord length from the leading edge in this study using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as an initial design process. Then a physical model, made through 3D printing additive manufacturing (AM), is tested at angles of attack (AoA) ranging from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] and wind speed up to 30 m/s in a subsonic wind tunnel. Experimental and CFD results show that the smallest dimple size provides the most significant increase on lift to drag ratio at high AoA above [Formula: see text]. This ratio increases further with the wind speed, indicating that a high AoA wing favors down force to improve drag reduction performance.

Golf swing analysis is common in both recreational and professional levels where players are searching for improvements in shot accuracy and distance. The use of motion analysis systems such as the portable Polhemus Liberty system is gaining interest by coaches and players; however, to date, no research has examined the usefulness of the Polhemus Liberty system for golf swing analysis. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the Polhemus Liberty system and validity compared to the VICON Nexus motion analysis system when assessing segment (pelvis and thorax) and joint (shoulder, elbow and wrist) angular kinematics during a golf swing at key events (address, top of backswing and impact). Fifteen elite amateur/professional golfers performed ten golf swing trials within specified bounds using their 5-iron club. Reliability was assessed using interclass coefficient, effect size and t-test statistics by all participants completing two separate testing sessions on separate days following the same experimental protocol. Validity was assessed using effect size, Pearson correlation and t-test statistics by comparing swings captured using both Polhemus Liberty and VICON Nexus concurrently. Results demonstrated no difference in ball outcome results using the Trackman launch monitor (P > 0.05) and that the Polhemus Liberty system was reliable across the two sessions for all segment (pelvis and thorax) and joint (lead shoulder (gleno-humeral joint), elbow and wrist) angular kinematics (P > 0.05). Validity analysis showed that the Polhemus Liberty system for the segments (pelvis and thorax) and joints (lead shoulder and wrist) were different compared to the VICON Nexus data at key events during the golf swing. Although validity could not be confirmed against VICON Nexus modeling, the Polhemus Liberty system may still be useful for golf swing analysis across training sessions. However, caution should be applied when comparing data from the system to published research data using different motion analysis methods.

INTRODUCTION By the time of diagnosis, sarcomas have frequently reached a large size and many patients have a long history of symptoms prior to diagnosis. The aim of this study was to assess whether size of tumour at presentation or duration of symptoms was a significant factor affecting outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS A prospective database recording patient, tumour, treatment and outcome factors was reviewed. A total of 1460 patients with newly diagnosed sarcomas and with > 3 years of follow-up were included for analysis. RESULTS The mean size of sarcomas presenting to our unit was 10.7 cm at the time of diagnosis. Bone sarcomas averaged 11.3 cm with little variation by age or diagnosis, whilst subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas averaged 10 cm. The incidence of metastases at diagnosis increased almost linearly with increasing size and the prognosis, even for patients without metastases at diagnosis became steadily worse with increasing size for all tumours, independent of other factors. Duration of symptoms did not correlate with size but patients with symptoms > 1 year had a slightly better prognosis than those with a shorter duration. CONCLUSIONS The author makes a plea for greater awareness of potential malignancy in lumps and bumps, particularly those over the size of a golf ball (4.27 cm), making the point that the smaller the tumour at diagnosis the better the prognosis.

Nanoporous golf ball-shaped powders with a surface porous layer consisting of fcc Cu and Cu3Au phases have been fabricated by selectively dissolving gas-atomized Ti60Cu39Au1 powders in 0.13 M HF solution. The distribution profiles of the Ti2Cu and TiCu intermetallic phases and powder size play an important role of the propagation of the selective corrosion frontiers. The final nanoporous structure has a bimodal characteristic with a finer nanoporous structure at the ridges, and rougher structure at the shallow pits. The powders with a size of 18–75 m dealloy faster due to their high crystallinity and larger powder size, and these with a powder size of smaller than 18 m tend to deepen uniformly. The formation of the Cu3Au intermetallic phases and the finer nanoporous structure at the ridges proves that minor Au addition inhibits the fast diffusion of Cu adatoms and decreases surface diffusion by more than two orders. The evolution of the surface nanoporous structure with negative tree-like structures is considered to be controlled by a percolation dissolution mechanism.

<p class="Standard">Nicolau syndrome (livedoid dermatitis<strong>, </strong>embolia cutis medicamentosa) is a unique and painful reaction post intramuscular injection that often ends with necessary necrotic debridement and scarring. We present a case of a 25-year-old female who developed a tender golf ball size lesion with fat necrosis, confirmed by pathology, approximately one year after a Bicillin injection in the buttock. Excision of the mass was necessary for symptomatic relief. To our knowledge, there has never been a report entailing a slow development of Nicolau syndrome over an extended period of time. The pathophysiology of this condition has been attributed to a myriad of causes such as vascular trauma, drug embolism, inflammation, or inappropriate needle length. This syndrome often progresses through three generalized stages before ending in a necrotizing plaque. While there is no current standardized treatment to Nicolau syndrome there are methods for prevention making this important information across the medical field.</p>

The processing of porous ceramics spheres (PCS) has been developed for biphasic calcium phosphates (BCP), hydroxyapatite (HAp) and beta tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) in order to be used mostly as bone fillers and drug delivery systems. The importance of the PCS is due to better accommodation of them in order to fill empty spaces and also because is more friendly to cells and bone tissue growth. Also is important to obtain a surface roughness to increase the surface area in contact with the living tissue and their fluids. There are several methods used to achieve the PCS form and most of them use suspensions based on liquids immiscibility effect or additives. The aim of this work was to achieve PCS of BCP, HAp and β-TCP with rough surface and varying size without using solutions or additives. The method developed is based on a mechanical continuous movement of the particles, relying on the normal ability of the ceramic powders to aggregate themselves while rolling in a cylindrical container for long periods. The physical forces involved in the process, gravity, particle attraction, centripetal force and shocking make the ceramic rounds with golf ball appearance on its surface. With this method it was possible obtain PCS with 30% of porosity with rough surface and size between 1 to 4 mm in diameter.

Kidney or gall-bladder stones are solid accretions (crystals) of dissolved minerals in urine or bile juice found inside the kidneys or urethras and gall bladder, with varying size from as small as a grain of sand to as large as a golf ball, the occurrence whose in the human is well known, although its pathogenesis is not well understood. According to literature, a number of biomaterials, such as collagen, blood vessel walls, DNA, RNA etc., are found to possess the property of electrets which is an electric analogue of a permanent magnet having the capability to retain quasipermanently, an induced polarization. In order to understand about the occurrence and the physical properties of stone formation in the human tissues, the study of its electret behaviour and conductivity becomes imperative which implies the fact of indulging in its growth inhibition, if their deposition is identified using scans. Thus, in this paper, in order to understand the mechanism of growth of these nephrolithiasis, we enumerated the electrical behaviour of the stone, by using the XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analysis after their collection from different patient in and around the region and subsequently the dielectric constant of the stone was interpreted.

With continuous increase in the resolution of operational numerical weather prediction models, grid-scale saturation schemes that model cloud microphysics are becoming increasingly important. In Parts I and II of this study, the importance of the relative dispersion of the hydrometeor size distribution in bulk microphysics parameterizations was demonstrated and a closure approach for a three-moment scheme was proposed. In this paper, the full three-moment version of the new multimoment scheme is tested in a 3D simulation of a severe hailstorm. The modeled microphysical fields are examined, with particular attention paid to the simulated hail fields including the maximum hail sizes at the ground. A mesoscale model was initialized using synoptic analyses and successively nested to a resolution of 1 km. When compared to observations of the real storm from a nearby radar, the simulated storm reproduced several of the observed characteristics including the direction and speed of propagation, a bounded weak echo region, hook echo, mesocyclone, and a suspended overhang region. The magnitudes of radar reflectivity and surface precipitation are also well simulated. The mass contents, total number concentrations, equivalent reflectivities, and mean mass diameters of each hydrometeor category in the model were examined. The spatial distributions of the various hydrometeors throughout the storm appeared realistic and their values were consistent with published observations from other storms. Using the three predicted parameters of the gamma size distribution for hail, a method was introduced to determine the maximum hail size simulated from a bulk scheme that is physically observable. The observed storm produced golf ball–sized hail while the simulation produced walnut-sized hail at approximately the same time and location. The results suggest that because of the additional information provided about the size distribution, there is added value in prognosing the relative dispersion parameter of a given hydrometeor category in a bulk scheme.

Abstract Spines and rhizopodia play an important role in the feeding behavior, symbiont ecology, shell geochemistry, and density and drag of planktonic foraminifera. However, there are few empirical data on planktonic foraminifera in situ, and these delicate structures are disturbed on capture. Here, we report spine and rhizopod measurements from underwater images obtained in the California Current System near La Jolla, California by Zooglider, a new autonomous zooplankton-sensing glider. Across all observed species, we find that spine length and flexibility correlate with test size and that spines increase the effective prey encounter volume of spinose foraminifera by two to three orders of magnitude. Our data also yielded several novel observations regarding hastigerinid foraminifera (Hastigerinella digitata and Hastigerina pelagica), a group of unusually large planktonic foraminifera that are abundant in our dataset below 250 m. First, the effective encounter volume of hastigerinid foraminifera can be very large: our largest specimen occupies almost 40 cm3 (about the size of a golf ball), while the median specimen occupies 5.3 cm3 (about the size of a cherry). Second, the majority of hastigerinid foraminifera in our dataset have asymmetric bubble capsules, which are most frequently oriented with their bubbles on the upward side of the test, consistent with the hypothesis that the bubble capsule is positively buoyant. Third, 16% of hastigerinid foraminifera in our dataset have dispersed bubble capsules with detached bubbles distributed along the spines and rhizopodia, consistent with a regular source of natural disturbance. Taken together, our observations suggest that hastigerinid foraminifera play a larger role as mesopelagic predators in the California Current System than previously recognized.

During the late afternoon on 16 November 2008 the Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) suburb of “The Gap” experienced extensive wind damage caused by an intense local thunderstorm. The CP2 research radar nearby detected near-surface radial velocities exceeding 43 m s−1 above The Gap while hail size reports did not exceed golf ball size, and no tornadoes were reported. The storm environment was characterized by a layer of very moist near-surface air and strong storm-relative low-level flow, whereas the storm-relative winds aloft were weak. While the thermodynamic storm environment contained a range of downdraft-promoting ingredients such as a ~4-km-high melting level above a ~2-km-deep layer with nearly dry-adiabatic lapse rates mostly collocated with dry ambient air, a ~1-km-deep stable layer near the ground would generally lower expectations of destructive surface winds based on the downburst mechanism. Once observed reflectivities exceed 70 dBZ, downdraft cooling due to hail melting and downdraft acceleration based on hail loading are found to likely become nonnegligible forcing mechanisms. The event featured the close proximity of a hydrostatically and dynamically driven mesohigh at the base of the downdraft to a dynamically driven mesolow associated with a low-level circulation. This proximity was instrumental in the anisotropic horizontal acceleration of the near-ground outflow and the ultimate strength of the Gap storm surface winds. Weak storm-relative midlevel winds are speculated to have allowed the downdraft to descend close to the low-level circulation, which set up this strong horizontal perturbation pressure gradient.

Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera var. palustris Huds.) is desirable as a putting green turfgrass in the transition zone as a result of year-round green color, ball roll, and playability. However, management challenges exist for bentgrass greens, including winter temperature fluctuations. Frosts often cause cancellations or delays of tee time resulting in lost revenue. In response to this winter golf course management issue, a research project was initiated at Clemson University from 1 Dec. 2005 and 2006 to 1 Aug. 2006 and 2007 on a ‘L93’ creeping bentgrass putting green to determine the impacts of foot traffic or mower traffic and time of traffic application on bentgrass winter performance. Treatments consisted of no traffic (control), foot traffic, and walk-behind mower traffic (rolling) at 0700 and 0900 hr when canopy temperatures were at or below 0 °C. Foot traffic included ≈75 steps within each plot using size 10 SP-4 Saddle Nike golf shoes (soft-spiked sole) administered by a researcher weighing ≈75 kg. A Toro Greensmaster 800 walk-behind greens mower weighing 92 kg with a 45.7-cm roller was used for rolling traffic. Data collected included canopy and soil temperatures (7.6 cm depth), visual turfgrass quality (TQ), clipping yield (g·m−2), shoot chlorophyll concentration (mg·g−1), root total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC) (mg·g−1), soil bulk density (g·cm−3), and water infiltration rates (cm·h−1). Time and type of traffic significantly influenced bentgrass winter performance. On all TQ rating dates, 0700 hr rolling traffic decreased TQ by ≈1.1 units compared with foot traffic at 0700 hr. In December, regardless of traffic application time, rolling traffic reduced bentgrass shoot growth ≈17%. However, in February, chlorophyll, soil bulk density, and water infiltration differences were not detected. By the end of March, all treatments had acceptable TQ. Root TNC was unaffected in May, whereas shoot chlorophyll concentrations were unaffected in May and August. This study indicates bentgrass damage resulting from winter traffic is limited to winter and early spring months and full recovery should be expected by summer.

It is well known that many chronic diseases are associated with unhealthy diet. Although improving diet is critical, adopting a healthy diet is difficult despite its benefits being well understood. Technology is needed to allow an assessment of dietary intake accurately and easily in real-world settings so that effective intervention to manage being overweight, obesity, and related chronic diseases can be developed. In recent years, new wearable imaging and computational technologies have emerged. These technologies are capable of performing objective and passive dietary assessments with a much simplified procedure than traditional questionnaires. However, a critical task is required to estimate the portion size (in this case, the food volume) from a digital image. Currently, this task is very challenging because the volumetric information in the two-dimensional images is incomplete, and the estimation involves a great deal of imagination, beyond the capacity of the traditional image processing algorithms. In this work, we present a novel Artificial Intelligent (AI) system to mimic the thinking of dietitians who use a set of common objects as gauges (e.g., a teaspoon, a golf ball, a cup, and so on) to estimate the portion size. Specifically, our human-mimetic system “mentally” gauges the volume of food using a set of internal reference volumes that have been learned previously. At the output, our system produces a vector of probabilities of the food with respect to the internal reference volumes. The estimation is then completed by an “intelligent guess”, implemented by an inner product between the probability vector and the reference volume vector. Our experiments using both virtual and real food datasets have shown accurate volume estimation results.

Abstract Casestudy: Pulmonary hamartomas (PH) are the most common benign tumors of lung, accounting for 75% of all the benign tumors and 8% of all the pulmonary neoplasms. These lung tumors are generally solitary and are observed in middle-aged and older adults with the peak incidence during the sixth decade of life. PH presents as asymptomatic nodule, found incidentally on routine radiographs and CT scans. The majority of PH are located in the lung parenchyma. Endobronchial hamartomas occur much less frequently. An extremely rare presentation of Hamartoma as a mediastinal mass is also reported in the past. The present article reports a case of a 72-year-old female, presented to her primary care physician with the complains of right lower abdominal pain. CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a partially visualized right paracardiac /mediastinal lipomatous mass. Patient stated that she was informed about a pericardial cyst of about golf ball size, noticed on a routine radiograph 40 years ago. Further workup with CT chest angiography revealed an 8.6 x 5.6 x 5.6 cm mediastinal mass associated with the right heart border and the right cardiophrenic angle, abutting the right diaphragm as well as the medial pleural reflection. A differential diagnosis of teratoma, lipoma/liposarcoma, and hamartoma was considered. Patient underwent robotic assisted surgical resection of the mass which emanated from right lower lung lobe. The histologic features and immunoreactivity pattern were consistent with a benign pulmonary hamartoma. Approximately 90 percent of PH presents as a peripheral intraparenchymal nodule whereas endobronchial hamartoma occurs much less frequently and represents 1.4% - 10 % of PH. A few cases of pulmonary hamartomas presenting as a mediastinal mass have been reported in the past few decades. Here in we report such a case of pulmonary hamartoma presenting as a mediastinal mass.

AbstractThe moment of inertia of a golf club, quantified about an axis at the butt of the handle, normal to the swing plane, has the potential to influence both clubhead and ball velocity. The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of clubhead and ball velocity with changes to moment of inertia over repeat testing sessions and, if reliable, to quantify the effect of modifying moment of inertia. Eleven skilled male golfers hit 20 golf shots with three golf clubs, each with a different moment of inertia achieved through adding mass inside the club shaft and repeated this protocol over three sessions. A commercially available launch monitor was used to measure both velocity variables. Test–retest reliability was assessed via (1) limits of agreement, to determine reliability from a change in magnitude perspective and (2) linear-weighted kappa, to determine reliability from a directional perspective. The effect of moment of inertia on clubhead and ball velocity was determined using one-way, repeated measures analysis of variance tests, with partial eta squared being used to quantify the size of the effect. Increasing golf club moment of inertia reliably decreased clubhead and ball velocity, with fair to substantial kappa results revealed between sessions. The magnitude of decrease in these velocities, however, could not be reliably quantified. Statistically, the influence of moment of inertia was considered large (η2 ≥ 0.662 and 0.404) and significant (p < 0.001 and ≤ 0.006) for both clubhead and ball velocity, respectively.

Background and objective: Most studies of golf warm-up exercises have focused on the differences between static and dynamic stretching, while relatively few have compared them to post-activation potentiation (PAP) warm-up exercises. The current study aimed to verify the effects of different types of warm-up exercises on golf performance, with the goal of identifying an optimal strategy. Methods: A total of 30 elite golf players in their 20s and 30s were randomly assigned to three different groups of 10 participants each: the dynamic warm-up (DWU) group, the PAP group, and the swing warm-up (SWU) group. Driving distance, six-iron carry, club head speed, ball speed, smash factor, and accuracy were measured before and after each warm-up exercise. Results: Driving distance increased by 2.65% in the DWU group (P < 0.001) and 2.21% in the PAP group (P < 0.01). Carry also significantly increased by 2.30% in the DWU group (P < 0.01) and 2.10% in the PAP group (P < 0.01). The PAP group exhibited a six-iron carry increase of 3.35% (P < 0.001) and a ball speed increase of 1.86% (P < 0.05). In terms of accuracy, the rate of errors decreased by 47.49% in the DWU group (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Among the golf-specific warm-up exercises investigated, DWU was identified as the most efficient exercise for improving total distance and accuracy. Such improvements can be attributed to increased mobility, as well as enhancements in swing size and the efficiency of the neuromuscular system. Thus, our results suggest that golf players should perform DWU exercises to improve their golf performance.

Lincolnshire, England. The crowd cheer when the ball breaks loose. From one end of the field to the other, the players chase, their snouts hovering just above the grass. It’s not a case of four legs being better, rather a novel way to attract customers to the Woodside Wildlife and Falconry Park. During the matches, volunteers are drawn from the crowd to hold goal posts at either end of the run the pigs usually race on. With five pigs playing, two teams of two and a referee, and a ball designed to leak feed as it rolls (Stevenson) the ten-minute competition is fraught with tension. While the pig’s contributions to “the beautiful game” (Fish and Pele 7) have not always been so obvious, it could be argued that specific parts of the animal have had a significant impact on a sport which, despite calls to fall into line with much of the rest of the world, people in Australia (and the US) are more likely to call soccer. The Football Precursors to the modern football were constructed around an inflated pig’s bladder (Price, Jones and Harland). Animal hide, usually from a cow, was stitched around the bladder to offer some degree of stability, but the bladder’s irregular and uneven form made for unpredictable movement in flight. This added some excitement and affected how ball games such as the often violent, calico matches in Florence, were played. In the early 1970s, the world’s oldest ball was discovered during a renovation in Stirling Castle, Scotland. The ball has a pig’s bladder inside its hand-stitched, deer-hide outer. It was found in the ceiling above the bed in, what was then Mary Queens of Scots’ bedroom. It has since been dated to the 1540s (McGinnes). Neglected and left in storage until the late 1990s, the ball found pride of place in an exhibition in the Smiths Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, and only gained worldwide recognition (as we will see later) in 2006. Despite confirmed interest in a number of sports, there is no evidence to support Mary’s involvement with football (Springer). The deer-hide ball may have been placed to gather and trap untoward spirits attempting to enter the monarch’s sleep, or simply left by accident and forgotten (McGinnes in Springer). Mary, though, was not so fortunate. She was confined and forgotten, but only until she was put to death in 1587. The Executioner having gripped her hair to hold his prize aloft, realised too late it was a wig and Mary’s head bounced and rolled across the floor. Football Development The pig’s bladder was the central component in the construction of the football for the next three hundred years. However, the issue of the ball’s movement (the bounce and roll), the bladder’s propensity to burst when kicked, and an unfortunate wife’s end, conspired to push the pig from the ball before the close of the nineteenth-century. The game of football began to take its shape in 1848, when JC Thring and a few colleagues devised the Cambridge Rules. This compromised set of guidelines was developed from those used across the different ‘ball’ games played at England’s elite schools. The game involved far more kicking, and the pig’s bladders, prone to bursting under such conditions, soon became impractical. Charles Goodyear’s invention of vulcanisation in 1836 and the death of prestigious rugby and football maker Richard Lindon’s wife in 1870 facilitated the replacement of the animal bladder with a rubber-based alternative. Tragically, Mr Lindon’s chief inflator died as a result of blowing up too many infected pig’s bladders (Hawkesley). Before it closed earlier this year (Rhoads), the US Soccer Hall of Fame displayed a rubber football made in 1863 under the misleading claim that it was the oldest known football. By the late 1800s, professional, predominantly Scottish play-makers had transformed the game from its ‘kick-and-run’ origins into what is now called ‘the passing game’ (Sanders). Football, thanks in no small part to Scottish factory workers (Kay), quickly spread through Europe and consequently the rest of the world. National competitions emerged through the growing need for organisation, and the pig-free mass production of balls began in earnest. Mitre and Thomlinson’s of Glasgow were two of the first to make and sell their much rounder balls. With heavy leather panels sewn together and wrapped around a thick rubber inner, these balls were more likely to retain shape—a claim the pig’s bladder equivalent could not legitimately make. The rubber-bladdered balls bounced more too. Their weight and external stitching made them more painful to header, but also more than useful for kicking and particularly for passing from one player to another. The ball’s relatively quick advancement can thereafter be linked to the growth and success of the World Cup Finals tournament. Before the pig re-enters the fray, it is important to glance, however briefly, at the ball’s development through the international game. World Cup Footballs Pre-tournament favourites, Spain, won the 2010 FIFA World Cup, playing with “an undistorted, perfectly spherical ball” (Ghosh par. 7), the “roundest” ever designed (FIFA par.1). Their victory may speak to notions of predictability in the ball, the tournament and the most lucrative levels of professional endeavour, but this notion is not a new one to football. The ball’s construction has had an influence on the way the game has been played since the days of Mary Queen of Scots. The first World Cup Final, in 1930, featured two heavy, leather, twelve-panelled footballs—not dissimilar to those being produced in Glasgow decades earlier. The players and officials of Uruguay and Argentina could not agree, so they played the first half with an Argentine ball. At half-time, Argentina led by two goals to one. In the second half, Uruguay scored three unanswered goals with their own ball (FIFA). The next Final was won by Italy, the home nation in 1934. Orsi, Italy’s adopted star, poked a wildly swerving shot beyond the outstretched Czech keeper. The next day Orsi, obligated to prove his goal was not luck or miracle, attempted to repeat the feat before an audience of gathered photographers. He failed. More than twenty times. The spin on his shot may have been due to the, not uncommon occurrence, of the ball being knocked out of shape during the match (FIFA). By 1954, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) had sought to regulate ball size and structure and, in 1958, rigorously tested balls equal to the demands of world-class competition. The 1950s also marked the innovation of the swerving free kick. The technique, developed in the warm, dry conditions of the South American game, would not become popular elsewhere until ball technology improved. The heavy hand-stitched orb, like its early counterparts, was prone to water absorption, which increased the weight and made it less responsive, particularly for those playing during European winters (Bray). The 1970 World Cup in Mexico saw football progress even further. Pele, arguably the game’s greatest player, found his feet, and his national side, Brazil, cemented their international football prominence when they won the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time. Their innovative and stylish use of the football in curling passes and bending free kicks quickly spread to other teams. The same World Cup saw Adidas, the German sports goods manufacturer, enter into a long-standing partnership with FIFA. Following the competition, they sold an estimated six hundred thousand match and replica tournament footballs (FIFA). The ball, the ‘Telstar’, with its black and white hexagonal panels, became an icon of the modern era as the game itself gained something close to global popularity for the first time in its history. Over the next forty years, the ball became incrementally technologically superior. It became synthetic, water-resistant, and consistent in terms of rebound and flight characteristics. It was constructed to be stronger and more resistant to shape distortion. Internal layers of polyutherane and Syntactic Foam made it lighter, capable of greater velocity and more responsive to touch (FIFA). Adidas spent three years researching and developing the 2006 World Cup ball, the ‘Teamgeist’. Fourteen panels made it rounder and more precise, offering a lower bounce, and making it more difficult to curl due to its accuracy in flight. At the same time, audiences began to see less of players like Roberto Carlos (Brazil and Real Madrid CF) and David Beckham (Manchester United, LA Galaxy and England), who regularly scored goals that challenged the laws of physics (Gill). While Adidas announced the 2006 release of the world’s best performing ball in Berlin, the world’s oldest was on its way to the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Hamburg for the duration of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Mary Queen of Scot’s ball took centre spot in an exhibit which also featured a pie stand—though not pork pies—from Hibernian Football Club (Strang). In terms of publicity and raising awareness of the Scots’ role in the game’s historical development, the installation was an unrivalled success for the Scottish Football Museum (McBrearty). It did, however, very little for the pig. Heads, not Tails In 2002, the pig or rather the head of a pig, bounced and rolled back into football’s limelight. For five years Luis Figo, Portugal’s most capped international player, led FC Barcelona to domestic and European success. In 2000, he had been lured to bitter rivals Real Madrid CF for a then-world record fee of around £37 million (Nash). On his return to the Catalan Camp Nou, wearing the shimmering white of Real Madrid CF, he was showered with beer cans, lighters, bottles and golf balls. Among the objects thrown, a suckling pig’s head chimed a psychological nod to the spear with two sharp ends in William Golding’s story. Play was suspended for sixteen minutes while police tried to quell the commotion (Lowe). In 2009, another pig’s head made its way into football for different reasons. Tightly held in the greasy fingers of an Orlando Pirates fan, it was described as a symbol of the ‘roasting’ his team would give the Kaiser Chiefs. After the game, he and his friend planned to eat their mascot and celebrate victory over their team’s most reviled competitors (Edwards). The game ended in a nil-all draw. Prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it was not uncommon for a range of objects that European fans might find bizarre, to be allowed into South African league matches. They signified luck and good feeling, and in some cases even witchcraft. Cabbages, known locally for their medicinal qualities, were very common—common enough for both sets of fans to take them (Edwards). FIFA, an organisation which has more members than the United Nations (McGregor), impressed their values on the South African Government. The VuVuZela was fine to take to games; indeed, it became a cultural artefact. Very little else would be accepted. Armed with their economy-altering engine, the world’s most watched tournament has a tendency to get what it wants. And the crowd respond accordingly. Incidentally, the ‘Jabulani’—the ball developed for the 2010 tournament—is the most consistent football ever designed. In an exhaustive series of tests, engineers at Loughborough University, England, learned, among other things, the added golf ball-like grooves on its surface made the ball’s flight more symmetrical and more controlled. The Jabulani is more reliable or, if you will, more predictable than any predecessor (Ghosh). Spanish Ham Through support from their Governing body, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol, Spain have built a national side with experience, and an unparalleled number of talented individuals, around the core of the current FC Barcelona club side. Their strength as a team is founded on the bond between those playing on a weekly basis at the Catalan club. Their style has allowed them to create and maintain momentum on the international stage. Victorious in the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship and undefeated in their run through the qualifying stages into the World Cup Finals in South Africa, they were tournament favourites before a Jabulani was rolled into touch. As Tim Parks noted in his New York Review of Books article, “The Shame of the World Cup”, “the Spanish were superior to an extent one rarely sees in the final stages of a major competition” (2010 par. 15). They have a “remarkable ability to control, hold and hide the ball under intense pressure,” and play “a passing game of great subtlety [ ... to] patiently wear down an opposing team” (Parks par. 16). Spain won the tournament having scored fewer goals per game than any previous winner. Perhaps, as Parks suggests, they scored as often as they needed to. They found the net eight times in their seven matches (Fletcher). This was the first time that Spain had won the prestigious trophy, and the first time a European country has won the tournament on a different continent. In this, they have broken the stranglehold of superpowers like Germany, Italy and Brazil. The Spanish brand of passing football is the new benchmark. Beautiful to watch, it has grace, flow and high entertainment value, but seems to lack something of an organic nature: that is, it lacks the chance for things to go wrong. An element of robotic aptitude has crept in. This occurred on a lesser scale across the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, but it is possible to argue that teams and players, regardless of nation, have become interchangeable, that the world’s best players and the way they play have become identikits, formulas to be followed and manipulated by master tacticians. There was a great deal of concern in early rounds about boring matches. The world’s media focused on an octopus that successfully chose the winner of each of Germany’s matches and the winner of the final. Perhaps, in shaping the ‘most’ perfect ball and the ‘most’ perfect football, the World Cup has become the most predictable of tournaments. In Conclusion The origins of the ball, Orsi’s unrepeatable winner and the swerving free kick, popular for the best part of fifty years, are worth remembering. These issues ask the powers of football to turn back before the game is smothered by the hunt for faultlessness. The unpredictability of the ball goes hand in hand with the game. Its flaws underline its beauty. Football has so much more transformative power than lucrative evolutionary accretion. While the pig’s head was an ugly statement in European football, it is a symbol of hope in its South African counterpart. Either way its removal is a reminder of Golding’s message and the threat of homogeneity; a nod to the absence of the irregular in the modern era. Removing the curve from the free kick echoes the removal of the pig’s bladder from the ball. The fun is in the imperfection. Where will the game go when it becomes indefectible? Where does it go from here? Can there really be any validity in claiming yet another ‘roundest ball ever’? Chip technology will be introduced. The ball’s future replacements will be tracked by satellite and digitally-fed, reassured referees will determine the outcome of difficult decisions. Victory for the passing game underlines the notion that despite technological advancement, the game has changed very little since those pioneering Scotsmen took to the field. Shouldn’t we leave things the way they were? Like the pigs at Woodside Wildlife and Falconry Park, the level of improvement seems determined by the level of incentive. The pigs, at least, are playing to feed themselves. Acknowledgments The author thanks editors, Donna Lee Brien and Adele Wessell, and the two blind peer reviewers, for their constructive feedback and reflective insights. The remaining mistakes are his own. References “Adidas unveils Golden Ball for 2006 FIFA World Cup Final” Adidas. 18 Apr. 2006. 23 Aug. 2010 . 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