Item — HN Reader

That reminds me of the Revisionist History episode "The Big Man Can't Shoot" which is about how Rick Barry shoots underhand free throws in basketball. It's a Malcolm Gladwell podcast, so take it with a pinch of salt, but his point is that the underhand method is far superior and still no one uses it because they're afraid it looks ridiculous.

In short: keep doing it the ridiculous way and ignore the serious bowlers ;)

3 comments

Most sporting skill is from repetition leading to muscle memory so you are able to do the skill consistantly every time. There are lots of examples of pros with "bad" form that still exceeded in their sport just because they had become accustomed to this "bad" form.

I have no idea why someone like Shaq never tired underhand (maybe he did in practice). His free throw shooting was, by far, the weakest point in his game and no one is going to mock him, except maybe himself.

Basically, it is pride that kept him and others from doing it. https://www.businessinsider.com/why-shaq-shaquille-oneal-nev...

It occurs to me that the 'palm ' technique I described is actually used in candlepin bowling. But, worry not. I'm not self conscious about doing my own thing :)