“It was a generation,” Kuroda said through an interpreter, “when [baseball] coaches believed you should not drink water.”
Born in 1975, Kuroda is one of the last of a cohort of Japanese players who grew up in a culture in which staggeringly long work days and severe punishment were normal, and in which older players could haze younger ones with impunity.
Summer practices in the heat and humidity of Osaka lasted from 6 a.m. until after 9 p.m. Kuroda was hit with bats and forced to kneel barelegged on hot pavement for hours.
“Many players would faint in practice,” Kuroda said with the assistance of his interpreter, Kenji Nimura. “I did go to the river and drink. It was not the cleanest river, either. I would like to believe it was clean, but it was not a beautiful river.
“In order to play,” he added, “you had to survive. We were trained to build an immune system so that we could survive and play.”
Here is more, hat tip to Hugo. As I often say, I am a utility optimist and a revenue pessimist, for Japan most of all.
And the culture that was America –at least into the early 1960s (when I played high school football). If so, “[a]s … a utility optimist and a revenue pessimist,” what does that say about America?
+1, same experience here. I remember when Gatorade was developed at University of Florida, right after I finished high school. Everyone raved about it and Stokely Van Camp sold gallons and gallons. Turned out it was really no better than just staying hydrated with water. Too many players were maltreated in that time and it’s amazing to me that more didn’t really suffer heat injuries.
Reminds me of the Army.
Severe limits on water intake during sports practice was common in the US through the 80s. Best I can tell, the practice was premised on the belief that drinking water would make players weak.
I suspect water restrictions started as something sensible, and then went wrong.
When I started trianing my Kung-Fu they made a big deal of the fact that you could go and get water whenever you liked. But after a while you realise that you are only taking a water break because you are feeling lazy, and then you stop.
I can imagine that other schools take a less liberal approach, which might make sense, until you make a fetish of it and it gets out of hand.
Indeedy. Even in wrestling, water intake during practice is VERY frowned upon. Obviously, wrestlers consider their weight, but it is seen as a sign of weakness besides. Of course you always have the right to stop and address whatever issue that you’re having, but the social pressure to be robust is immense. We had water breaks. Guys would use the restroom and even go to the water fountain – but nobody actually drank the water. We would just get it in our mouths and spit it back out. Anybody seen swallowing would be sure to receive immediate feedback, first from witnesses, then from the entire group were who notified in short time.
I seriously think that the water craze in the U.S. has tilted in the other direction. Eight pints per day? Seriously? The only way you do that is if you drink lots of sodas and other cheap drinks and generalize to say that they are really talking about 8 pints of liquids. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I have to wonder who is pushing the 8 pints per day meme. Sounds like when they touted all the health benefits of bananas (yes, I know there are some).
I am to lazy to look it up, but I read a study that debunked the 8 pints of water per day. That being said, if you are active (such as in working in the hot sun) 8 pints per day is not near enough. And if it is just water you are going to get the shakes and start feeling like you are going to pass out.
The meme is 8 glasses, not pints. It is not really pushed, but by old wives and cranks.
There are some circles in which it’s pushed. Look at distance runners, where hyponatremia is a problem that kills people regularly.
Very easy to drink 8 pints of water over the time of 16 hours. Really just means 1 500ml PET bottle (I can drink bottoms up even two of them if I have to) every two hours, truly not much to that. It just means you will need more bathroom trips, too.
In fact, if I do not drink about 3l of water per day I get head aches (which can be addressed by drinking water or Aspirin or both)
It doesn’t mean you need to drink that much. You also get liquid from most foods – a bowl of soup obviously, but also fruit, vegetables, even meat.
This is my experience as well
Tyler, when will you write about the culture that once was America, and the cutlure that is now America?
He has many times:
“The culture that is America (lawsuits in everything)”: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/11/the-culture-that-is-america-lawsuits-in-everything.html
“The culture that is California”: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/10/the-culture-that-is-california.html
“The culture that is America”: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/the-culture-that-is-america.html
“The culture that is Washington, D.C.: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/05/the-culture-that-is-washington-d-c.html
“The Culture that is Fairfax”: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/12/the-culture-that-is-fairfax.html
“The culture that was Chicago” : http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/10/the-culture-that-was-chicago.html
“The culture that is Taco Bell (cheap chalupas edition)”: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/06/the-culture-that-is-taco-bell-cheap-chalupas-edition.html
etc
Comments on this entry are closed.