Where Have You Gone Bob Cousy?
As I watched Tennessee’s Chris Lofton sprint around the court in his baggy, below-the-knee, capri-length shorts last weekend, it occurred to me that basketball players these days keep wearing their shorts longer and looser. Gone are the days when real men, like Bob Cousy, wore theirs “high and tight.”
I can remember when it started. In the early 90s, Michigan’s Fab Five sported longer, baggier bottoms (which by today’s standard’s appear short-short), and from there, things have continued to head south. I suppose it may have had something to do with bringing a “street look” to the court, and since street fashion has continued to become longer and baggier, so have basketball shorts.
Call me crazy, but if we’re talking about maximizing mobility and enhancing athletic performance and comfort, it seems like shorter would be better. It’s as if players today are afraid of showing off a little leg and “what they’ve got,” so to speak. Which begs the question: What are players hiding in those modest, Christian college regulation shorts they’re wearing these days? My guess is, not much at all.
Where have you gone Bob Cousy? We need you now more than ever.
16 Comments
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Terri
There has GOT to be a happy medium! (literally)
JRB
Maybe this is generational, but I much, much prefer to see the fellows playing in the skorts than the short-shorts. Of course, maybe your generation jus enjoys the male form more than we do.
Mike the Eyeguy
“Your generation.”
Wonderful, just wonderful.
And what’s wrong with the “male form?” Hmmm?
Mike the Eyeguy
Let’s have a vote–how many of you think I’m serious, and how many think I’m just pulling your leg (pun intended)?
JRB
I had a dream last night that I rode a bike down a big hill into a neighborhood where I met the entire Eyeguy family. Y’all were pleasant, but your kids were much younger than I imagined, and you looked just like a friend of mine from Mississppi who works in state government.
Stoogelover
I remember Mt. Dora Christian Home and Bible School (Central Florida) back in the 60s and the men’s basketball team wore long pants. Not for warm-ups, but for the game itself. It was almost comical to see them dressed out for “moral” principles and almost scandalous when they eventually went to knee-length shorts. They were a team far ahead of their time.
Mike the Eyeguy
JRB, you’re clearly anxious about those two darling little girls of yours growing up (thus, the classical Freudian transference to my sons) and even a little anxious yourself about whether or not you’re “adult enough” to handle the tasks of raising those girls in an increasingly complex and difficult world (hence your reversion to using the bike, a more childish mode of transportation). Furthermore, “riding down the hill” is symbolic of the trepidation that you feel as you ponder your body’s relentless deterioration now that you’re past the ripe old age of thirty.
Is your friend in Mississippi growing a beard to compensate for his receding hairline? If so, then that would be downright creepy.
Mike the Eyeguy
Sl–that sounds a little like those modified “loose fit” Speedos that the Harding University swim team used to wear at those meets that the girls weren’t allowed to attend. I don’t think they broke any records in those things.
BTW, we’re already seeing spandex leggings beneath the shorts of NBA players.
Donna
OK, I laughed out loud here. I know my guy looked great in the really short basketball trunks…..but I was kind of glad my son’s were not quite so short…or tight!
Mike the Eyeguy
Good, glad I stirred up a few happy memories.
BTW, I never played organized basketball, so I never had a chance to bare a little leg in front of a crowded gym.
But I did play H.S. tennis in the 70s. Heh.
KS
I went to Mount Dora Bible and in ’95 (I was a freshman) we revolted and told the coach we would not where “those old man shorts”. We were then given our real shorts.
Mike the Eyeguy
I’m assuming the “old man shorts” were short and tight, not long and baggy?
Tarwater
Sooooo…do you wear a Speedo at the beach? Now that’s high and tight. How bout Speedo basketball? Or heck in this day and age how bout jock strap basketball. Gag. Choke. Our answer to the Thong bikini?
Mike the Eyeguy
Tw–There are some very good reasons for middle age men like us to keep it “long and loose.”
But I’m betting there are some choice shots of you from the 70s in some photo album somewhere. You can’t fool me.
Keith
Dude, the Bob Cousey hook led me to believe you would post about his great skills; not his legs! With all the skimpy clothing styles throughout sports, I’m glad the longer short has remained popular. My beloved Hogs were right behind the Fab 5 in making the knee-length trouser stylish with their National Championship attire in ’94. Back to Cousey…and ball skills…tell me you remember a guard from Providence back when who razzled and dazzled by the name of Ernie D. Gregario. Did he have game or what? There is no one in the game today like him. I wish I had tape of him today.
Mike the Eyeguy
I remember Ernie D well–his dazzle, not his legs.