Primum Non Nocere

One of the principal guiding rules of the medical profession is summarized in the Latin phrase above, which means "First, do no harm."

Hanging on the walls or glass doors of most squash clubs all over the world is the phrase, "Non-Marking Soles Only," a warning that not all sneakers are fit to play on a squash court. Every now and then some knucklehead will go onto a court, oblivious, and try out the game, leaving behind a bunch of burnt rubber streak marks that take time and money to remove.

Would it be excessive if I were to say these people should be shot? Maybe trampled upon by a thousand well-trod squashists fed up with such behavior? Perhaps just slapped around a bit?

As I panted outside a squash court recently following a match, I looked up and there was the sign. But in my delirium I thought it said "Non-Marking Souls Only."

That would be nice.... Non-marking souls non nocere.

Nike, Sports' Leviathan, Is Listening!

Not too long ago I decided to send a link of my blog's comments on Nike, about the opportunity that they are missing by ignoring squash, to their corporate office. Just for kicks.

So I experienced a little flutter of excitement when, a week or so later, I received a note in my in-box from Nike itself. Whoopee, I thought, this is great, finally I can start a conversation with the many-headed hydra of sports marketing!

But it turns out the email was from their 'Outside Idea Submissions Team,' and was a computer-generated response to my original email.

You are receiving this automatically-generated message because you have requested a copy of Nike's Outside Idea Submission Guidelines and Agreement. If you have already received the Idea Submission documents and have a question that is not answered by the Idea Submission Guidelines, or if you have a question about a pending submission, please reply to this message, type the word "Question" in the subject line, and type your question in the body of the message. You will receive a reply within ten business days.

The email then goes on to warn me that ideas submitted to them should have a utility patent or one pending. Uh, thanks for the advice, Nike.

Slicing Up My Feet With Razors

The squash equipment we use today has gotten a lot better.

I was reminded of this by a great old video you can check out here on SquashZAG that shows Mohibulla Khan and Geoff Hunt engaging in a long, old-style point that involved less shot-making than you would see today and more attritional back-and-forth play. The difference of course is in the rackets they used then and the rackets we use today, which among other things have higher racket-head speed and larger sweet-spots. I can remember playing hardball way way back when with a (in hindsight perfectly ridiculous) metal racket that was significantly heavier than normal. This racket was soooo heavy and made of non-breakable metal, and thus it was great for a guy (that would be me) with very little money, because it would last a really long time. It was only after several months, when I realized my wrist was developing tendinitis, that I threw out the still-unbroken racket. I think that was the one and only time I ever threw out a racket that had yet to break.

Happily, racket technology has advanced. We also used to build up the top of the racket with tape in order to reduce the possibility of breakage as we scraped the racket head along the wall; nowadays, not many people do this, because the racket heads come with sturdy build-ups and don't seem to need it like they used to. 

Another important advancement has been with shoes. I can remember limping home after a tough match, filling the bathtub with water, and soaking my feet for a half hour or so. I would then take a razor and cut out the bumpy calluses and blood blisters that had developed on my soles, sometimes shearing off 2-3 square inches of hardened skin at a time. 

My wife, a psychologist, was concerned....

I told her I wasn't sick, just in love.