All of the major sports have improved dramatically over the last 100 years. The 2009 Dallas Cowboys would score several hundred points in a regulation game against the 1920 Chicago Cardinals, were such a thing possible. One thing that is really fascinating about the sports that we watch today is that, over that time, the offensive and defensive functions have improved in lock-step with each other. In football this seems obvious, but in other sports it is less so. Consider:
- Racquetball – Here is a sport that actually did put itself out of business. Apparently, the sport used to be very popular in the 1970s (my informal survey of racquet clubs built during that time supports that thesis). Now nobody plays it. Why? At the championship levels, racquetball’s offense (hitting a very fast ball in a small enclosed area) became so overwhelming that it overtook the defense function. Nobody – not even the best players – could return a serve. Racquetball’s slower cousin, squash, is still widely played because you can return a serve.
- Men’s Tennis – Watch an Andy Roddick match and it becomes clear that technology advances are threatening the sport. His game is all offense. No rallies. No volleys. No net play. He sends a 150 mph serve at this opponent. If that opponent gets his return to land in play, the opponent wins the point. If not, Andy wins it. Yawn. Tennis officials are keeping a close eye on this and flirt with various ideas, like wooden rackets, to keep the game in check.
- Baseball – This one is the most interesting because the offense (hitting) and defense (pitching) are such different skills. They have both improved a ton, and yet MLB batting averages have held pretty constant over the last 100 years. If pitching gets up to 120mph+ range, will it become impossible to score? Or if improvement in pitching levels out, will we see a generation of still-improving batters that hit .700?
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