Many of those events are precisely why I don't really watch the Olympics. Making Frisbee an Olympic sport might just get me to watch it.

http://www.whatisultimate.com/history/history_game1_en.html

I think it's time to make Frisbee an Olympic sport. We could have team (Ultimate) and freestyle events, even. Hey, if rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming (and even diving), ice dancing, biathalon, ping pong, and beach volleyball all qualify, I simply don't see a problem with adding Frisbee, personally.

:-)

-CW

That experience with what I have to accurately call "my dad's" Frisbee taught me one important lesson -- only do "skip throws" with OTHER peoples' Frisbees...

Heh.

The sidearm throw is kind of showy, in my opinion. I never liked it, because it required a whole different set of finger callouses than the across-the-body throw, which I much prefer for both accuracy and distance. I can do a decent sidearm, but choose not to. There's also the upside-down throw, and the boomerang throw.

To me, it's all about style points making the catch, not the throw, personally.

Osborne -

Yeah, but it's hard to get annoyed at a company called "Wham-O" (heh). Actually, I think they got bought by Mattel years ago, but I'll always think of them as Wham-O, personally. This is why they changed it to Disc Golf, to avoid the trademark/copyright problems. But again, I'll always think of it as Frisbee Golf, personally. There was a course near the high school I "attended" and I can remember plenty of well-spent days out on the course instead of sitting in a classroom... sigh.

akadjian -

"more than anyone would ever care to want to know on this subject" does not compute. I'm sorry, but this collection of words is meaningless to this column. Heh.

For instance, the 150g model was revolutionary not only for its weight (heaviest at the time, until they unveiled the B-52 of Frisbees, the 165g), but for the fact that it had concentric areodynamic ridges on the UNDERSIDE of the disk, as well as the standard ones on top. Man, those things float forever...

:-)

-CW

The sidearm toss I think comes from Ultimate players - at least everyone I know who plays Ultimate throws this way and I'm astonished at their accuracy.

Oddly enough, I can throw a disc golf disc this way, but am unable to throw a regular Frisbee with anything close to accuracy.

The other thing that is strange is that disc golfers refer to this type of throw as backhand. I find it irregular because it's the same motion as a tennis forehand - for rightees, you throw from your right side. But in disc golf a forehand is to throw across your body from the left - similar to a traditional Frisbee throw.

Now that I've said more than anyone would ever care to want to know on this subject, I'll sign off with a RIP Fred Morrison!

-David

Twenty years later I wandered into a group of college kids, caught one of their throws, and was greeted with curiosity, if not wonder, when I returned it with such a throw.

In return, I was intrigued how the throwing style had shifted away from a backhand snapped with your
forearm across the belly to a sidearm toss which felt
awkward to me, but was obviously just as accurate as mine had ever been.

There's a life lesson in there, I suspect, but it amounts probably to nothing more than "la plus ca change, la plus ca meme chose," to quote my old French Prof.

Which is why politics and Frisbee seem so similar, perhaps, . . . save that I suspect our current political players could never manage a Sherman Anti-Trust Act these days. Like Frisbee players, they just don't have the balls to make it happen.