2102 Arms Support

I'm always interested in the fashions sported by our sports folks. You know they're for the most part created by the sports apparel industry, but it's hard not to think -- since the athletes are wearing them during the most grueling and extreme physical efforts -- it would be a good idea to wear them while walking around the neighborhood with your labradoodle.

Still, wearing giant basketball skorts with a delicately dangling poopy bag in your hand looks pretty funny. 

By the way, it's great to find YouTube clips of the old basketball days of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and see the shorty-short shorts they wore then. That was back when a jock was a strap, not a whole player. Or a whole tight fitting spandex mid-thigh undershort.

They newest sports accessory to arrive on the scene is the spandex arm sleeve.  It's caught on with all sorts of NFL types. Its function is to act as a compression aid, supposedly reducing muscle recovery time. 

I think the players just like it because it looks like a gauntlet. Another piece of armor for the modern gladiator age. They already had pads; armored protection for their hips, knees and shoulders. Helmets for their heads. Batting gloves and knuckle protectors. About the only pieces of naked flesh they had left was their arms. 

I'm betting the spandex gauntlets slash arm gloves are much favored by the big sports equipment companies too. Looking for one more piece of advertising real estate to show up on the HD TV screens. They're also great for covering up tattoos of the names of players' former girlfriends.

But I must confess, they remind me of the eighties. And Jane Fonda and aerobicising friends. They look an awful lot like leg warmers for your arms.  

America, ya gotta love it.