Why do footballers on tv spit so much?
I am not a high performance athlete admittedly, but when i exercise i feel no need (zero need) to spit. Especially at the moment with COVID have they not been told to swallow rather than spit...?
... I mean it does my head in. It's like a tick to them i think. Do they some how think it makes them look like a cowboy or something? PLEASE someone explain why they are constantly spitting?
My Dad, who is English, and therefore, you know, a bit of a lunatic, is convinced someone on the camera team has a specific role to capture images of footballers spitting for our entertainment "Spitcam".
In a local football match i once took up the matter with a young opposing striker who told me to get fcked. Not the cleverest thing he ever said as i am a pretty big and let's just say i am more Roy Keane than Marcus Maddison in my tackling style.
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Could probably have avoided doing it most of the occasions but when you’re running your body into the ground on a freezing cold rainy day your respiratory system massively feels it and it does sometimes really help as gross as it is. Adrenaline factor and just thinking about the moment and the physical battle you’re in also removes a lot of the thought processes / scruples you’d have about manners to stop you doing it ever in normal life!
Like everything some people feel it in different ways than others I guess so some probs won’t sympathise with that.
Agreed though, with covid in play here you’d have thought there’d be a bit more scrutiny on that side of things!
Somewhat perversely though I find the fisherman's hankie hilarious a will literally laugh out loud if I see a good one. I think because its so audacious.
I'm conscious of its impact on others when I'm running and if on the streets I make sure I'm out of sight and have become very skilled at flobbing and snotting directly into drains (when I played football, anywhere was fine).
Sorry Kiwi....
P.s clearing the nose is a snot rocket 🚀
Big Sam is probably the biggest offender, and why TV producers feel we need close ups of this distrusting habit is beyond me.
No argument about Golfers doing it though. Suspect Keegan Bradley is your prime example there - and he isn't spitting because of rhinitis, he's spitting because it's a habit (totally unrelated to exercise)
Running regularly has also made my sense of speed and distance really accute. Even on a long run my estimate of both before checking the watch is spooky sometimes...
I've made a conscious effort not to spit now when running which I did struggle with at first. I'm also carrying a tissue for the snot rockets these days!
I believe that habit is far more explanatory for footballers just as it is golfers. Just take a look at how many feel the need to empty themselves as they are being substituted on.
For truly a stomach churning example I always go back to Frank Rijkaard summoning up a gronny from the depths when Van Bruckelin and Voller were having a go at each other in 1990. He then keeps hold of the green slimy missile and fires it as Voller as he jogs away, hits him right in the ear.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-do-i-produce-so-much-saliva-when-i-go-for-a-run/#:~:text=All exercise, regardless of the,you can get after exercising.
That thicker saliva will generate a desire to spit it out during activity. (Imagine running with a constant gross thick saliva in your mouth)
Anyways Stig I have asthma, and from personal experience backed up by multiple studies asthma steroids have no improving effect from healthy baseline on performance. As for a pro who rides 45-50 hours a week, 500 miles per week, with about 3-5% body fat, it's pretty likely they'll be open to infection/irritants in the airways. And yes that would easily lead to a reduction in lung performance/output, whereby a doctor would diagnose asthma. Now I'm not saying there isn't over diagnosis for asthma in pro cycling, but analysis of the 'Jason Cundy' school of sports blowhard blockheads is pre-kindergarten in it's accuracy or logic:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/the-truth-about-cycling-and-asthma-317941/amp
Personally regular exercise alleviates my asthma, it comes and goes for me in line with my fitness, though I am far from an ultra runner.
I race against loads of riders - young and old - who have asthma. Pretty sure they're not getting a benefit from salbutamol (already proven not to enhance performance). You might be confusing asthma with seasonal allergies (hay fever), for which you can get steroidal medication which requires a Therapeutic Use Exemption for all cycling (including the amateur level I ride at) though of course, in practice, you're very unlikely to be tested as a 2/3 cat rider - I've only ever had testers at one race, and it was obviously targeted at a specific rider following a tip off. Coincidentally, I used to take one of the substances in question in the form of an injection (Kenalog) every few years when my hay fever flared up. No question, of course, of there being any drug testing whatsoever for me to have been concerned about in football.....
Seriously though, you've got me banged to rights. Fair play to you.
Now, about this 60% that don't have induced rhinitis...