BFH always assesses a situation and tries to find the angle, the edge. Some call it cheating. Some call it being an a44hole. I call it winning 500 bucks, the smart way.
The Freeze is a great baseball game gimmick. The Atlanta Braves were approached by RaceTrac, the gas station/convenience store, looking to promote themselves at the park.
They got an idea after watching a ground’s crew member in a “running bases” event at an earlier game. The guy was like lightning. In fact, he’s one of the fastest men in America and is second all-time in the NFL Combine 40 yard dash.
They made him into a mascot that would race fans between innings from foul poll to foul poll along the warning track. The Freeze would give them a head start. (More about that later.) Anyone beating The Freeze would get $500. Everyone loves it. It’s a resounding success. The Freeze never loses (except once) with the hapless fans petering out in the last 100 feet or so, filled with beer and hot dogs.
One fan had his race go viral when in the final 50 feet he felt he had it sewed up and celebrated too early, only to face plant when he panicked.
When I watch these races I shake my head in utter disbelief how the fans are not figuring out how to give themselves an edge over The Freeze.
Over and over again we see them set up for the race, the announcer saying, “the fan will get a head start. Are we ready? On your mark, get set, GO!” And the unthinking contestant bolts out of the gate running like hell trying to take advantage of their “head start.”
Well, they are the ones being taken advantage of.
The head start is not in time, but in distance. The Freeze can’t start running until the challenger reaches a certain point along the warning track (200 feet along the wall.)
Why in the world are these people running like bastards to that point? It makes zero sense. WALK to that point. That’s right, WALK. Conserve your energy. Start running about 40 feet from the point where The Freeze is allowed to go so you’ll have maximum speed and maximum endurance at the start of the actual race. You’re turning this into an actual 200 foot advantage. Perhaps more, because The Freeze is starting the race from a stand still, you get a running start.
Invariably The Freeze always edges people out in the last 50 feet. That’s because the challenger, stupidly, lost all their stamina in that first 200 feet.
I would be booed, resoundingly, by the fans because my method doesn’t make for great theater, but I’d pocket 500 bucks. Maybe not now, but in my 20s, like most of the contestants are, I’d have to blow out a hammy, or face plant (which is an embarrassing possibility) in order to lose.
I suck.
Faceplant Boy would have won had he not ran like a loon the first 200 feet.
Good plan. But you better not wait until you get to his start line to get up to full speed.
Sounds reasonable as long as you can run a little yourself over the rest of the distance.
This guy is unbelievingly fast enough to give you a race.
…..and clothesline him.
;-P
500 bucks is 500 bucks, it’s about winning!
One method is not to deplete your oxygen supply during the race. Take your breathe in on four strides, force it out on two strides. You can run this way for miles and not get tired.
Simple isn’t it?
I would lay down an oil slick sometime during the race. Works every time.
My dad ran short/middle distance at Texas, around 1950 or so. A couple of the fastest in the world in 100 were on the team. He could keep up with them reasonably well – until about 40 yards, when he stopped accelerating and they kept speeding up.
BFH, you’ve found a great loophole!
Creativity breathe through loopholes. So does profit!
breathes, duh.
As soon as everyone started doing it they’d change the rules/parameters.
That’s how it goes.
You’d be the Freeze’s version of Bullet Bob Hayes forcing defenses to invent zone coverage. Change the game forever.
@Dadof4: I remember watching Hayes when I was a teenager. Never saw anything like him before or since. Absolutely amazing.
I would figure that a pipe across the knee a’la Tonya Harding would work too.
Sometimes people figure out how to beat the system and get over.
This guy pulled a whammy on the 80s game show Press Your Luck, and walked away with big big bucks:
https://seanmunger.com/2015/05/19/the-guy-who-beat-press-your-luck-the-incredible-winning-streak-of-michael-larson/
Another thing you’d need to do is practice running that distance. What’s probably happening is that guys who do it cold hit a wall right before the finish line and completely break down in form, which allows the guy to catch them
One thing you should do is time the guy’s run and then go practice running your distance in under that time. First try running 80% of the required distance, then up to 85%, 90%, etc. Probably take the avg fit dude about 2 weeks to get up to snuff
Mr. Anth
I highly recommend the Larson story.
We blogged about it back in the day (not when it happened, obviously) after I watched the youtube video.
It is an entertaining, and sad, doc.
@BFH – Absolutely love your game plan! Watched the race Sunday. Geeky guy ran full force out of the box. It was obvious that The Freeze was a pro and the race wasn’t even close.
Based on your clues, I looked up The Freeze. So sad he’s now just a mascot for home baseball games.
It’s a bit like the advantage one can take at an NBA half court shot “contest”
99% of the time the shooter does not cross the half court line before shooting.
The best bet is to run past the half court line a couple NBA steps, and let it go.
What are they going to do? Nothing. It’s all about fan base, and taking away the win would be extremely dead PR.
I second the opinion about the Larson story! We watched it years ago. Extremely compelling.