Posted by: John D. (John@Dresslar.com) on Mon Oct 24 19:31:52 2005

Jack, you are much more patient than I could ever be. I've re-read Shawn's post about six times, and I can only come to the conclusion that he's just trying to pick a fight to try to prove someone wrong on something. Looking at the excerpts I've listed above, you can see he's throwing out jargon like "weight shift", "mass" and "force" without tying them to particular body parts or movements. And, as you note, there are some statements that are flat out wrong based upon empirical observation. For example, how can the stride be part of "force production" when the bat does not even move until after the stride is completed? (Unless you're Ichiro...)

I'm not saying that you need to be impolite to someone like Shawn. Until he make it clear what he means by "weight shift" and by what mechanism this "shift" translates into power, it may not be worth everyone's while to engage in a debate. As I say, your gentlemanly response deserves commendation.