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October 7, 2005

Strange But True!

Q. Did this guy need to go back to quarterback school, or what? He threw the football well but on rollout passes would always lead the receiver too much, the ball dropping beyond outstretched arms. What was going wrong?

A. It was back in the days of Ohio State's Woody Hayes, and a scientist friend of the great coach had an idea: Maybe the QB's problem had to do with his failure to understand what physicists call "moving frames of reference," said Case Western Reserve University's John D. McGervey. When you're riding in a car and toss a ball to another passenger, you just throw it directly at the person because you're both in the "same moving frame of reference." But try to toss the ball to someone out on the sidewalk, and that's a different matter.


 
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