I kept thinking but still don't understand.
Among so many sports, what makes people think badminton is a backyard game? IMO, badminton shouldnt be considered as an outdoor game at all among all, because you can't play badminton at all with the wind that will change the direction of the shuttle, eventhough the nylon shuttle is heavier than the feature one.

"Among so many sports, what makes people think badminton is a backyard game? "

Ignorance.

I myself think that rugby is a stupid game too, but that's because I know absolutely NOTHING about that sport. I once had a professor asked me sarcastically if badminton was an Olympic sport. My answer was: How about (American) football?

People play soccer, touch football, shoot hoops and toss baseballs in their backyards too, but that doesn't diminish the status of those sports. The difference is when they are playing those "major sports" in their backyard they are imagining themselves to be Pele, or Jerry Rice, or Michael Jordan. ie they have role models that they associate what they are doing with. When they are playing badminton in their backyard, they have nobody to associate with. They are only doing it to while away time.

:)

with the canada day celebration, i took my family to a park for a picnic. the park was full since it was a holiday. next to us a large family set up a volleyball net, quite high. as the afternoon progress we looked over and saw their family playing badminton, hittting each shot over this high volleyball net. they were merrily jumping and hitting the red rubber bird over this 8 foot (or so) high net.

considering how busy the park was, many people saw this family play. those are the images that stick with people on their perception of what badminton is.

to extend what AKFT said. i think your last paragraph makes a lot of sense. they have no role model. but even more importantly, they have no idea how badminton should be played and how badminton is played at the competitive level.

when novices plays a sport, face it, they all suck. even when americans go off to the park and throws a football around, they sucks. but they "think" they look damn good as they have this image of how it is supposed to be played. as a result, they feel good about playing that sport.

but for badminton, they are ignorant, as you said. the only image of badminton they have are old ladies playing in the backyard. and that's what they'd feel like when they play in the park or in the backyard. as a result, they will forever thinks that no one ever plays this game seriously.

good call guys

Yeap but badminton doesn't have alot of publicity compared to football, basketball or tennis....
Or not we might not even know who is Kobe Bryant, David Beckham or Lyton Hewitt!!

btw, I think golf is a VERY boring game to WATCH....

Originally posted by kwun

but for badminton, they are ignorant, as you said. the only image of badminton they have are old ladies playing in the backyard. and that's what they'd feel like when they play in the park or in the backyard. as a result, they will forever thinks that no one ever plays this game seriously.

What if local badminton associations set up exhibitions at gyms, health clubs, schools, indoor shopping malls, etc., as part of a promotion for a new or existing local badminton club?

We need to get more people playing badminton.

I think golf is boring yes, but mostly the people who watch it are golfers. They can improve their skills, but just seeing how the pro's do it. They find it interesting and useful.

Being from canada i rarely see and badminton on tv, but i desperately want to see it. Maybe cause i play badminton and am interested in how the pro's play. On the other hand people who know nothing about badminton, just think its boring or not interested.

I think its important for people to know the rules of the game. otherwise you just look at the game whether its badminton, hockey, football or whatever, and it gets really boring.

yes. if a person plays a sport, it is very natural for that person to watch the sport, no matter how boring it may look to the outsider.

there is also the social factor, if a lot of friends watches that sport, it is very likely that you will get influenced also. i personally find car racing like the Indy is very boring. cars going round and round and round in circles. but a lot of americans loves it.

i also like bike racing, i have been following the Tour de France, and yes, all they do is bike in a big pack, and all the action happens in the last 5 mins over a 5 hours race. but somehow, i find watching bike racing interesting.

the question is now, why do people enjoy playing golf? at least 50% of my friends, no matter how athletic or couch potatoe they are (or used to be), plays golf. where is the attraction??

my gf and i were supposed to go to a gym for some badminton this morning. upon getting there, we found out that they decided to shorten the gym time for badminton today.

so instead we went and get some take-out and lied down on the lawn in a nearby park for a nice relaxing lunch/nap. at the corner of my eyes, i suddenly saw this familiar birdie flying up in the air. and so i told janet, hey! badminton! so she rose up and saw that it was only this two guys standing 5meters from each other hitting the birdie high up in the air and into the wind with a wooden racket. so she went back to her nap.

Rolemodels, money and *** appeal are essential for success period. These three things do not grow on trees. We need volunteers, lots of them, to kick start promotion and take this game to its height where it belong.

Following are my thoughts which I posted quite sometime ago. It may be applicable here!

DONOT ASK WHAT BADMINTON CAN DO FOR YOU. ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR BADMINTON

Here are some things we can do:

1: Watch tournament games. Don’t run away after your game! Watch semis and finals even if you are not playing. Large audience always helps to boost player’s morale and off course attract sponsors and new players.

2: Invite your family and friends to watch tournament specially semis and finals.

3: Volunteer some of your time to promote badminton i.e., arranging tournaments, helping out some players who are from out of town. If you have large house offer a room or two for few days to out of town players. Offer drive to and from airport if you can etc.

4: Get involved in promoting your local tournaments i.e., sending invitation to locals to watch tournaments through flyers, mail or whatever works. Ask local rich people and businesses to put some money in for the event.

5: Call every month to local cable/TV companies and request them to show badminton tournaments and that you are very interested in watching.

6: Call local Newspapers once a while and request them to carry news relating to badminton tournaments.

7: Become a member of local and national badminton organization.

8: If your nearby school and college does not offer badminton, make request to their physical training/sport department for starting badminton.

FOR DIEHARD ADULT/SENIOR BADMINTON FANS WHO MAKES A GOOD LIVING

9: If you have some money to spare send a check to local and/or national badminton organization. Ask them to add your money to tournament prizes or for promoting badminton. We need to bring prize money to some respect until sponsor shows up.

10: And if you really really really really love badminton then name your favorite badminton organization as a part of full or partial beneficiary of your life insurance and/or estate. In USA, there are institutions which have hundreds of million dollar in their endowment funds. Good portion of this money does come from people you left them as a beneficiary. People do spend, contribute or pass over their money where their passion is all the time!

Seen this before ? a friend of mine (not a badminton player) found this and send it to me.

hey! is that a cab20???

I beg to differ kwun. I think it is the all metal yonex B-8100 (aka blacken). The slim shaft and all cylinderical cap leads me to this conclusion. Also supporting this conclusion of mine is the discontinuity seen at the T-joint which says it a external T-joint.

you may be right. i can faintly see the T-joint. did the blacken have a black+gold end cap?

the wrist/head bands have new YY logos, what's the chance that the racket used is a old blacken from the 80s? (and notice it was probably new as the grip is original and in good shape)

Yes, the racquet looks like in a new condition. The blacken, like all other metal badminton racquet, quickly fade out with the entry of carbon fiber. There should be lots of new conditioned blacken around that people have in storage or purchased by modelling agencies as props. ( I have 3 brand new ones myself, factory strung) Beside, the photographer is not gonna buy a brand new MP100 for the shoot nor yonex (and its distributors) is permitted to show off their products in this type of marketing campaign.

Originally posted by kwun
you may be right. i can faintly see the T-joint. did the blacken have a black+gold end cap?

Realistically, it is hard to tell whether the YY logo was gold or white (gold meaning reflective gold and not the dull gold of the early YY logo). I don't think yonex ever had a reflective gold YY logo before so one just have to agreed or disagreed it's white YY or not. I got the CD version of blacken near the end cycle of production run for the blacken. Personally i haven't seen a blacken with a reflective gold overgrip before but have seen it on other yonex racquet before.

(i had to modify the original image to cover up more of the lady. the original image, even though effort was made to make it less sexually explicit, was still a little bit too much for the teenage readers IMHO)

anyway. to answer cooler's post.

the only rackets that i know of which has the black/dull gold end cap is the cab20 and cab21. the cab20 has the black grip with the shiny gold strip, while the cab21 has a brown leather grip. and if my memory serves me right, the blacken II that i had had a green end cap.

that is the reason why original guess was the cab20 as that fits the racket in the image the most. the black end cap and the gold stripped grip are the most clear features.

what does the original image look like? :D

Is it my computer? I see a uniform grey rectangle in the center of the picture.;)

Originally posted by kwun
hey! is that a cab20???

nice chat up line!

Originally posted by kwun
hey! is that a cab20???

Kwun/Cooler :D:D
You guys are really die-hard badminton fanatics. My first reaction would be who's the lady? :D :D Is she a player? :D

Originally posted by Winex West Can


Is she a player? :D

Winex west can, i can do a top down analysis on this but it won't be as challenging as figuring out that racquet.

sigh. i am having trouble figuring out whether i should split this thread into 2. should it go into equipment or chit-chat?

being a moderator is a tough job!

How about an "adult" section??

;)

No.. stupid kwun censored the pic before I even got a chance to see it.. put it in the kids section please ^^....

sjoe, do you want to send me the pic

Originally posted by Winex West Can


Kwun/Cooler :D:D
You guys are really die-hard badminton fanatics. My first reaction would be who's the lady? :D :D Is she a player? :D

It's so funny :) I had the same thought as WWC. I was wondering why they kept talking about the racquet as if the girl were invisible.

By the way, why is there a large rectangle covering most of the picture?

Originally posted by Winex West Can


Kwun/Cooler :D:D
You guys are really die-hard badminton fanatics. My first reaction would be who's the lady? :D :D Is she a player? :D

That's a model's body, not that of a serious player. Note the lack of extra muscle development, callouses, surgical scars, etc.:o

Originally posted by kwun
sigh. i am having trouble figuring out whether i should split this thread into 2. should it go into equipment or chit-chat?

being a moderator is a tough job!

This topic sure took a detour!:eek:

I didnt get a chance to see the original pic either, but I am guessing it is a picture of a naked lady.

Originally posted by Tammy

By the way, why is there a large rectangle covering most of the picture?

Kwun got to the picture first to cover up an X-rate pic. post. BTW, good job on that, Kwun.

Wouldn't wan the NetNanny/Cyber Patrol filter to choke on the pic :D

Kwun got to the picture first to cover up an X-rate pic. post

What are you talking about, I didn't see anything X-rated. IMHO it was a Yonex ad for their apparels and equipments!

:D

i agree
AKFT

People . . . please calm down and tune down your hormone. :D :D :D This is not a *** feast for crying out loud!

Originally posted by cooler
I beg to differ kwun. I think it is the all metal yonex B-8100 (aka blacken). The slim shaft and all cylinderical cap leads me to this conclusion. Also supporting this conclusion of mine is the discontinuity seen at the T-joint which says it a external T-joint.

I can't see the t-joint at all.

If it is a one piece racquet, which one would you think it would be?