[joemi]

I don't think "it should be obvious". The world we live in is one where caber tossing, curling, boxing, cheese rolling, quidditch, and sepak takraw (to name just a few) are all sports. So "softball with a 16-inch diameter ball" really isn't so unbelievable of a concept that it should be obvious that it doesn't exist.

[gwbas1c]

One of the things I like about Hacker News is that, when someone throws around a vague sports term, there's a massive discussion to just figure out the heck they are talking about.

Reminds me about this thread about goats: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32191140

[fsckboy]

i'm not going to get on a soapbox if i can't understand a caber toss, curling, cheese rolling, qudditch or sepak takraw headline, and but i will climb that tallest soapbox in the middle of three and complain if headlines are all so unwieldy that i can glean all the info i don't know about every sport

also, a "16-in circumference softball" article still wouldn't even be allowed into the EU as it's not metric.

[dylan604]

a softball with a 16-inch diameter ball would really be unbelievable. A basketball is less than 10 inches, so imagine something ~2x the size of a basketball being swung at with a bat.

[wredcoll]

Yeah, that's why we clicked on the link.

A softball like 10% bigger isn't that interesting.

[dylan604]

if that was the only difference. the fact the ball is designed to get softer the longer it is played makes it so hits at the start of a game are different than at the end. fielders would learn this and change tactics based on that. normally, when the ball goes flat during a game, it is replaced. that in and of itself made it interesting to me as a standout feature.

[gwbas1c]

I played kickball as a kid; as a clumsy nerd it was a lot more fun.

I don't remember ever using a bat with a kickball, other than for laughs. It would work, though.