what's with the hate on measuring things in football fields, aside from some hand-waving about it being "unscientific"? like yeah don't use it in a research paper but i don't see a problem with it.
Have we? Is it really that common if you aren't a player/cheerleader? I have stood on an American football field only once and that's because I was helping out a friend capture audio of the game. I've certainly seen them on TV, but that doesn't really give a great sense of distance. I've seen the Statue of Liberty on TV a lot and that's about a 100 yards too.
I think that people keep complaining about it because it's clearly a flawed way to measure something, but people still keep using it because we don't really have something better to replace it with. We just don't have enough things around us that are measured reliably and consistently I guess.
(Plus some buffer area all around, etc).
In many places in Ohio (where I'm from) it's pretty standard for the 400m track to surround the football field and for the stands to do dual use.
Source: too many years of marching band in HS.
Akin to stadia.
I never quibble with these types of comparisons, except for Libraries of Congress when trying to convey the amount of data something can hold.
I have no idea how large the LoC is. My touchstone for data capacity is MP3s (128k/48kHz, of course :)
As far as football fields goes, I’d think it works best because gridirons and pitches are roughly the same size. Almost everyone has had experience with at least one of those, right?
That's one BIG egg!
Perhaps the sport should be called Prolate Spheroid Carry.
I'm pretty sure it's the blue whale that comes closest to 100 yards
Looked it up (Wikipedia) :
"Adult North Atlantic right whales average 13–16 m (43–52 ft) in length"
"the longest scientifically measured individual blue whale was 30 meters (98 ft) from rostrum tip to tail notch."
You're going to need at least three blue whales to get close, I'd throw in a north atlantic right just to be safe.
If you're from Europe, sure I get that you might not get it. Although a soccer field is about the same size.
If you're American, maybe you're just sensitive about not like sports? A visceral discomfort around sports is pretty common amongst tech people (now that's a "bubble.")
Hell, you don't need to be a sports bro to understand something more specific - say, the difference between a block and charge in basketball. Because sport stuff is just a core part of general American culture. Like primetime TV (even if you don't watch it.)