What is the purpose of spikes on shoes?
One article I read said it was to help runners on uneven terrain. I thought it was to help them when there is a layer of small stones etc. so that their feet don't slide, to give traction. I don't see how it would help on *uneven* terrain.
Traction for football players on grass fields. Waffle soles were a big thing for awhile. A track coach stumbled on the idea when his wife was fixing breakfast. It was almost an accidental invention like a lot of good ones are. Think microwave oven and radar.
Oh yeah. And I don't think there are many football fields on uneven terrain.
Very interesting. My mother probably wouldn't have let me use the waffle iron for other than food. Maybe she would have been more lenient with my father.
After I read this I looked up the history of the walking shoe. Then I looked up the history of the sitting shoe, and I found I could use even my old shoes for that. So running will have to wait until tomorrow, and today I will try sitting.
The question was "What is the purpose of spikes on shoes?"
The article was about sport shoes, played on flat ground, but the previous posts here make me think the author of my article assumed he didn't understand sports and did some cursory research and then confused spikes for walking on logs with spikes for use in sports. I'm glad we discussed this.
When I was running track in high school, some schools had cinder tracks. We had spiked running shoes with interchangeable spikes depending on which school the meet was at. Some schools had small cinders, some had larger ones, then there was the rain factor, etc.
My daughter ran cross country. She also had shoes with spikes. Cross country running involves all sorts of uneven terrain, what with the hills and trails, and also involved various surface material from grass to dirt to gravel.
My other daughter is a trail runner. As far as I know, she uses running shoes designed for trail running but there are no spikes involved.
In the 50's when I played Little League baseball, you could only wear rubber cleats. Moving on to the Babe Ruth League at age 13, you got to wear metal cleats.
My recollection is that the rubber ones had no more traction on outfield grass or infield dirt than sneakers-- but the metal ones were terrific.
My recollection is that a great way to get a brawl going was to slide into second "cleats high".
Stomping on the faces of Leftists.
During a golf swing which can be quite violent, spikes on golf shoes help maintain traction of the back foot during weight transfer. They also help keep you from slipping as you walk on uneven wet terrain of the course. Unfortunately these days most golf courses don't allow metal spikes because idiots can't lift their feet as they walk and tear up the greens. Built in rubber spikes are getting better, but you have to replace the shoe after a while rather than just replace the spike.
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