Question....goofy looking arm bands?

[Bwana]

I keep seeing a lot of players with some kind of band(s) tied around their forearm and or around the bicep area. I can't tell if it's made of rubber or rope, or what the hell it is. My questions, wtf is it and wtf is is good for?

[Phobia]

There's a band that goes just above the elbow for tendonitis. That's all I know about.

[Bwana]

There's a band that goes just above the elbow for tendonitis. That's all I know about.

Really? Well I guess that would make sense. I had dinner with my Dad tonight and he was aking me about it. I told him I had no idea but had wondered the same thing.

[Mr. Laz]

alot of them are probably just because they think it makes them look cool

but i would think that constant tension on the tendons around joints would be beneficial during sports.

[Buehler445]

I've seen those too. I always thought it was to put pressure on the arms to make them more explosive. Kind of like arm wraps for bench press.

IDK though.

[milkman]

It's easier just to leave the rubber band on all the time for shooting the roids.

[Terribilis]

great question, I have wondered this too, but was afraid to ask.

[Rain Man]

If I had to guess, I'd go with phobia's tendonitis theory or that it's some sort of general joint support to prevent injury.

[Rain Man]

great question, I have wondered this too, but was afraid to ask.

Afraid of antagonizing the rubber band industry?

[morphius]

If I had to guess, I'd go with phobia's tendonitis theory or that it's some sort of general joint support to prevent injury.
Yup, I'd be leaning that route. Probably helps stabilize things a bit during a twisting fall. I've seen the straps for tennis elbow, darn helpful thing to have when you have that injury. I wear one for my wrist during bowling, just a strap around my wrist, not the big thing that goes over the hands with metal in it. Just offers some support to the tendons in my wrist.

[Zebedee DuBois]

Restricting the blood flow heightens the sensations. / David Carridine

[Simply Red]

a lil' support, a lot of fluff. I'll go ahead and say it, it's for looks.

[Simply Red]

great question, I have wondered this too, but was afraid to ask.

:LOL:

[DaneMcCloud]

After game Rainbow Party indicator

[bowener]

I would say judging by how many college and high school kids you see wearing them, its for revenue more than anything.

[Marcellus]

Restricting the blood flow heightens the sensations. / David Carridine

:LOL:

[Chiefaholic]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/sports/football/18bands.html?_r=1

In Name of Fashion, Embracing a Trend
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LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalinkBy JOHN BRANCH
Published: September 17, 2008
Giants linebacker Danny Clark recently saw a basketball player use his wristband to — get this — wipe sweat.

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Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Many N.F.L. and college football players — and children who imitate them — wear wristbands above their elbows.



Analysis and discussion of the N.F.L. on the New York Times pro football blog.

Go to The Fifth Down Blog »

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Some players, like Florida receiver Percy Harvin, put wristbands into the crook of their elbows. Some wear them higher.

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Larry French/Getty Images
"I've got all sorts of biceps and triceps busting out of there. It's a good look," said Giants linebacker Danny Clark.
“I said, ‘That’s what those are for?’ ” Clark said. “I had forgotten that.”

Clark wears wristbands, too. But he does not wear them to wipe sweat, and he does not wear them on his wrists. Like a growing number of fashion-conscious N.F.L. and college football players — and countless kids who emulate them — Clark wears his wristbands well above his elbows.

“I’ve got all sorts of biceps and triceps busting out of there,” Clark said. “It’s a good look.”

Wristbands, like their stretchy ringed cousin, the headband, have long performed dual (if not dueling) roles of form and function for athletes. Depending on the sport, the era and the hipness of the wearer, they have not always been worn to good reviews.

But only in the past few years, it seems, have wristbands dared migrate north, past the elbow.

Some football players, like Jets defensive end David Bowens, pull fat 2-inch wristbands up into the crook of the elbows. Some, like Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson, use scissors to cut a skinny edge from the elastic band for a thin strand. Some even use sliced old socks, swatches of stretchy material or athletic tape to create the wrap-around look.

Some wear the bands at the elbow. Some wear them across the middle of the biceps. Some, like Jets cornerback Dwight Lowery, wear them over the top of a long-sleeved shirt.

A few wear a band only on one arm, a look popular in the N.B.A. Fewer wear two on each arm.

Most do not wear the bands to practice, signaling the vanity of their use. All admit that they wear the bands only because they think it looks good, which would be the only plausible reason.

“There is absolutely no benefit from a performance standpoint or a medical standpoint,” said Ralph Reiff, a certified athletic trainer and director of St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis. He has seen the upper-arm bands become popular on football players from the N.F.L. down to middle school. “It’s purely a fashion statement.”

Ronnie Barnes, vice president for medical services for the Giants, agreed.

“There is no medical benefit or purpose,” said Barnes, who has about 10 players on his team wearing versions of the bands. “A lot of players wear them because they believe it enhances the muscular definition in their arms. At the end of the day, you can attribute this increasing trend to the old adage: look good, feel good, play good.”

It has become trendy enough that Nike sells thin, swoosh-logoed “bicep bands.” The N.F.L. this season began supplying players with 1-inch wristbands — too thin to be cool that far down the arm — with the league’s red, white and blue logo on them.

The look is so popular that college football games could double as fashion shows for arms, and the nation’s high school football rule-making body has cracked down. The National Federation of State High School Associations, which establishes the football rules for all states except Massachusetts and Texas, sees upper-arm bands as just another frivolous product to sell to kids, and another piece of unnecessary equipment to be policed by officials.

“The last thing we want is our kids looking like walking billboards,” said Bob Colgate, the federation’s assistant director.

Last year, noticing the rampant use of upper-arm bands, the federation made the enforcement of Rule 1-5-3k one of its points of emphasis for officials around the country. The rule addresses illegal uniform adornments and is specific about the only kind of wristband allowed: those “worn on the wrist beginning at the base of the thumb and extending no more than 3 inches toward the elbow.”

Yet wristbands have edged upward into prime real estate, perhaps the last vacant visible swaths on a football player — the arms that hold the ball or throw it, the bulging biceps of the strong men who block and tackle. Arms are the last uncovered body part, one that seems to find its way into the middle of every television angle or photo frame.

“You look at those things,” Colgate said of the bands, “and they are positioned just right.”

The high school federation has talked to the N.C.A.A. about the issue — “It doesn’t help our cause on Saturdays when you see them all over television, and then even more so on Sunday,” Colgate said — but the N.C.A.A., which has banned bandanas that are visible out the back of a helmet, is not yet concerned about the mismatched striping on the arms of football players.

“We have not discussed arm bands in any great detail, and we don’t see any issue with them,” said Ty Halpin, the N.C.A.A.’s associate director of playing rules administration.

The N.F.L. has no concerns, either. Despite its reputation for strict sartorial rules, the league has seemed to encourage the use of the latest piece of equipment that can prominently display the N.F.L. logo.

In the middle of the locker room at the Jets’ new headquarters in Florham Park, N.J., socks, towels and N.F.L. wristbands sit in separate bins for the players to use. Safety Kerry Rhodes is one of about eight Jets who wear wristbands above his elbows, a look he has harvested since high school, he said.

“It was just a fashion statement at first,” Rhodes said. “Now it’s just a thing I do as I get dressed.”

Over at Giants Stadium, tight end Kevin Boss saves his bands for last when he puts on his Giants uniform. He wears his just above his elbows.

“I feel naked without them,” he said.

He looked over at tight end Michael Matthews, who was wearing wristbands, too.

“I always make fun of Mike for wearing them on his wrist,” Boss said. “That’s old school.”

[kchero]

Restricting the blood flow heightens the sensations. / David Carridine

:LOL:LMAO

[LiL stumppy]

Its made of cotton, like most arm bands lol. And they look cool, it's a style thing, we all wore them, until they got banned in Missouri HS football. Remember, if you look good, you play good, if you play good, they pay good. That's every HS/College football players memo/dream.

[Buehler445]

OH... I thought you were talking about those really tight rubber band looking things. I guess I haven't seen the wristband deals.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Tylerthigpen!1!]

Probably rolled up prewrap. Everybody has gotta be a pretty boy

[Taco John]

Uh, duh...

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/images-2/the-Ultimate-Warrior-champion.jpg

[MikeMaslowski]

Damn kids and their armbands...

http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae69/mikemaslowski/nazi.jpg

[GordonGekko]

wtf was that prince dude smokin'? jeebus, a swastika? anyway, arm bands are used for compression. i think it stimulates more powerful blood flow or something to certain extremities. check out pictures of vernon gholston, a beast in his own right and he wears the bands.

[Bwana]

So the answer seems to be "Man Jewelry."

[Gonzo]

Birth Control?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Bwana]

Birth Control?
Posted via Mobile Device

I haven't seen one at close range, but I bet if one were to tie a "man band" around their pecker, that would work.