Curio Cabinet

Sports weren’t always “anyone’s game”, but this innovation was equalizing! As warm weather ushers in the return of fun outdoor activities like jogging, it’s hard to believe that, not so long ago, women were discouraged from participating in them. Before 1970’s Title IX, which banned sex-based discrimination in sports, the prevailing attitude in the U.S. was that sports were unladylike or even dangerous for girls and women. After Title IX’s passage, sports-minded women found that there wasn’t much on offer when it came to athletic gear that fit their needs. Enter Lisa Lindahl, Polly Palmer Smith, and Hinda Miller, inventors of a modern athletic staple: the sports bra.
 
By the late 1970s, Title IX and other breakthroughs had made womens’ sports suddenly popular. Jogging was particularly in vogue, likely due to the influence of figures like Kathrine Switzer, who had run in the 1967 Boston Marathon even though women were banned. In 1977, 28-year-old University of Vermont graduate student Lisa Lindahl was jogging around 30 miles per week. There was just one problem: jogging was extremely uncomfortable for her chest due to a lack of proper support. Lindahl tried wearing different bras while jogging, even going so far as to wear one a size too small, but nothing seemed to work. Her sister, who often jogged with her, also complained of chest and back pain from jogging, and joked that there should be a jockstrap for women. Realizing that many women were likely suffering from the same problem, Lindahl turned to her costume-designer friend, Polly Palmer Smith. Smith brought fellow costume designer Hinda Miller in on the project as well. Together, the three women began working on garments that might solve their jogging support problem. After many failed attempts, it was Lindahl’s inside joke with her sister that offered a solution. Having heard the joke about a jockstrap for women, Lindahl’s husband strolled into her shared workshop wearing two jockstraps on his chest. The three women immediately saw design potential in the way that the straps crossed across his back, and they began sewing jockstraps together in different configurations. Their prototype was appropriately dubbed the “JockBra”, which they eventually changed to the more appealing “JogBra.” Designed to provide chest, shoulder, and back support, the Jogbra featured crisscrossing straps and seams on the outside, to minimize chafing and blistering. Unlike normal bras, Jogbras came in three standard sizes: small, medium, and large.
 
Yet the male-dominated athletic industry took some time to warm up to the innovation. After Smith left the operation to pursue other design work, Lindahl and Miller took on the task of explaining to male store owners that the JogBra wasn’t underwear or lingerie. “Almost every time they'd say ‘we don't sell bras in our store,’” Lindahl told the BBC. The inventors got around the problem by giving free JogBra samples to female assistant managers. That’s when the JogBra really got moving. By 1978, JobBras were selling like hotcakes at $16 each, and in 1979 their design was officially patented. After making around $500,000 in its first year, Jogbra Inc. grew around 25 percent per year until the late 1980s. In 1990, Lindahl and Miller decided to sell their company to Playtex. By then, larger companies like Reebok were making their own versions of the sports bra, eating into JogBra Inc.’s profits.
 
Today, the sports bra is considered one of the most important inventions in sports history. In fact, in 2018, Runner’s World magazine called it “The Greatest Invention in Running—EVER.” This year, Lindahl, Miller, and Smith were inducted into the The National Inventors Hall of Fame, which is part of the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. A JogBra prototype can be found in the archives of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The stores that refused to carry sports bras must be feeling a little sheepish, these days.

 
[Image description: Colorful sports bras hang in a store.] Credit & copyright: Rusty Clark, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, image is hereby distributed under the same license linked here.

Did you strike it rich during the Kentucky Derby? Last-minute entrant Rich Strike won the 2022 Kentucky Derby against 80-1 odds, making it the second greatest upset in the race’s 148-year history. The series of events leading up to the stunning win was just as improbable, with the horse being added to the field literally 30 seconds before the deadline. That entry also would not have been possible without another horse—Ethereal Road—being scratched from the race by his trainer. On the day of the race, Rich Strike started at post position no. 20, on the far outside of the track and was lagging behind until the final stretch, when he overtook the lead. Rich Strike finished the race with a time of 2:02.61, winning $1,860,000 of the $3 million purse. 10 percent of the money will go to the jockey and trainer, Sonny Leon and Eric Reed, respectively. Before winning the 2022 Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike’s earnings totaled at just $111,289. Even the horse’s owner, Rick Dawson, was in disbelief after the race, telling the press, "What planet is this? I feel like I have been propelled somewhere. I'm not sure. This is unbelievable. I asked my trainer up on the stage, I said, 'Are you sure this is not a dream? Because it can't be true.' He assured me this is real. I said OK." Seems like he’ll be riding high for a while!
 

[Image description: Racers compete in the 2017 Kentucky Derby] Credit & copyright: Velo Steve, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, this image is hereby distributed under the same license linked here.

Truly, legends never die. The World Video Game Hall of Fame has just inducted 4 classic gaming titles for 2022, including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Run by the Strong National Museum of Play, the Hall of Fame is located in Rochester, New York. Also inducted this year were Ms. Pac-Man, Dance Dance Revolution and Sid Meier’s Civilization. So what are these games and why are they so important? Ocarina was originally released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, selling 7.6 million copies during its run. It was the first in the action-adventure RPG franchise to be made with 3D graphics, cementing its place in gaming history as one of the most innovative and immersive titles of its time.
 
Ms. Pac-Man will be joining her longtime beau Pac-Man, who was part of the inaugural class in 2015, along with Tetris, Super Mario Bros., DOOM, Pong and World of Warcraft. She was, of course, the star of her namesake game, one of the biggest-grossing arcade titles all time. In the first 5 years after its release, Ms. Pac-Man made $1.2 billion across 125,000 cabinets around the world, one quarter at a time. The title of the game, which features the “Ms.” prefix, was considered a bold statement at the time, as it was a proposed neutral term to be the equivalent of “Mr.,” as opposed to “Mrs.” or “Miss” which define a woman by her marital status. When the game was released, “Ms.” was only just gaining in popularity as an honorific due to feminists like Gloria Steinam, and was meant to convey that Ms. Pac-Man was the protagonist of her own adventure. Another arcade game, Dance Dance Revolution, dominated the gaming scene in its time after its release in 1998. Although the techno-fueled rhythm game isn’t quite the cultural juggernaut it once was, its publisher Konami has released over 100 titles in the franchise. Finally, Sid Meier’s Civilization is a nation building, turn-based strategy game originally released for the PC in 1991. The franchise is currently on its 6th iteration, but has spawned a number of spin-offs during its run and remains the premier title of its genre. There’s just nothing like the classics.

 
[Image description: A row of arcade machines, including Ms. Pac-Man] Credit & copyright: ilovemypit, Wikimedia Commons, image cropped for size, image is hereby distributed under the same license linked here.

Pay up or stay out. Venice, famous for its beautiful waterways and intricate architecture, will soon begin charging for admission into the city. The idea has been around for years now, but serious efforts at implementing it were delayed by the pandemic. City leaders are considering a fee of three to eleven dollars for the privilege of entering its borders, with the fluctuations in price dictated by seasonal demand. The fee will also only be for day visitors, while those staying overnight will have the fee paid for through the tourist tax that already exists. The fee’s purpose would be to offset the cost of living and the increasing maintenance costs of Venice’s unique infrastructure.
 
Before the pandemic, the city saw around 80,000 visitors a day, and that number shot up to 150,000 on the Easter after travel restrictions were lifted. The weight of the tourists alone is contributing to the slow sinking of the city, according to officials, and it does nothing to help the congestion of its narrow walkways which were designed for much less than that. In fact, the permanent population of Venice is dwarfed by the crowds of tourists to the city. Only around 50,000 people live there full time, and that number has been shrinking every year due to the rising cost of living. 15,000 residents have left the city in the past five years, and it’s no wonder why: not only do residents have to compete for space and resources with the tourists who drive up the cost of basic goods, real estate is at a premium due to housing being used for vacation rentals. Furthermore, the pandemic left the city in economic distress, and 10,000 residents lost their jobs. With the proposed plan to charge a fee, city leaders are hoping to limit the number of visitors while generating some revenue. They also plan to have visitors use a reservation system so that daily visitor counts can be more controlled. While some consider the plan to be a cash grab, city leaders believe they’re on the right path. In an interview with AFAR, Venice city council member Simone Venturini stated, “Venice is paving the way on a global level for the development of an unprecedented system for offsetting the negative consequences of overtourism.” Whatever floats your boat!

 
[Image description: The Canale Grande in Venice, Italy, photographed from above.] Credit & copyright: blende12, Pixabay