No. 293 - Load 'N Launch

The Wall Street Journal sports page typically has a section which shows a number, and then describes the significance of it. Today the number was 3.5. The description read: The number of inches a new line of basketball shoes says it can add to a player's vertical leap. The NBA banned the shoes Tuesday for giving an 'undue' advantage.

With 3.5 inches even I could dunk a basketball. Well, maybe, when I was a wee bit younger. I once two-handed dunked in a basketball game in high school. But just once. And I don't exactly think the rim was regulation height. But still. It happened.

I learned that a company called Athletic Propulsion Labs has a sneaker called the Concept 1 which "utilizes some of the most technologically advanced materials ever seen on a basketball shoe." On their website they indeed claim that the sneaker system provides "as much as 3.5 inches of additional vertical leap to athletes wearing the shoes."

They say the shoe technology is centered around a revolutionary propulsion device - dubbed Load 'N Launch - which is implanted in a cavity under the forefoot, in front of the ball of the foot and the flex zone. It seems to act like a spring. The device harnesses the downwardly applied energy and then releases it when the athlete begins his vertical ascent.

So how much does an inch of additional leap cost? The sneakers retail for $300, making it less than $100 per inch. Quite a bargain.