Rajon Rondo

Sport Science investigated Rajon Rondo's "measureables."  Rondo is 6'1" and according to da Vinci, so should his wingspan.  However, Rajon has a wingspan of 6'9".  Also, his hand size is 9" long and 10" wide.  By da Vinci's calculations, he has hands the size of a man taller than 7'6" Yao Ming.  So, is da Vinci's calculations of human proportion wrong or is Rondo a "freak of nature"?  Possibly, da Vinci was right in his day and human size proportions have changed in the last few hundred years.  Here is a list of da Vinci's proportions:

• a palm is the width of four fingers
• a foot is the width of four palms
• a cubit is the width of six palms
• a pace is four cubits
• a man's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
• "erit eaque mensura ad manas pansas" (Literally: "It will be the same in measure to the spread out hands.")
• the length of a man's outspread arms (arm span) is equal to his height
• the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height
• the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height
• the distance from the bottom of the neck to the hairline is one-sixth of a man's height
• the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of a man's height (one cubit)
• the distance from the middle of the chest to the top of the head is a quarter of a man's height (one cubit)
• the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of a man's height (one cubit)
• the distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of a man's height (half a cubit)
• the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
• the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the head
• the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face
• the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face
• the length of a man's foot is one-sixth of his height

I picked this topic mainly because Rondo plays on the best team in the NBA and my favorite, the Boston Celtics.  I had never heard of human proportions, although I have seen da Vinci's drawing, before this.  The general notion is that longer wingspan leads to better defensive ability and larger hand size leads to better dribbling.  Rajon Rondo proves this notion with his performance.  Da Vinci was probably right in his notion; maybe the average man is proportional.  However, an NBA player or any other professional athlete is not an average human, which could explain Rondo being "disproportionate."  Maybe in da Vinci's time everybody was proportional and now everybody is disproportional.  Either way its an interesting way to look at the human dimensions and athletic ability.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5271456&categoryid=5707464