What are they putting in the water...?

[Lena_Horne]

6-foot-8 13 year old towers over foes By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 20, 6:21 PM ET

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Aaron Durley towers over the competition at the Little League World Series. The 13-year-old first baseman for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, stands an imposing 6-foot-8 and weighs 256 pounds.

"I was standing next to him and I was up to his elbows," Scott Kingery, a 12-year-old, 4-foot-9 Phoenix shortstop, said after meeting Durley.

At the secluded dorms where teams stay during the tournament, Durley has become as much of an attraction as the pool, the pingpong table and the video arcade.

CONT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_sp_ot/bby_little_league

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Gee whiz,

L_H

 

[CharlieH.]

6' 8"? That's nothing! Take a look at this munchkin:

A stratospheric broadcast it seems...

 

[Lady Day]

6' 8"? That's nothing! Take a look at this munchkin:

A stratospheric broadcast it seems...

Yeah, but that dude died at about 25. Ive seen a suit of his at the Believe it or not Museum here in SF. lol

What are they putting in the water? Nanites! DUH dont you ever watch Star Trek!?
LD

 

[LaMedicine]

Is he really a 13 year old?!

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

He's actually a robot...

I assume...

 

[Steve]

He must have looked ridiculous going to kindergarten.

 

[Pilgrim]

I played right guard in High School JV football - at 5'9", 155 pounds. I was talking with another gent my age last week and he was a tackle - and he was an inch shorter and even today, he might weigh 170. He weighed about 150 in high school.

Kids have gotten MUCH bigger. My wife is 5'9', and my daughters are 5'8 and 5'8.5". They're still tall for their gender, but not unusual by any means. They'd have been the tallest women in high school in the 60's when I was there.

Along with the rise in height (and I'm sure someone will look up average male and female height over the past few decades...) comes a swing in variance. More and more high school kids are 250 pounds and 6'3 - 6'6" at age 18. Some of them are huge in Jr. High - and it's astounding!

When I was in high school there was one kid (Buzz Brazeau) who was about 6'2 and 250 pounds. He played varsity right guard (a big reason I played JV) and played for the Packers briefly. Nowadays he'd be 60 pounds too light for the O-line.

 

[Story]

Bovine Growth Hormone - it's not just for breakfast anymore.

 

[Pilgrim]

I can't agree with that one - but I sure credit better nutrition and health care. They have had fasts effect on child health and grown rates.

 

[Lincsong]

Perhaps it was an overactive thyroid gland?[huh]

I was 5'10" when I was 14. Just a scrawny kid at 130 pounds. I thought I was going to be 6'4" because I figured I still had another 4-5 years of growth and my Mom's grandpa and uncles (8 of the 10) were all 6'-6'2". No such luck, I stopped growing and am still the same height as my Dad, his three brothers and his father.

Height also has to do with the amount of meat eaten as compared to fish. I know many older people whose diet consisted mainly of fish as children who are about 5'-5'3" and whose children are 5'9" plus because the children's diet consisted of more meat.

 

[jazzbass]

Perhaps it was an overactive thyroid gland?[huh]

.....Height also has to do with the amount of meat eaten as compared to fish. I know many older people whose diet consisted mainly of fish as children who are about 5'-5'3" and whose children are 5'9" plus because the children's diet consisted of more meat.

I've never heard that one. To the best of my knowlege, all animal protein is the same. Differing amounts of fat, of course. Red meat has more iron in it. Do you have some source that has info on human growth rate based on meat vs fish consumption? I mean real info, no anecdotal.



jazzbass

 

[LaMedicine]

Perhaps it was an overactive thyroid gland?[huh]

Um, you do mean the pituitary gland, don't you? lol
Growth hormones are produced and excreted by the pituitary gland.
If you have an overactive thyroid, what you get are racing heartbeats, nervousness, anxiety, extreme worry, paranoia, and weightloss among others.

 

[Lincsong]

Thyroid Gland

Deficiency of secretion of the thryroid gland results in a number of abnormal body conditions characterized by lowering of the basal metabolic rate. (see Metabolism, I don't want to take up too much bandwith.), lethargy, and decreased activity; among such abnormal conditions are cretinism, myxedema and simple goiter.
Overactivity of the thyroid gland results in increased metabolism and activity, and in the condition known as exophthalmic goiter. The thyroid hormone is also believed to influence other endocrine glands, especially the pituitary and suprarenal glands, and disturbance of the thyroid often precedes or accompanies disturbances of these glands.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I have a friend who is a professional basketball player, she's 6'8 and has been since the age of 14! I come up to her waist. Her entire family is all over the 6'ft mark except for one older sister who is only 5'10

 

[Tourbillion]

It isn't in the water, it's in the meat. It is growth hormones. They are probably in your beef unless you pay extra money for "hormone free". You eat the beef with hormones, you get bigger.

It is too difficult to put them into the ocean at high enough rates to make the fish grow extra large. I guess you could put them into farmed fish though.

I am a 6' woman, which is completely normal in my family. Family members born in the 1800's were also my height (even ladies--guys were frequently taller). I am imagining 6' tall Gibson Girls and flappers.

I am also supposed descended from a dark ages queen (Gormflaith) who was also a 6' redhead, so maybe we are all genetic throwbacks in my family.

The taller kids today are probably all due to extra food combined with the growth hormones. People used to be shorter because they had poor nutrition.