We’re not sure what the deal is, but it seems like every month or so, there’s one fan who decides to get cute with an escalator railing or something at a pro ball park. Predictably, disaster ensues.
(This is not the fan or incident in question… but it’s probably pretty close.)
And so it goes in Tampa, where one fan is “expected to survive” (always a good sign when the hospital’s saying “we think he’s not going to die,” right?) after taking a 20-foot plunge at a Rays game last night.
A man suffered serious injuries Wednesday night after he fell nearly 40 feet from an escalator at Tropicana Field, officials said.
“He fell from the third level over the top of the escalator,” said Lt. Joel Granata, spokesman for St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue. The man, whose name was not released, is in his 20s, Granata said.
And then this:
Officials are investigating how the fall occurred.
We weren’t there, of course. But we can save officials a bit of time on this one. You might recall that these calamaties always happen at pro games, not college. Ask yourself: what do they do at pro games that they don’t at college games? Anything we can blame this on? Ah yes, T-Pain, I think you know:
Ah yes, that’s right. Fans get drunk at pro games. And drunk people, as we all know, are just one sloped surface away from being stunt men.
Sure, you might think it’s a little shady to go around posting music while an unidentified man fights for his life. Allow us to retort. He’s already injured. We just decided to make the most of the situation and get people dancing. Score, us. 1-0, SbB. Still our serve.
4:45 pm on April 26th, 2011
Well, was it 20ft. or 40ft? within 20ft. he would not be close to terminal velocity but at 40ft, based on wind resistance, for example, the terminal velocity of a coked-out hooker taking a dive off the 20th floor somewhere in Manhattan is about 195 km/h (122 mph or 55 m/s). This velocity is the asymptotic limiting value of the acceleration process, because the effective forces on the body balance each other more and more closely as the terminal velocity is approached. In this example, a speed of 50% of terminal velocity is reached after only about 3 seconds (plenty of time to dive off the escalator and give a big “yahooooo!”, while it takes 8 seconds to reach 90%, 15 seconds to reach 99% and so on. Higher speeds can be attained if the coked-out hooker or the escalator idiot pulls in his or her limbs (see also freeflying, windmilling, and/or flailing). In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph or 90 m/s), which is also the terminal velocity of the peregrine falcon diving down on its prey. And the same terminal velocity is reached for a typical .30-06 bullet traveling in the downward vertical direction — when it is returning to earth having been fired upwards, or perhaps just dropped from a tower — according to a 1920 U.S. Army Ordnance study. I’m just saying…