11.21 is a number I will never forget because of this moment

December 31, 2023 1:10 PM

Let's take a journey with Jordy McNeill back in time to an obsession of hers from 20-ish years ago: sport stacking. In The Strange Saga of an Early 2000s Craze, she spends 25 minutes examining the history of the sport, along with her own history with it, in a very interesting video about something that emerged from seemingly nowhere and took over the minds of many for a long time.

Look at the full video description for an extensive list of sources and related videos including an entire documentary about stacking.

posted by hippybear (8 comments total)

I heard about and saw a short piece about Sports Stacking a while back, tho’ I have no memory of where. I’ll watch this thang.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:04 PM on December 31, 2023

Back when I was in high school, I juggled a lot. Getting a job, and being a 19 year old with a car and then a girlfriend, I fell out of it. But I still throw stuff sometimes and eventually I’ll go check out the local juggling club meetup because this wouldn’t be a bad thing for me to get back into. Seeing cup stacking really activates a certain part of my brain because it, like juggling, involves manipulating multiple objects to desired positions with a lot of things in motion at once. Had this been a thing when I was in school, I’m sure that I would have been all about it. And I’m pretty sure I’d have been pretty damn good too, seeing that it’s the type of thing I would have learned to do well. All that and the sounds it makes when it’s being done well are quite satisfying to the ears. This video was fun!

Also wanted to mention that there’s a spot where a girl is stacking and she gets to the top of her stack and flips the last cup over, cool as a cucumber. Yeah, I know it’s all about speed, but that little flourish was just so awesome. You rock, kid.
posted by azpenguin at 4:51 PM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is mesmerizing! I've never done it myself but I agree with her that the sound is the best part. And what an inspirational training montage!

There's a comparison to pickleball to be made. Was popular in middle school PE classes, gradually became more popular then suddenly was everywhere... I wonder if I could get a speedstack revival going among pickleballers.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:53 PM on December 31, 2023

Her response in the original 11.21 video was so pure.
posted by scruss at 5:02 PM on December 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

Her response in the original 11.21 video was so pure.

It's possible that moment is the reason I posted this here. The surrounding information is great and lovely to know, but that one part.... you don't see that very often. So human and, to use your word, pure.
posted by hippybear at 7:09 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Sports Movie Montage was amazing.
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:19 AM on January 1 [2 favorites]

azpenguin: Also wanted to mention that there’s a spot where a girl is stacking and she gets to the top of her stack and flips the last cup over, cool as a cucumber. Yeah, I know it’s all about speed, but that little flourish was just so awesome. You rock, kid.

10:34
posted by mpark at 11:06 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

My kids did this when they were little, and they are really competitive with each other. I am not sure which of those came first, but wow what a combination it made.

And the one of them who was always speediest at cup-stacking is also the one who learned to solve Rubik's Cube quickly, too.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:49 PM on January 5