Why do runners still wear "short-shorts"?

Posting in an epic thread.

Californian wrote:

"But in reality, when that b-ball player finishes his 8 mile warm-up...he will impress many more people with his thunder dunk rather than running around in a circle 4 times in 4-5 minutes!"

That's true, but we're not talking about which sport is more impressive, we are talking about what people wear for their sports. When a bunch of runners play a game of pick-up basketball, you don't see them wearing their short running shorts. Usually, they slap on a pair of long baggy ones.

I play basketball in running shorts...

redmeansdead wrote:

It's just all a style thing. If bball players wore little short shorts they would probably be able to move better. But they wouldn't be caught dead in them cause they are more interested in looking cool than performing. Runners are more interested in taking a couple second off of their time and winning than they are about whether people think they look stupid or not.

You can't generalize. There's some runners who are all about style and there are some b-ball players who are all about style. Trust me, AI isn't hurting his playing by wearing long shorts. If you ever watch a real basketball game with good players, no one has shorts falling off his ass impeding his movements. That's for the mediocre high school players. Much like the 11:30 2 miler with $150 spikes...same thing....good players and runners don't let anything get in the way...that said, you don't need balls flashing to run a fast race...

I used to run 55 miles a week (75-80 for periods of 10 weeks at a time). Even those tiny soft shorts would result in chaffing rashes (often scabs) on inner thighs. Whenever I see a guy running in dude shorts now I assume he’s just prancing around the block…

The friction gets in the way with anything more than an immediate split.

I mean it's for practicality but it comes with the nice side effect of showing off your legs.

Obviously running fast is more important than compliments from the opposite(/same) sex, but it's the icing on the cake.

Not sure what in society long shorts are "stylish" - maybe surfboarders? Gardeners World? Geoff Hamilton used to rock the long shorts look.

they look fast, they’re super comfy and as an added bonus it makes people around me feel uncomfortable.