Overview

Bobby Ryan is an offensive winger for the Mighty Ducks professional hockey team in Anaheim, California. He played for the United States in the 2010 Olympics, winning a silver medal. Bobby Ryan is a powerful player who — according to Brian Burke, who helped build the 2010 U.S. Olympic squad and who drafted Ryan onto the Ducks’ team — “can change a game by himself. This guy can break a game open.” Ryan also carried a secret past, starting with the fact that his name was Bobby Stevenson, not Bobby Ryan.

Youth

Ryan was born Bobby Stevenson in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. His father, Robert, worked at a gym owned by retired hockey great Bob Clarke. The senior Stevenson avidly helped develop his son’s skills in roller hockey in the first decade of his life. But in 1997, he abruptly moved his wife and son to California after jumping bail for assaulting his wife. In California, Bobby Stevenson was told he was now to be called Bobby Ryan.

Early Career

Ryan became a renowned roller hockey player in El Segundo. Then, his father was arrested for jumping bail and sentenced to four years in prison. Ryan’s mother worked two jobs, including a night shift managing an ice rink, where Ryan made the transformation to becoming an ice hockey player. In 2003, scouts for the Ontario Hockey League caught sight of 6-foot-1, 220-pound Ryan at a tryout camp. They signed him to a contract at age 16.

NHL

In his first year of eligibility for the National Hockey League draft, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks called Ryan in for a meeting. His troubled family history could have caused Anaheim to turn him down. Even knowing that, Ryan didn’t hide the truth about his family troubles and why his name was changed. “If you hide it, it’s more than likely going to come out at some point,” Ryan has said. “Then you’re going to have to deal with the repercussions of not being honest in the first place.”

All Star and Olympian

Impressed with Ryan’s honesty and forthright nature — not to mention his considerable skills as an offensive winger — the Ducks drafted him in the first round. In 2008 and 2009, Ryan made the All-Star team. In 2010, he played on the U.S. Olympic team. His mother and father were together in the stands to see their son win a silver medal.

Photo Credit

Jeff Gross/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

Overview

Cutting the soles of running shoes is a time-honored, old-school running habit. Runners would slice small lateral grooves into shoes they felt weren’t flexible enough for their feet. They found that making the cuts made some shoes more comfortable because doing so allowed the foot to flex more naturally as they ran on large, cushioned mid-soles. To improve traction, comfort and foot flexibility, the practice of cutting soles has gone “new school” and is being embraced today by many shoe manufacturers.

Razor-Siping

Look at a dog’s paw. That’s what shoemaker Paul Sperry did after watching his cocker spaniel, Prince, run effortlessly over a patch of ice. Sperry — maker of the famous Top-Sider boat shoes and the namesake of the Sperry shoe company — saw cracks and lines on Prince’s paw. Sperry patented a process called Razor-Siping, which entails cutting thin lines into the soles of shoes so they provide better traction. Runners, especially trail runners, have also been known to retrofit their own shoes with micro-cuts if they need improved traction.

Comfort

Some runners insist that making a running shoe more flexible by cutting lines in the sole also makes it much more comfortable. One running shoe store even provides the service of retrofitting shoes by slicing the soles, if customers desire. Other runners, however, say that cutting the sole can shorten the life of the shoe and, possibly, negatively affect the stability control built into the mid-soles of some shoes.

Minimalist

The popularity of minimalist running shoes has put Razor-Siping into the spotlight as something more than an odd tendency by some runners to loosen up the flexibility of their shoes. The Vibram FiveFingers Flow model, which is recommended for both wet recreation, such as kayaking, and running, boasts a Razor-Siped sole for better traction. An additional component of Razor-Siping in minimalist shoes is to mimic the soles of your own foot’s sole, which, if you look, is lined exactly like hands and fingers with the swirls and loops of prints.

Nike Free

The most dramatic illustration of how runners cut the soles of their shoes to achieve greater flexibility and comfort is the Nike Free. With flex grooves cut almost completely through the sole and coming close to the bottom of a runner’s foot, the Free is, according to Nike, “designed to maximize the foot’s natural range of motion while providing protection and cushioning for a smooth ride.”

Photo Credit

Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images