The Ninja Blog

Are there moves that are statistically better but are underrepresented in jiu-jitsu due to a cultural stigma? In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Big Man can’t Shoot” episode of the Revisionist History Podcast, he asks this question about basketball. Specifically about shooting free throws underhanded, granny style. In the episode Gladwell interviews Rick Barry who shot underhanded. He asks Barry about the stigma of shooting granny style and asked if that bothered him. Barry repeats what his Dad had told him, “They can’t make fun of you if you’re making them.” They go on to talk about how underhanded free throws are a superior technique and are statistically more accurate, but nobody in the NBA will shoot them because they don’t want to be picked on. This got me thinking. What jiu-jitsu moves are being unfairly stigmatized despite being highly successful?