How hard did Barbara Walters body Sage Steele? An SB Nation scientific journey

Who knew that Barbara Walters was a tackling legend? On Friday Sage Steele, previously of ESPN, didn’t must be waterboarded to share an anecdote about getting bodied by the then-84-year-old when she appeared on The View in 2014, alleging that Walters shoved her right into a trash can backstage.

Steele defined how she bought destroyed by an previous woman on The Megyn Kelly Present.

“It was Barbara, Whoopi and myself at midnight inexperienced room off to the aspect. I used to be in all probability about 4 ft from the wall and the trash can, and Barbara was standing over right here in entrance of me. She simply began to again up towards me and checked out me and bought shut and elbowed me, and it pushed me again into the wall and the trash can. I used to be like, ‘What did [she] simply do to me? This 140-year-old lady simply tried to love sort out me.’”

This bought me considering: How harmful was octogenarian Walters? Walters was 5’5, 125.4 kilos previous to her loss of life in 2022, in keeping with the web site CelebrityTall. It may not be an ideal supply in terms of Barbara’s weight, but it surely’s a adequate level to work from.

Everyone knows that folks are likely to lose top as weight with age. In response to Harvard analysis the typical individual loses roughly 1-2 % of their physique weight per yr after the age of 60, and roughly a half-inch of top per decade after the age of 40. Which means if we work backwards we are able to decide Walters’ measurables on that fateful day on The View in 2014.

We’ll cut up the distinction of physique mass drop and say Walters misplaced 1.5 % per yr. This implies in 2014 she was 5’6, 143 kilos. That by itself means little or no, however fortunately Steele gave us a vital reference level: The 4 ft that Steele traveled when she was bodied by Barbara.

Steele asserts that Walters didn’t take some form of Terry Tate-style run up, however reasonably was touring at roughly her strolling velocity. The typical strolling velocity of a girl aged 80-89 is 2.13 miles per hour (or 0.95 meters per second), which we’ll use as our baseline right here.

Contemplating that drive = mass x acceleration, which means Barbara Walters generated 60.32778521 N of drive in her elbow — or simply over 13.8 kilos of drive.

Let’s be somewhat extra beneficiant right here, and picture that Walters generated most acceleration along with her elbow to up the drive. It’s tough to calculate, however we are able to security multiply the drive by three, which equates someplace across the punching velocity of a girl Walters’ age on the time. Which means she generated 181 N of drive

If we function off the identical measurements from CelebrityTall, however this time for Sage Steele — we be taught that she’s very slender at 134.2 kilos, that means that previous ass Barbara Walters HAD A WEIGHT ADVANTAGE OVER STEELE DESPITE BEING IN HER 80s! As well as, Steele is 5’11, so Walters had a decrease middle of gravity to essentially throw some oomph into that elbow.

Nonetheless, we’re speaking about 40.46 kilos of drive right here. A 47-pound youngster sprinting full velocity (11.2mph) into you generates 23.26 kilos of drive. Which means Sage Steele couldn’t deal with two kids operating into her.

If Steele was mid-stride, or off-balance it will have an effect on the drive wanted — but it surely’s nonetheless beautiful to think about that Walters, at strolling tempo, utilizing her elbow, may ever ship sufficient drive to push anybody 4 ft.

Let’s assume that is completely actual although. What would occur if as an alternative of a Barbara Walters elbow, it was an NFL defensive again who hit Steele? If 40 kilos of drive can ship Steele 4 ft, an NFL DB who generates 1,600 kilos of drive in a sort out would ship Steele flying 160 ft via the air.

Name me a skeptic, however I’m beginning to suppose this story was bullshit.