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Syracuse second varsity crew squad, June 11, 1914. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
The tape may be due to injuries they sustained when crewing. When you're rowing in a crewshell with those huge oars, you might "catch a crab," which means your oar won't come up out of the water when you need it too. When this happens, the oar handle continues into you and might give you a bruise — or worse — right above your navel, where these men have tape. It really hurts when you're going slow, and I can only imagine how fast these guys go.
Look at the second and third guys from the right. Why are their stomachs taped like that?
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