When Did Hydrating Become a Thing?
Back in Vince Lombardi's 1960s, Real Men Didn't Drink Water. When did that change?
Plastic water bottles are ubiquitous in this century. But that only seems to have started in the late 20th Century. Here’s Mike Twohy’s semi-classic 1996 New Yorker cartoon:
A lot of New Yorker cartoons are only semi-classic because a regular theme is making fun of new trends and technologies that the older generation finds hilarious, but that the younger generation finds perfectly sensible, such as drinking water or having a camera in your phone:
Over the last generation, Americans have obsessed over drinking gallons of water.
But when I was young, Real Men Didn’t Drink Water.
From Esquire in 1968,
Scared Guys Finish First: What Made Vince Lombardi the NFL’s Toughest Coach
If you weren’t fired up to play for the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, you would be fired with enthusiasm.
By Leonard Shecter
… Now Donny Anderson, a Viking type from Texas Tech who got, it is said, $600,000 as a bonus when he signed a year ago, whispers to a veteran player on the sidelines of the practice field: “Slip me some water.” The veteran laughs. “There hasn’t been any water around here in eleven years.” Not true. There are perhaps six pints for the seventy huge players who will spend a violent two hours under a summer sun. But if Lombardi sees a player drinking water he shouts, “Whaddaya want to get, a bellyache?” …
Lombardi’s most vocal admirer on the team is Bart Starr, the first-string quarterback, who quietly and over a long period of time has become recognized as one of the best of a highly intelligent and talented group of N.F.L. quarterbacks. The son of an Army sergeant, Starr is a soft-spoken, self-effacing Alabaman who keeps a Bible by his bed. He takes all of Lombardi’s commandments literally. He never goes near the water bucket.
Even crazier back then was the combination of the not drinking water fad with the salt pill fad to prevent muscle cramps.
But when did hydrating become a Thing? I’ve got a specific inflection point in mind …
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