No more "trust me bro"

I've been watching football for nearly 20 years. And for nearly 20 years, I've been amazed at how hard players actually kick a ball — the kind of power that doesn't really register until you see it broken down frame by frame.

But I always had to rely on broadcasters to tell me the shot speed. And they don't show it on every shot. Some games show it constantly. Others never. And when they do show it, you have no idea what methodology they're using, or whether it's consistent with the number they showed last week for a different player.

Meanwhile, on the internet: "X player shoots the hardest." "X player only scores from 40 yards out, trust me bro." YouTube thumbnails claiming 266 km/h. Highlight compilations with no context, no proof, no methodology.

That was the moment. Why isn't there a database for this? One that uses the same formula across the board — distance calculated from a to-scale pitch, speed verified frame by frame from real footage, methodology documented and consistent. Not a broadcaster's proprietary sensor that may or may not fire. Not a YouTube thumbnail. Actual math, applied the same way to every goal.

And it needed to be community-driven. Shot maps with institutional backing carry institutional bias. Longshot is built by fans, verified by fans, with every single entry requiring video proof. If you can't show it, it doesn't go in.

There's also something I love about the levelling effect of this. The guy who says "I shoot harder than the pros, trust me" — now he can actually find out. Upload your Sunday league footage. Mark the frames. Let the formula decide. Maybe you do shoot harder than Ibrahimovic. Maybe you don't. But now there's a way to know.

Longshot isn't about proving any one player is the best. It's about building a record that doesn't exist anywhere else — accurate, consistent, open, and built by the people who actually care about this stuff.