Posts About ‘baseball’

Digital Dads Week In Sports: Ranking the All-Star Shenanigans

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

If you were living under a rock this week (as you very well may be) you might have missed the MLB All-Star game, the annual festival of meaningless competition among the most popular players in the sport. If you know me, you know my opinions about this annual event are pretty strong in one direction, which I’ll get to in a second. But it got me thinking, of all the five major sports (yes, I’m counting Soccer) which ones have the best All-Star festivities? So, I decided to rank them and of course, tell you why. On a side note, the U.S. Women’s Soccer team is kicking ass in the World Cup, as they beat Brazil, then France and are heading to the final. One thing I have noticed when watching the women play is that they don’t dive and fake injury nearly as much as the men.

#5 The NFL Pro-Bowl

This game went from being a joke, to an absolute joke. Not only do most of the players complain about going, but it’s like watching a game of touch football. Understandably, no one wants to get hurt in the last game of the season, and most of them just want to get their short vacations started. Even though now we’re seeing them experience an extended vacation. The NFL thought they solved this issue by moving the Pro-Bowl from the week after the Superbowl to the week before the Superbowl in Miami. This was a terrible idea, as now the best players in the league (you know, the ones in the Superbowl) can’t even be recognized as all-stars because they can’t play in the game. For those two reasons, the quality of play and the lack of players, this is my worst rated All-Star game. Add on the fact that the television coverage is basically second rate, the Pro-Bowl blows ass.

#4 MLB All-Star Game

Now, don’t get me wrong – I love the build-up to this game. Specifically the homerun derby, especially since they started letting players pick their hitters. This is a fun time and seems like the players truly enjoy hanging out and slamming free homeruns. Plus, a lot of charity is involved in the derby, so that’s a good thing too. It’s also a lot more entertaining to watch than the game the next day. Now, not everyone agrees with me that the MLB All-Star game is one of the worst, and that’s all well and good but I think for me it’s more the coverage that ruins it for me than the game itself. First off, Fox’s coverage of the game is way too much pomp and circumstance. This year, it was even worse when they led in with ridiculous previews for the X-Factor show. No one watching the game gives a shit. Not to mention, is anyone else just plain tired of Joe Buck?

The game itself isn’t too bad. The teams actually appear like they are trying to win the game. They are a little held back, and usually it comes down to who hits the homeruns. The pitchers are certainly holding back, as an injury on the mound is always in their minds. But what makes it real shit is that it “means something.” You can blame Bud Selig for that, in response to an All-Star game that went 11 innings with no winner, Selig decided that it would be a good idea that the winner of the All-Star game determines home field advantage in the World Series. Are you fucking kidding me? No where does home advantage mean more than in the World Series and it was determined by a meaningless game played by the most popular (because it is a popularity contest, that was assured by letting the fans vote) players and not by record as it should, and is throughout the playoffs. This is a ridiculous end result of the game, and is just plain stupid. I hope, whatever National League team (as the NL All-Stars won this year off a Cecil Fielder homerun) send a thank you note to Fielder for that win. Of course, they could also send fuck you notes to the American League pitchers, who spoon fed him that homerun. Weak.

#3 MLS All-Star Game

I’ve actually never watched a MLS All-Star game. I know that they do it a little different, the best of the U.S. teams vs. a world team like Manchester United. That’s a pretty kick-ass game, because in between dives, they actually play a hard game because it’s based on pride. Sadly, I think the American team loses a lot, but that really doesn’t matter much in the scheme of things. I’ll watch it this year, I promise.

#2 NBA All-Star Game

Like the MLB game, the best part of the NBA All-Star break is the pre-game stuff the day before. The dunk contest highlights everything that is wrong with the NBA, as far as the individualism and so on, but it’s a fucking blast to watch. They jump over cars, shoot 3-pointers and have a blast. The game itself is highly competitive for a game that doesn’t mean anything, this is the general mindset in the NBA though, so that makes sense. It’s probably the only NBA game I watch all year besides the playoffs, as it’s a true All-Star game, with a lot of who-dat players based on stats rather than pure popularity, though there is some of that. In the end though, it’s still the NBA and doesn’t have half as much energy as my number one.

#1 NHL All-Star Game

The NHL game wasn’t always my favorite. For a long while it was East vs. West, which was okay but a bit bland to watch. Then it was USA vs. Canada (or was it World, I can’t remember) but this year they blew me away with their handling of the All-Star game. They went all playground rules on us. First they picked team captains, then they staged a mock draft where the captains picked their teams. The coverage of this took itself a bit too seriously, but it was great that there was no telling who was going to be on which team. This added a level of enjoyment to it because you knew that heated rivals could end up on the same team, and they did. I don’t remember what team won, but I know the score was in the double digits on both sides.

Adding another fun dimension to the game was having the goalies miked up during the game. In between blocking shots, they were bullshitting with the announcers, just having a fun time and performing for the fans. Because in the end, that’s what this game highlighted – the fans. Before the game there was tons of fan interaction, the referees didn’t even call offsides until the 3rd period and were just letting the players play, and the fans enjoy a high scoring exhibition game. Which is what all the All-Star games should be, exhibition games for the fans, to see the best players in the league let loose a little bit so we can look at them as people like us, rather than rich superstars.

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Digital Dads Week in Sports: Gamecocks Two-Peat College World Series

Friday, July 1st, 2011

I know not everyone can be as big of a baseball fan as I am. I love every aspect of the game, from the pitching to the hitting to the defense and strategy. I love the statistical depth to the analysis of the sport and hell, I love watching it. I know that’s tough to swallow because at times it can be boring, but if you were watching the College World Series from start to finish, it wasn’t boring at all. There was all the drama of a full series, even though it was a double elimination bracketed tournament. South Carolina became the first team to go undefeated in the tournament since Miami in 2001. Dating back to last year’s CWS, they were on a 16-0 playoff streak.

This might not be impressive to some, but the final in this years College World Series was against Florida. Florida has shown strong offense all year long, which is what got them to the series in the first place. They never seemed to falter against strong pitching, but seemed to have trouble against the Gamecocks in the final, especially against Michael Roth in game 2, as he was in clear control of the game. The standout was second baseman Scott Wingo, who was named most outstanding player. He had the winning run earlier in the tournament against Texas A&M, and made absolutely outstanding defensive plays in the extra innings game one against Florida, saving the game for the Gamecocks.

“We might not be the most talented team, but I wouldn’t play with any other people,” said Wingo. “We’ll straight up fight you, and for you to beat us, for somebody to take our title, they’re going to have to take it from us and just beat us. They didn’t do it. Everybody turned it up a notch. It’s awesome.”

It was awesome, and exciting to watch. Roth echoed the sentiments felt by Wingo about it being a team effort, even though at times it did seem singular. “We’re not the most talented team, and we don’t have the best players position for position,” Roth said, “but we go out and stick together as a team. We battle. I can’t describe it. We’re a bunch of average Joes and love each other and come out and battle.” For the record, Wingo has been drafted by the Dodgers, an 11th round pick.

What’s most interesting about the College World Series this year, aside from the brand new TD-Ameritrade Stadium in Omaha, was the new bats. The new bats are deader than they used to be, so they have less pop. College uses aluminum bats, and they tend to make the game feel like slow pitch softball. The new design made the game a bit more like baseball should be as far as the contact and hitting. This is evident from the drop in batting average during the regular season, from .305 in 2010 to .282 in 2011. Home runs were down almost half, and scoring was down as well. This is a good thing for college ball though, as it was more of a hitters game, than a pitchers game. The series was all pitching. Even though Florida lost both games, excellent pitching along with run support brought them to the championship game.

Congrats to the Gamecocks, and I look forward to next years series. If you have a college near you, make sure you go check out the baseball games. It’s usually pretty cheap and makes for a good weekend afternoon with the family.

U.S. Women Start off with a Bang

Probably the only women’s sport that I’ll watch besides beach volleyball (for obvious reasons) is the FIFA Women’s World Cup. While I haven’t had the chance to watch any matches this year, as it’s being played in Germany, the women are already off to a good start. By that I mean the American team of course. While the Men’s team struggles in North American matches, the women’s team still manages to make the men look like chumps. They started off the tournament with a big win over North Korea, blasting them 2-0.

The game opened a bit sloppy, but the Americans were able to get their shit together and put two goals in the net. There is no reason to think that this team won’t be contending for a third world cup championship, as they are a strong team with a veteran foundation. The key for the women is going to be keeping their emotions in check – go figure – throughout the tournament. Once they get a lead, they tend to get a bit cocky, and the opposite is true when they are playing from behind. This team plays best in tight matches, when they can better control the pace of the game.

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Part 2: Lack of Athletic Creativity = A Missed Opportunity to Excel

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

Last week I wrote the first of a series of blogs on “Athletic Creativity”.

It stirred many responses and comments, while many liked the article some thought I was criticizing team sport athletes for their lack of creativity. I can assure you I was not criticizing team sport athletes. My point was, youth team sports need to do more to develop creativity in our young athletes. This is a sentiment that many high level college coaches have expressed to me over the past 5 to 10 years. Many college coaches consistently spend too much time trying to deprogram incoming freshman to become less robotic and command driven, and more open to experimenting with what they’ve learned.

Last week I wrote: “Creatively there is no question that a young action sport athlete has a tremendous advantage over a young team sport athlete. Unfortunately, unlike action sports, team sports don’t emphasize improvisation, where freestyle execution of skills are frowned upon and often not allowed by coaches. Action sport athletes have the freedom to learn and develop on their own, through their own style and creativity. Team sport athletes are robotic, waiting to be told what to do, stymied through a right and wrong way to execute skills.” This week let’s look at several different ways to incorporate the development of creativity into team sports.

One of the main reasons kids struggle with their athletic creative development is the fact that they spend less time outside with their friends playing, experimenting, and replicating or mimicking great athletic plays they’ve witnessed on television, the internet, etc. Many of us did this growing up, you’re in the driveway by yourself, and there’s 3 seconds left, you pull-up beyond the 3 point line, you shoot ….. IT”S GOOD!!! If we’re not giving kids enough time to go out and play with their free time, then it’s time to bring that to organized practices.

Simple Examples to Develop Athletic Creativity


BASEBALL

A drill I use to conduct with my little league team when we’re working with outfielders to track and catch balls hit into the gap was a simple but fun QB/WR Drill with a baseball and gloves. After practicing the fundamental basics of catching a routine fly ball we have players go out for passes into a large marked end zone, entering either from the right or from the left. Points were achieved for every ball caught in the end zone that they chased down. If they caught a ball while diving for the ball they received bonus points. The magic behind this drill was that it was fun, kids wanted to do it repetitively, and it forced them to execute catching a ball outside their comfort zone of a routine catch. They also had to creatively adapt, they improvised and free-styled their way into catching the ball. They were preparing themselves for any type of situation that may occur on the field, while building their confidence that they could successfully make dramatic and difficult plays.

SOCCER

The process in the drill just described above is one that skate and snowboarders use all the time. They work on the basic fundamentals while also mixing in fun challenges that increase the degree of difficulty and force themselves to visualize and think through how to best execute that skill or trick. The same can be used in team sport athletic skill training. Let’s take for example a soccer team working on their shooting skills. The team begins by working on some basic shooting drills and the fundamentals of correctly striking a soccer ball. Then in order to raise the level of difficulty and enhance the interest of everyone practicing the drill, you ask the team to attempt to bend the ball around objects, in order to hit a target. The next progression would involve moving the players to a position between a goal and the corner kick spot on the field but slightly behind the end line. Though this type of shot would never be allowed in a game, it presents a challenge that emphasizes the need to bend the ball into the goal, forcing them to visualize and think through the best execution of how to achieve bending a shot. After a player successfully places this type of shot into the goal you move that player 3 to 6 feet further back and away from the end line. Each player continues to move back, with the player who scores from the furthest distance back winning the competition. Then repeat from the other side.

Though maybe considered an unorthodox drill, it is the type of creative challenge that captures the imagination of an athlete and reinforces the skill into their muscle memory and can be pulled up much easier when the time comes to execute the skill of bending a ball around a wall of defenders or a goal keeper.

These are only a few examples of creative methods to apply to learning fundamental athletic skills. I will continue to provide other examples as this series continues over the next several weeks. I would also love to share creative drills that you have used, you saw a coach use, or you experienced when you participated.

Solving the issues in youth sports needs to be a conversation that we all participate in as we witness and experience different things that happen on our children’s playing fields. I look forward to hearing more of your great insight into this subject as well!

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Digital Dads Week in Sports: NCAA Women Outshine the Men

Friday, April 8th, 2011

The NCAA Women's Tournament was actually FUN to watch. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Yippie yo. As of this writing we are five games into Baseball season. MLB has kicked off with a bang, on both sides of the ball. Some pitchers are hot, some hitters are hot and some stadiums won’t see a sell out this year (see: Progressive Field.) Either way, baseball season is back and that makes this baseball fan happy. Right now I’m watching ESPN 2 as they rotate around the league. Fun fun. So, on that note we’ll start off with some baseball new. Probably not the news you want though.

Rays Open 0-5, Manny Booed, Manny Benched

The Tampa Bay Rays, after dumping payroll and staff after winning the AL East last season, picked up Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon for basically pennies on the dollar. However, the full “what have you done for me lately” attitude of the fans was in full effect Tuesday night as Manny was booed during his at-bats, then subsequently benched the next day. What was he booed for? Well, apparently for just being Manny. He hasn’t been terrible – it’s only been five fucking games. As a long time Rays fan, since their inception in 1998, I am terribly embarrassed by the morons that barely filled the stadium during that game. A bunch of half-wits and poor baseball fans. Boo the Red Sox, sure. Boo the Yankees, but booing a single player for the performance of the team? Stupid.

In related news, the Red Sox have also opened up 0-4 (at the time of writing they are playing the Indians and losing.) While I’m happy about this, it doesn’t bode well for what is supposed to be the strongest division in baseball. Add to that Mariano Rivera snubbing the media because he had a bad game. He left the team to cover for him. C’mon man, good or bad game you gotta face the media. It’s part of the job. You are part of the team. You want my early predictions for the World Series? I’m going Twins and Cubs. That’s right. You heard it here first. Twins and Cubs.

Butler Loses to UConn in Lamest National Championship Game Ever

For the first time in history, a team in the NCAA Men’s National Championship game failed to score over 50 points. The final score was 53-41. That would be Butler, as they failed to repeat, or to even compete at a high level against the Huskies. Conversely, UConn sucked too. Neither team was making shots, even though they were getting good looks. Butler only had six turnovers, but were terrible from the foul line and held to only two freaking points within the paint. The only reason UConn won was because of their depth on the bench and their length on the court.

Neither defense was outstanding either. Sure, UConn was a bit more stifling as far as pressure, but Butler was just missing shots left and right. I think this had more to do with just being plain worn out from the tournament to that point. VCU, underdogs or not, was not an easy team to beat. Butler was worn down by the time they tipped off well after 9pm EST on Monday night. UConn took advantage of that late in the game with defensive pressure on the tired Butler offense.

This stinker of a game raises another argument about the intense and hurried schedule of the tournament. While a days rest is normal between games in the regular season, a days rest after a near non-stop tournament in multiple locations might not be enough. That argument falls flat though when you consider the game last year. Basically, I think fans would have liked to see more out of both teams in the national championship game, but they were clearly winded from the tournament. Good on UConn on pushing forward and taking the title.

Meanwhile, the Women Were Scoring

Over in the women’s basketball division, they were actually scoring baskets. The Texas A&M Aggies won 76-70 over Notre Dame in an exciting back and forth battle that made the men’s championship game look like a pick-up game in an elementary school playground. Senior Danielle Adams scored 30 points in what was essentially a road game for the Aggies, the tournament final being held in Indianapolis.

Sadly, the television numbers were no where near what they were for the men’s tourney, though A&M coach Gary Blair thinks that women’s basketball is ripe for proper marketing, if only someone would step up and market it correctly.

“We need to spend money to make money, and a lot of programs do not do that,” Blair said. “They will not put enough money into women’s basketball. Women’s basketball grows in so many ways besides the dollar bill.”

He’s noticed a few signs of women’s basketball gaining prominence at his school. “You know, it’s sort of funny, spring football is going on at the same time,” he said. “Our baseball team is very, very good. They just changed the start of the baseball game on Tuesday night to 5 because we were going to be on TV at 7. Could you picture that happening?”

If women’s basketball was marketed and televised as much as the men’s game – would you watch it? At the college level of course. Watching the WNBA is akin to watching a hair salon get swept out in the evening.

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Digital Dads Week In Sports: Behaving Badly

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Bad Roger! No Hall for you! (Image: AP | DAVID J. PHILLIP)

After March Madness (which isn’t quite over) it’s been a bit of a slow week. This weekend should be crazy awesome, what with the Final Four & NCAA Men’s Championship (as well as the women’s) and MLB opening day. I’m really looking forward to opening day, and for the first time since 1998, I won’t be at the Rays home opener. Kind of suck, but thems the breaks right? There were some stories this past week that caught my attention, all of them having something to do with bad behavior in sports. Hell, there are enough of these stories every week that I could almost just change the column to highlighting bad behavior.

Clemens Looking Forward to Trial

While Barry Bonds is hanging out in federal court defending himself against perjury, Roger Clemens, the 7 time Cy Young award winner, is looking forward to defending himself in federal court this summer. Clemens is also facing a perjury trial, accused of lying to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in February 2008. Prosecutors say that Clemens, at some point over his 23 year career, was using steroids then lied to them about it.

“You almost hate to say you’re looking forward to it, but we’re looking forward to it,” Clemens said. “We’re going to have our say in a fair setting. I’ve been great about not talking about it, and we’re going to handle it the right way.”

As a fan of baseball my whole life and following Clemens (among many other players) throughout his career I have to say – he used steroids. A ton of players used steroids. For a while, in the mid 90′s, it was the norm. There is no doubt in my mind, and in Jose Canseco’s mind, that many popular players were getting jacked so they could jack the longball. It could be said, that after the strike in ’94, steroid use saved baseball and got the fans back in the seats. Fans want to see homeruns, and with players having more power – that was more likely. More evidence to this is the season after Bonds, McGwire and Sosa went crazy with the homeruns, the steroid use was revealed and the homeruns drastically dropped.

Look, I’m a baseball purist and think that if steroids are necessary to rehabilitation, then so be it. However, using them to get jacked is another story. Of course, there is another argument to the steroid use – it doesn’t make you a better hitter. There is still a ton of skill involved in hitting the freaking baseball. Really though, at this point I just want the truth. Andy Pettite told the truth, and did anyone give a shit after that? Nope. Pettite used steroids, he told the truth and all is well. Giambi told the truth, no one cared after that. His legacy isn’t ruined (tainted perhaps, but not ruined.) Bonds and Clemens are further tainting their legacies by lying. If there is anything a purist baseball fan hates more than steroid use – it’s lying. Which I suppose is why Rose is still not in the hall of fame.

BCS is A-Ok With Booting Fiesta Bowl

Amid allegations of corruption, the chief executive, John Junker, of the Fiesta Bowl has been ousted. The BCS is nonplussed about this, and has no objections to just simply kicking the Fiesta Bowl out of the BCS Bowl Series. The Fiesta Bowl group (or whatever) is now fighting an uphill battle to continue to be included in the BCS Bowl games.

“The entire Fiesta Bowl family is angered and disappointed by what we’ve seen in the report and by the actions of Mr. Junker,” board chairman Duane Woods told reporters at the event’s headquarters in downtown Scottsdale.

I’m pretty sure that if the BCS decided to look into the whole college bowl system, they’d see a lot of fuck-ups, not just by the ones in Scottsdale. There is so much dirty money being passed around, it could fill ten freaking landfills. Of course, I’m just guessing at that – but you know that it’s true. It’s interesting that the BCS doesn’t really give a flying shit about the Fiesta Bowl, you’d think as much heat as they have put up with over the years, they’d work harder to help the Fiesta Bowl clear its name as an organization. Or, they could do what they are doing now – not give a shit – and give another non BCS bowl the chance to join the BCS in the shitty ass system that it is.

Tampa Bay Bucs Are the New Bengals

Cornerback Aqib Talib turned his dumb ass into police after – get this – “Police said they believe Talib and his mother, Okolo Talib, shot at the man March 21.” That’s right, Aqib and his freaking mother were popping shots at some dude. Doesn’t matter the reason, the fact that yet another NFL player has turned himself into a felon is just astonishing. What is wrong with these people? I don’t say that as a “black people” thing, but as a fucking NFL player thing. The worst part is, this is just the beginning. Now that there is a strike looming, and a season in jeopardy, this type of thing is going to happen more often than not.

Think about it, once the players disbanded the union in order to file a lawsuit, all the rules about drug use and guns and what not went with it. It’s like suddenly telling a bunch of third graders on the playground that they are on their own. What are they going to do? Not drugs and guns (well, some of them) but fight and get unruly. That is exactly what is happening and going to happen in the NFL unless they get some deal in place soon. For every good boy like Peyton, there are a bunch of lower lever assholes making NFL players look bad. Dealing drugs, getting caught with truck-fulls of weed, guns and going to the “script” club.

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The Dark Days of Sports

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

I am a huge sports fan. I always have been.

I grew up playing them and then due to a stupid doctor, I was scared out of playing them in high school. But, all that aside I can plop down on the couch and pretty much watch any sporting event.

Dylan and a BIG Patriot FanRight now though is what I refer to as “the dark days of sports.”

While I love going to a baseball game and watching it live, I just can’t watch a game on television. Not unless it is October and it is the playoffs. THEN I can watch baseball on TV. I find it boring and I’d almost rather watch golf. Which by the way is the one sport that I have zero interest in. I’ve tried playing it and watching it and neither do anything for me.

For me, once the NHL and NBA playoffs are over I get bored with sports. The occasional tennis match will grab my attention and this year we thankfully had the World Cup to cheer for. But, right now there is nothing for me.

I know we only have a few weeks left until the NFL starts back up. More than any other sport I’m a die hard football fan. I’ve rooted for the Miami Dolphins my entire life (which is loads of “fun” when you grow up in New England) and this year they finally look like they have a better then usual chance of doing something good. Go Fins!!

Thankfully I’m blessed with a wife who is also a football fan (she roots for the Baltimore Ravens) and Sunday in our house is nothing but football. Opening day we always go over the top and cook a ton of tailgating food to celebrate. I don’t know what is on the menu yet this year but it is always yummy and bad for you. As good tailgating should be.

Am I the only one who gets down in the dumps missing sports this time of year? I’m curious.

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The shoe cables a repent reward near the visible.