7 posts tagged “sports”
Nothing like the Yankees / Red Sox rivalry to spark interest in the baseball season. Watching the intensity of the fans, players and coaches is a testament to the love that they all have for the game, the willingness they have to compete and the pure enjoyment they get from the experience.
(Go Red Sox!)
Talia is gearing up here for a few days of rooting for the Bruins as they are in town playing Stanford and Cal in hoops. We still need to work on understanding how "The Bruins" are not just a football team like "The Niners" - but either way, she has fun putting on the jersey and busting out eight claps throughout the games.
Not sure where it came from, but Talia the other night said her first "curse" word.
"Damn," she said
"Where did you learn that?" I asked
"Nobody" (along with "nothing' it is her favorite word when she does something wrong)
"Why did you say that?"
"I say that when I get caught"
Team looked good against Stanford will be ready to make another strong run at a National Championship this year. Their defense is back and they have a big man. Love is the type of center that they have needed for years, as he is big, athletic and not afraid as a Freshman to take control. He will fall right in line under the amazing freshman hoopsters that have come to Westwood and immediately made an impact. If they can stay healthy (especially Collison) they will be a force. Amazing what can happen when you have a great coach!
Westbrook - has major hops
Love - can neutralize the teams with big men
Collison - completely under-rated, can make things happen
Shipp - can shoot, is fast and needs to start believing how good he can be
Moute - kicks Boute
Don't tell me you are surprised!
I hope not. As many of the baseball players that you have seen over the last 10+ years are now being named for steroid use, this should not be shocking to anyone. News flash to the media! Barry Bonds was not the only superstar taking steriods, so quit making him the poster child.
Over the past 10+ years we have seen:
- all-time home run record broken
- single season home run record broken
- fans blaming the ball (of all things) saying it was "juiced"
- players getting bigger (look at pictures of Sosa when we was a Texas Ranger)
- salaries have skyrocketed (the avg. salary for a Major League
- pharma getting smarter
- more internationalization throughout baseball
- pressure to succeed
- media feeding ego
Athletes are always looking for an edge in the same way that people in Hollywood are looking for the fountain of youth (nutrition, training, yoga, supplements, performance enhancing supplements, caffeine, uppers, other stimulants)
Baseball players quickly lose confidence in their abilities (when you fail 7 out of 10 times and are considered the best in the world, that is tons of failure.)
Steroids have not always been against the rules OR clearly defined; at times the performance enhancing science is more advanced then the knowledge of the people policing this behavio
GNC supplies athletes with some performance enhancements that are closer to bleeding edge and take years to either regulate or ban.
Don't wonder why
A small percentage of players in the big leagues are head and shoulders better then the average player. Bonds or Griffey are guys that could run, hit for average, field, hit for power at an exceptionally high level. What separates the rest? Just getting there you need some luck, friends, high investment in draft choice or scout with a reputation the org wants to protect. Ultimately it can come down to a slight edge. Maybe 25 HR vs 15 HR, 3.7 to first vs 3.9, 95 mph fastball vs 91 mph, 4.5 40 vs. 4.7 40. This is the edge that can be the difference.
Griffey
Griffey has been a guy that has relied on his natural tools to play the game. I have heard stories about his early years with the Mariners where he wouldn't lift, wouldn't stretch, didn't have a great work ethic and could still hit a slider on the outer half of the plate 120mph right at the pitchers head. (Watch your lips!)
Are baseball players motivated by $$$?
The median salary has gone up dramatically as the business side of baseball has learned out to better monetize the sport through large network contracts, cable distribution deals, corporate sky boxes, luxury stadiums, videogames and other merchandising efforts.
In 1988 the median salary for the top team was $500K (Astros)
In 1996 the median salary for the top team was $1,100K (Yankees)
In 2007 the median salary for the top team was $3,591,667
In 19 years it is over 7 times higher.
Who is to blame?
MLB has definitely looked the other way and has not done it's job protecting the integrity of the game that it claims to hold sacred - but let's not make them solely responsible.
Integrity schmegrity...
The integrity of the game is sooooo relative. Frequently ballplayers will say, "if you aren't cheating you aren't trying" as they scuff the balls with sandpaper, load up their gloves with pinetar, yell things at guys running the bases to trick them, charge the mound to start a melee, drill their opponent in the head with a fastball, frame the pitch to deceive the umpire, steal signs from the opposition and relay them from the runner on 2nd base, cork their bats, put superballs in their bats, raise the seams on the ball....
Co dependent behavior
Trainers knew
Owners suspected (and in some cases knew)
GM's knew
Other management knew
MLBPA knew
Fellow players knew
Girlfriends / Wives knew
Media / Beat writers knew
Was Brady Anderson really capable of 50 bombs on his own?
I think Roger Clemens tipped us off during the World Series several years ago when he hurled a broken bat at Mike Piazza. If that wasn't roid rage...
They went deeper into the psyche of the athlete.
This morning while watching GameDay (huge day in college football today) I saw the latest Under Armour commercial.
They nailed it.
Under Armour has always done a great job of showing the insider perspective of the football player in their marketing. They have always been geared towards athletes, being founded by a former college football player Kevin Plank. Thousands of aspiring college athletes have spent much of their lives working their ass off lifting weights, running, eating right and supplementing their bodies so that they can successfully chase their dream of playing in the NFL.
This life is full of sacrifice, discipline, hard work and sweat. Today’s athlete doesn’t just show up and perform. In Under Armour’s latest commercial they show ripped football players doing all the tests that you would go through in the pro combine. The combines are where all the aspiring college athletes step into a lab, like a rat, and get measured, do position drills, do physical tests (40 yard dash, shuttle run, vertical jump and 225 bench where you push as many reps as you can handle.
Check out how this spot integrates many of these elements: using Steve Spurrier discussing a prospect, showing the lights of night games, showing quick paced events from the combine, the rain coming down, etc. This Is Good.
Stanford Stadium rocks. Their fan support sucks.The game was fun and smoking hot. (100 degrees yesterday?) What I don't understand is why Stanford fans suck so much.
Ghost Town
A ranked opponent was in town and the game didn't come close to selling out, despite the gorgeous new stadium. Across town in Berkeley, in a worn out tired soon to be replaced if they can get the guy out of the tree, Cal's game was sold out against Tennesee. (Good job Cal). Are there so many things to do on the peninsula that all of the thousands of Stanford Alumns can't come support their team?
Get into the game
Two gigantic plasma screens, a state of the art sound system pumping energy throughout the stadium and nobody listens. When Stanford was still in the game, the crowd must have been surfing their Ipods. Mega decibles of "Let's go Cardinal" or some techno pumped melody that would have make a Florida Gator crowd jump out of their seat and scream.....nothing.
Know the players
Hearing people question the name of their quarterback TC Ostrander, (a Menlo Atherton High School grad, Go Bears! ) says it all. "Who is the guy playing quarterback this year..." "What is his name?" Funny that in the 80s, everyone knew who was playing quarterback (...and running back, offensive line, defensive line, etc.)
One of the exceptions to the abovementioned is my Mom. She has shown up to games for over 30 years, roots hard, screams even when they are down and is truly a great Cardinal fan.
Deep...deep...deep....out.
Just missed going deep to left. Was great for the country to see how hard it is to hit the ball out of AT&T park.
If Bonds played in one of the other bandbox stadiums, he would easily have another 10-15 bombs a year.
Bonds received a standing ovation from the San Francisco crowd. Was a great moment.
Can the Warriors get to the next round?
