Mama’s Got a Brand New Bag

I’ve taken a bit of hiatus from blogging, but it’s time to get cracking!  While most of the sporting world is focusing on the Olympics, my mind is elsewhere.  Somewhere unexpected… the Cleveland Indians.

That’s right, I’m thinking about the Tribe.  I’m working on a team preview for another site and that is the team I’m covering.  Pitchers and catchers report in just a few days and it’s time to put the nose to the grindstone.

What I’m thinking about specifically are the numerous statistics, scientific and mathematical equations that go into the analysis of sports, baseball in particular.  As a fan and student in the world of sports, I have a decent understanding of many of these.  However, as a newbie to writing, I admit that my level of knowledge when it come to things like WAR and Pitch F/X, still has room to grow.

So where does one educate themselves in more advanced forms of baseball analyses?  I’ve gone to other baseball sites, consulted books and watched the experts and I’m slowly learning.  It’s proving to be an interesting endeavor.  I do wish, however, that an appreciation for the numbers behind the game was instilled in me at a younger age.  Children these days are encouraged to play sports from a young age, however little emphasis is placed upon understanding the math behind the game.  Boys typically either gravitate toward more analytic understandings of sports or are exposed to it sooner, but it seems that in general, women are left a bit in the dust.

I don’t think it has to be that way.  The more I’ve learned the more interesting I find it.  Sports analyses could even be better incorporated into classrooms to teach math, science and statistics in more exciting real-world applications.  High school stats would have been a bit more exciting if we could have learned about more information like this… just saying!

(Photo courtesy of the Education Week blog)

Although They Say There’s No Crying in Baseball…

There definitely are stories that will choke you up.  ESPN E:60 often tells stories of overcoming great adversary that are truly touching.  Tonight’s story is the most inspiring and moving that I have ever seen.

This evening E:60 followed the story of Pat Chawki, a member of the championship Grant High School Baseball team.  Chawki suffers from Locked-In Syndrome.  This terrifying and debilitating condition has left him severely disabled, but perfectly cognitive.  The segment chronicled his struggle.  Many of his former high school friends and baseball teammates had no idea that he was still alive, much less battling this terrible condition, until a fellow Grant High Schooler, Laurie Green, stepped it in and made it her mission to help him out. 

It is just incredible how his teammates and friends have rallied around him.  There is no way I can do justice to this story, it is just too powerful for me to describe in my own words.  Please watch and hopefully you too will be in awe of this incredibly strong and brave man and his terrific friends and family.  Pat is already making incredible strides surrounded by the love and support of loved ones.  Watch the video above and visit the facebook page dedicated to him to find out how you can help and show your support.

Last Licks

I apologize in advance for the lack of high quality video documentation of the epic brawl between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays last week.  Unfortunately this is all I had to go off of as I was in L.A. for work (damn the time difference and shout out to Brian for keeping me in the loop).  A full recap of the bench-clearing brawl and its implications for both teams can be found on ESPN.  This particular fight is only an example of a larger issue that I am choosing to address today.

The issue of the day is sportsmanship.  Anyone who has played any sport, even if only in gym class, knows how the practices of sportsmanlike behavior are extolled in sports from a very young age.  There are various practices involved in conducting oneself in a sportsmanlike manner; not fighting being paramount. There are rules against it in varying degrees at all levels of sporting and across various activities.  We have rules in college football for over celebration, to fines for brawling Bombers and Blue Jays (although a few thousand is likely a drop in the bucket to the likes of Posada), to even even a mild tolerance for spats in hockey.

I believe in the virtues of sportsmanship, especially in youth sports, however I can’t deny the pleasure of the occasional brawl on the professional level.  I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but I can’t help it.  Just listen to the fans in the background of the video.  They were loving it too.  The raw physicality of sports brings this out in us.  The rules are there to keep games from running amok, athletes safe and performing as the role models they ought to be, however we can’t seem to turn down a good fight.  Heck, some of our sporting events are fighting (MMA, I’m talking to you).  Where is the line drawn?  Sporting events are entertainment and many of us are entertained by a bit of aggression and violence, however sports are also provide lessons to us all on the value of hard work and honorable behavior.

I’m not condoning it, or trying to provide some sort of moral compass regarding the issue, but I do think it is an interesting issue for discussion in the sporting world.  On paper do I encourage unsportsmanlike, aggressive behavior? No! But I can’t deny I that I do enjoy watching it.

A Time Before ESPN (say it isn’t so)

Due to an unfortunate oversight by my “friends” at TimeWarner, I was left last evening without cable or internet access.  Now how is a girl supposed to watch the Yankees game? (Props to them for having a near flawless run since the All-Star break, 11-1 last night against the Mariners last night in case you too missed it.  The picture above is a relic of the Yanks of old) 

Lacking any form connection to my preferred method of tracking sports I got to thinking about life before ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, YES, SNY and even broadcast sports coverage.  Obviously there were other outlets from which people could follow their favorite teams, but unless physically present I can only assume that sports during the early 20th century lacked the interactivity that we take for granted today.  How could one possibly fully enjoy the thrill of a 11th inning walk-off or the devastation of a 4th inning slaughter without streaming coverage and highlights?

Perhaps the during these simpler times we had a bit more imagination, however I still can’t seem to wrap my head around this one.  It clearly speaks to the passion and pleasure that sports derive even if one is only able to follow through newspaper and WOM (word-of-mouth for those not in a marketing field) that sports have survived and flourished throughout history.  That energy has carried various sporting activities to the 21st century and beyond, but boy am I glad that I grew up in the cable era!

Update: Cable turned back on today. First order of business; SportsCenter.