BASEBALL CRAZINESS

FROM G.O.A.T. to GOAT We live in a funny society.  And by “funny”, I mean wholly cruel and punishing. As a society, we love nothing more than a great story, a fairy tale come true.  And then we wait for – nee, we wish for, and often precipitate – the great fall.  It is as…

THE BLAME GAME On back to back days, we saw two Major Leaguers make major league heads up plays.  They literally ran the bases with their heads up, and took an extra base when others might/would have missed the opportunity. In Toronto, this resulted in a confused umpire, a littered field, and a tie-breaking run…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY On the day after my 16th birthday, as my street was filling with cars and my house was filling with teenagers (my parents were quite accommodating by leaving the continent shortly after I passed my driver’s test), Kirk Gibson gave us the greatest moment in Los Angeles sports history.  (Relax, Lakers fan.  This…

WORLDS/PLAYERS COLLIDE Two worlds collide, rival nations; it’s a primitive clash, venting years of frustrations.  Does the crowd understand?  Is it East versus West, or man against man?   (Extra points if you can reference the previous stanza (hint: it is a verse)). It’s Biggie vs. Tupac. It’s the Big Apple vs. Hollywood Glitz and…

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY . . . WHAT’S NEXT? It seems like just yesterday – but it was actually more than a year ago – that I started writing this blog. As I am certain you all recall, it was the A’s-Royals Wild Card game that inspired me to put fingers to keyboard and share my thoughts and…

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE . . . Here I was, dropping my son off for his bar mitzvah tutor, when I heard on the radio that the Royals had just won their division and were headed back to the playoffs.  If this had been a movie, everything around me suddenly would have been blurry and…

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE During these Days of Awe, I have been inspired to write a little off-topic.  I hope that does not offend too many of you (and if it does, I will atone), but I felt compelled to delve into the personal, even if just for a few hundred/thousand words. As I have mentioned…

WHILE YOU WEREN’T WATCHING While most of America settled in for their first weekend of football, and others watched the finals of the U.S. Open, and a religious few spent time setting the table for Erev Rosh Hashana, the fine folks of MLB were playing some of the most exciting baseball of the Summer.  Over…

FAULTY MATH If you have ever coached a Little League game, you are all too well acquainted with pitch counts.  Have a kid throw more than twenty pitches, he can’t go tomorrow.  Ride him for 85, and he is “burned” for the next four days.  Ironically, as a coach, you are often more attuned to…

HANGING AROUND Baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of numbers.  Historical numbers.  It just cannot be denied or avoided.  So, despite some push-back on a stat-laden posting a few weeks ago, I am going to dig deep into statistics today – numbers that we may all just take for granted. Many of…