BASEBALL CRAZINESS

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…

BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN RICH When you have more money than you can possibly spend; when you are as competitive as the day is long; when anything less than a World Series ring will be considered a failure; and when your fiercest and most hated rival has won three championships in the last five…

NEWS OF HIS DEMISE . . . In case you missed it, I have a bit of an obsession.  I may enjoy baseball maybe a little too much.  Due to my obsession, I read a whole lot about the game (and even write a little bit, too). Because of how much I watch and read,…