Sports and Society

Anyone still around? What do you think about this?

“The Mets consider their players’ psyches so fragile that they no longer provide copies of The Post or the other NY tabloid in their Citi Field clubhouse.  The newspapers were a staple of the Mets’ clubhouse for decades at Shea Stadium, but a source said team management didn’t want the players exposed to the ‘bad vibes’ from the tabloids after back-to-back September collapses.  The only newspaper now provided in the clubhouse is USA Today, whose coverage of the Mets is very limited.” -NYP, 5.5.09

Stephen Curry, the nation’s leading scorer just announced that he will forsake his senior year to go pro.  http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2009-04-23-curry-announcement_N.htm

USA Today already has a blog up speculating on how he will do. We should too. Is coming from such an academically strong college in a league with questionable competition going to be a big negative?

Boston Globe comments on marathoners and long-term benefits.  Anybody want to tackle one someday?

The Ties That Bind

by Ty  Velde

One thing I have always enjoyed about marathon running is the camaraderie and community associated with it.  Everyone who’s ever run a marathon has their own personal experience, and while those who’ve never ran a marathon often react to you with a sense of awe; your fellow marathoners will more often than not, react with a sense of empathy. The reason being is that it’s your fellow marathoners who really understand what running a marathon is all about and what it really takes to accomplish what is both a very challenging physical, as well as mental, feat.

Therefore, whether you are an elite runner or someone who’s running for the first time, the experience of a marathon really creates a sense of community that forms an unspoken bond that exists between us all. I can’t begin to count the number people I’ve met and bonded with over the marathon experience. Whether it’s on a plane, at a party or even a business dinner, when you’re speaking with someone and suddenly the subject of a marathon comes up, it amazes me how suddenly you can go from being almost complete strangers to old friends. When sharing stories and experiences ranging from training to injuries to race day, the conversation between two marathoners can just take off and flow.

On the bus to Hopkington, I personally love speaking with people about their qualifiers, as everyone always tends to have a great story and have qualified in different races from all over the country and the world. This is also a great way to find out about other races (or qualifiers) and what they’re really like. Sure when you’re at the Expo you’ll see a ton of booths promoting a lot of races, but nothing beats getting first hand information from someone who’s actually been on the course and crossed the finish line.

One thing about marathon running is that there really does seem to be a feeling of mutual respect that transcends the community. Whether you’re an elite athlete or a first-time runner, we all know that marathon running is an intense commitment, as well as experience. Running a marathon instills a tremendous sense of personal pride that’s not necessarily associated with the “time”, but more importantly the accomplishment. As a result, it’s something that everyone who’s run a marathon understands and contributes to it fostering such great community.

However, a fundamental reason that I personally believe that marathon running fosters such a great community is because at the core of it all it’s an intensely personal experience. Unless you are a true elite runner, when you’re out on the course the person you’re really competing against is yourself. Sure, there might be those few people around you that you mark as the ones to beat, but in reality, these people are not competitors, but rather subconscious motivators. Therefore, when on the course whether you’re goal is to set a PR of just cross the finish line, the person that you’re really competing against is yourself. As a result, when you cross the finish line the result is a sense of tremendous personal accomplishment that not many other “life experiences” can compete with.  It’s these personal experiences that help to create the larger community that we’re all a part of. It’s these personal experiences that make you want to say “Hey, I’ve been there too”.

In the end, it’s hard to pin down exactly the one thing that brings us all together, but maybe that’s exactly the reason why the community of marathon runners is so open, dynamic, accepting and vibrant.

The coach of a girls youth soccer team (6 and 7 year olds) resigned today after backlash from a slightly hilarious, slightly inspiring, and overall amazing e-mail that was sent to parents before the season.

The e-mail in full:

Congratulations on being selected for Team 7 (forest green shirts) of the Scituate Soccer Club! My name is Michael and I have been fortunate enough to be selected to coach what I know will be a wonderful group of young ladies. Chris Mac will also be coaching and I expect the ever popular Terry to return to the sidelines. Our first game will be Saturday April 4 at 10:00AM. There will be a half hour of skills followed by a 1 hour game, so total time will be 1.5 hours. All games will be played on the fields in the front of the High School. Each player will be required to wear shin guards and cleats are recommended but not required. A ball will be provided to each player at the first meeting, and each player should bring the ball to games and practices. There is no set practice time allotted for the U8 teams, but I will convene with the coaches to determine the best time and place. If there are cancellations due to rain, all notices will be posted via the Scituate Soccer Club website, no calls will be made (though I will try to send an email). Attached is the Schedule and Code of Conduct. After listening to the head of the referees drone on for about 30 minutes on the dangers of jewelry (time which I will never get back), no player will be allowed to play with pierced ears, hairclips, etc. We used to tape the earings, but that practice is no longer acceptable. Please let me know if your child has any health issues that I need to be aware of. My home phone is 781 XXX XXXX, my cell number is 781 XXX XXXX, and I check my email frequently. According to my wife, my emails get too wordy, so for those of you read too slowly, are easily offended, or are too busy, you can stop here. For the others……

OK, here’s the real deal: Team 7 will be called Green Death. We will only acknowledge “Team 7” for scheduling and disciplinary purposes. Green Death has had a long and colorful history, and I fully expect every player and parent to be on board with the team. This is not a team, but a family (some say cult), that you belong to forever. We play fair at all times, but we play tough and physical soccer. We have some returning players who know the deal; for the others, I only expect 110% at every game and practice. We do not cater to superstars, but prefer the gritty determination of journeymen who bring their lunch pail to work every week, chase every ball and dig in corners like a Michael Vick pit bull. Unless there is an issue concerning the health of my players or inside info on the opposition, you probably don’t need to talk to me. Coach MacDonald has been designated “good guy” this year.

Some say soccer at this age is about fun and I completely agree. However, I believe winning is fun and losing is for losers. Ergo, we will strive for the “W” in each game. While we may not win every game (excuse me, I just got a little nauseated) I expect us to fight for every loose ball and play every shift as if it were the finals of the World Cup. While I spent a good Saturday morning listening to the legal liability BS, which included a 30 minute dissertation on how we need to baby the kids and especially the refs, I was disgusted. The kids will run, they will fall, get bumps, bruises and even bleed a little. Big deal, it’s good for them (but I do hope the other team is the one bleeding). If the refs can’t handle a little criticism, then they should turn in their whistle. The sooner they figure out how to make a decision and live with the consequences the better. My heckling of the refs is actually helping them develop as people. The political correctness police are not welcome on my sidelines. America’s youth is becoming fat, lazy and non-competitive because competition is viewed as “bad”. I argue that competition is good and is important to the evolution of our species and our survival in what has become an increasingly competitive global economy and dangerous world. Second place trophies are nothing to be proud of as they serve only as a reminder that you missed your goal; their only useful purpose is as an inspiration to do that next set of reps. Do you go to a job interview and not care about winning? Don’t animals eat what they kill (and yes, someone actually kills the meat we eat too – it isn’t grown in plastic wrap)? And speaking of meat, I expect that the ladies be put on a diet of fish, undercooked red meat and lots of veggies. No junk food. Protein shakes are encouraged, and while blood doping and HGH use is frowned upon, there is no testing policy. And at the risk of stating the obvious, blue slushies are for winners.

These are my views and not necessarily the views of the league (but they should be). I recognize that my school of thought may be an ideological shift from conventional norms. But it is imperative that we all fight the good fight, get involved now and resist the urge to become sweat-xedo-wearing yuppies who sit on the sidelines in their LL Bean chairs sipping mocha-latte-half-caf-chinos while discussing reality TV and home decorating with other feeble-minded folks. I want to hear cheering, I want to hear encouragement, I want to get the team pumped up at each and every game and know they are playing for something.

Lastly, we are all cognizant of the soft bigotry that expects women and especially little girls, to be dainty and submissive; I wholeheartedly reject such drivel. My overarching goal is develop ladies who are confident and fearless, who will stand up for their beliefs and challenge the status quo. Girls who will kick ass and take names on the field, off the field and throughout their lives. I want these girls to be winners in the game of life. Who’s with me?

Go Green Death!

 http://www.patriotledger.com/sports/x575…

Although the coach claims the e-mail was meant in jest, he admits there is some truth to his sentiment.  Most parents were outraged, but a few were said to support him.  I know I do.

The U.S. has glorified gluttony to the extent that we have become enamored with “eating contests.” The most famous is hot dogs on July 4th at Nathan’s.  Here’s a sports team which is feeding off the obesity epidemic.  Can someone pass the Tums?

Mich. Baseball Park to Offer 4,800-Calorie Burgers

The 4-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips on an 8-inch sesame-seed bun. That’s a lot of dough! The Grand Rapids Press reports that anyone who eats the entire 4,800-calorie behemoth in one sitting will receive a special T-shirt. The Midwest League team is a Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

I find the tale of former professional athletes incredibly tragic. Most of them weren’t rich before they’d signed their first professional contract. During their years of play, they have, depending on skill and longevity, 3-10 years to make a fairly significant amount of money. However, we’ve now learned just how physically debilitated they can be after their playing careers, especially in a sport like football. Couple that with just how many professional athletes become bankrupt, I’m wondering just how much sympathy these athletes deserve. Many pro athletes go through tremendous swings in socioeconomic status, and it’s an experience that are often traumatic and harrowing. Society builds them up as heroes, the sport uses them and spits them out demented and/or injured without any intention to admit fault or claim responsibility, and most of them go broke shortly after retiring. A great number of professional athletes personify the Greek tragic hero myths to me. I’m just curious if others feel the same way, or wonder why there isn’t more done for the sake of these athletes after they’d retired?

WSJ just did a fine job on those pricey swimsuits.  Good to round out my knowledge with this.  One man even used Prof. Mills’ analogy of the different poles of pole vaulters.  91% of gold medal Beijing swimmers donned the LZRs. My question: How proud must the 9% non-LZR gold winners have felt on the podium, knowing that they triumphed over longer odds than ever?

The Suit That Changes Everything — Superfast, Superexpensive Gear Upends College Swimming; Teams That Go Without Get Left Behind

With the suits, which allow swimmers to float higher and cut through the water as never before, Auburn has a chance to remain among college swimming’s pre-eminent teams. Without the suits, they have no shot. “We’re hoping and praying the suits turn up,” said Brett Hawke, the team’s assistant coach.

A controversial about-face by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in September has turned college swimming upside down this season. Programs that never spent more than a few hundred dollars to outfit their athletes had to beg, borrow and scrounge to come up with nearly $20,000 for a season’s supply of the new generation of superfast, superexpensive swimsuits like the ones Michael Phelps wore in the Beijing Olympics.

In total, swimmers have set 82 world records wearing the Speedo LZR since its introduction last year, compared with an average of 15 in the past seven Olympic years. These results have caused a frenzy in a sport that has always seemed largely immune from the influence of technology.

“It’s like having one pole-vaulter using a fiberglass pole and another using a wooden pole,” said Phil Whitten, executive director of the College Swim Coaches Association. “It’s an absolute mess.”

FINA, the governing body for international swimming, announced earlier this month that it will begin a series of tests to determine how extensively the suits enhance performance, but it may take several years before a final determination is made and any new standards can be set. Speedo, the leading manufacturer of the high-tech suits, said all swimmers who requested the suits will have them for this weekend’s championships.

Speedo’s LZR ($550), Tyr’s Tracer Light ($320) and BlueSeventy’s Nero ($395) all compress swimmers from the ankles to the shoulder. They make swimmers more buoyant and have an ultra-smooth exterior that glides through the water far more easily than skin. Most troubling to coaches, the suits seem to help the flabby, lazier swimmers the most, because their fat gets compressed but remains more buoyant than dense muscle, allowing them to float higher in the water and swim faster. Also, the suits tend to fall apart after just a dozen swims, many coaches say. (Speedo says that if properly handled, the suits can last 30 hours.)

The effects of the technology are rippling through every level of swimming as collegiate programs wrestle with the cost of the suits and junior-level swimmers beg their parents and coaches to buy them several suits each year so they can stay competitive. “If you’re not wearing one, you’re definitely at a disadvantage,” said Ryan Signorin, a 14-year-old swimmer with Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., who is still waiting for his suit.

“I’m very disappointed that our sport has come to a point where I have to be as concerned with the swimsuits as I am with the swimmers,” said Dennis Dale, head coach at the University of Minnesota. “I’ve spent as much time finding suits this season as I have on anything else.”

Craig Brommers, director of marketing for Speedo in North America, said the company’s factory in Portugal can now produce some 80,000 LZRs annually but was unprepared for the massive demand after 91% of gold medalists in Beijing wore the suit. “There were some shortfalls,” said Mr. Brommers. He explained that the high cost reflects the years of research and development Speedo dedicated to the LZR. Speedo is owned by Pentland Group PLC of the U.K. but is licensed to New York-based Warnaco Group Inc. in North America.

Tracy Huth, chairman of the NCAA’s rules committee for swimming, said the group does not consider equipment costs when it sets guidelines. Once FINA affirmed its approval of the suits last year and they became commercially available to everyone, the NCAA followed suit. Mr. Huth said that “there is no empirical evidence the suits provide an advantage.” Many swim coaches say all the evidence is on the pool deck.

In January, Northwestern’s Bob Groseth brought his men’s team to a four-way meet in Columbus, Ohio, against Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan. Ohio State and Michigan wore the high-tech suits. For budget reasons Northwestern and Penn State had to save their suits for the Big Ten championships. Michigan eked out a 29-point win against Ohio State, but slaughtered Northwestern by 245-83 and Penn State 245-84. “It’s tough sending your guys into a meet knowing they don’t have the suits the other guys do,” Mr. Groseth said last week.

A University of Michigan spokesman said certain swimmers elected to wear the high-tech suits throughout the season. At the Southeastern Conference Championships last month, several rival schools tried to trade and borrow suits to keep the playing field even. Jerry Chandler, assistant coach at the University of Georgia, said he spent months acquiring used suits from the U.S. Olympic team and ordering from New Zealand-based BlueSeventy, but still made last-minute trades with University and Alabama and the University of Kentucky to try to get his swimmers in the correct sizes. Then came the ripped zippers and material tears known as “equipment malfunctions.” (The suit manufacturers blame improper handling for such problems.)

Mr. Chandler’s women’s 800-yard freestyle relay team lost the race when the back of swimmer Aleksandra Putra’s suit ripped open. She swam her leg 1.5 seconds slower than usual. “If it were up to most coaches, we’d get rid of them,” he said of the suits.

Lance Huber, head swim coach at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, is in that group. Mr. Huber’s school sent 28 swimmers to the Division III national championships last year. This year, his team couldn’t afford the high-tech suits and swam in the Speedo FSPro suits, deemed cutting-edge 18 months ago. Just one Luther College swimmer qualified.

One woman who went to the nationals last year, swam a personal record of 5:04 in the 500-yard freestyle in this season’s qualifying meet in February. Last year that time would have placed her in the top 15. This year it was good for the top 50. “It’s hard looking at these girls walking into nationals that we beat earlier in the season before they got the new suits,” Mr. Huber said. “Now we’re just trying to move forward.”

(Corrections & Amplifications, WSJ March 26, 2009)  Luther College sent 10 swimmers to the NCAA Division III Championships in 2008. A Tuesday sports page article about high-tech swimsuits incorrectly stated that the college sent 28 swimmers to the event. In addition, the assistant coach of the University of Georgia swim team is Jerry Champer. The article incorrectly gave his last name as Chandler.

So keeping with the theme of steroids in honor of Steroid Nation, I just wanted to get an idea of how many of us are indeed outraged by steroids in sports and for what reasons. Are we annoyed with the fact that steroids give some athletes an unfair advantage over others, or are we disdainful of their moral compass and their choices involving drugs? If we’re talking about the former, don’t some wealthier athletes who have amazing coaches and equipment have an unfair advantage over others (Rocky’s kin)? If we’re talking about the latter, how many college students have taken caffeine pills or adderall to stay awake and gain an advantage over their peers, without a thought about morality? http://www.theticker.org/sections/featur…

I know taking steroids is not right, but i still can’t quite make up my mind about what moral fiber is.

Does Boston Celtics have what it take to repeat? With the return of Kevin Garnett from a month absence due to a strained right knee, Boston Celtics was able to beat San Antonio Spurs; however, with the playoffs nearing, can Kevin Garnett stay healthy? If he does, can the Celtics have a better team dynamic with the addition of Stephon Marbury? Even if they do have a good team dynamic, do they have what it takes to beat the beast of the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers? With the way Cleveland Cavaliers are playing, they are certainly going to take the East, unless the Celtics step up their game. There are so many challenges that lie ahead for the defending champs including Orlando Magic from the east, and potential Western Champ, Los Angeles Lakers, only if Boston Celtics go to the NBA Finals. Can the Celtics do it again?

I recently just found out that NBA is trying to expand itself into London, Britain even though the news had been out for 5 months already. I am writing my research paper on NBA’s expansions when I came across this article

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=3636547&campaign=rsssrch&source=basketball+new+jersey+nets

that NBA is using Olympics as a way to market itself. One question that intrigues me tremendously is that I know NBA wants to expand itself globally to grow the business of basketball, but what other intentions are behind expanding globally? And why certain countries?