Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Rick Ankiel, Michael Vick, and Little League Baseball
It's been another fantastic week of sports, but with all that's going on, it's hard to just talk about one particular thing.
So we'll take a few moments to touch on some of what's happening around the world of sports, and hopefully that will lead to hearing some thoughts from you, the sports fans of the community.
Off we go.
-- -- --
In light of the ever-worsening negative stories we hear in sports, let's start this week's chat off on a good note: the story of Rick Ankiel.
If you haven't heard about the pitcher-turned-outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, it's one of those stories that makes Tom Rinaldi really excited about doing another piece for Sportscenter that involves a lot of muted lighting, piano music and phrases like "and just when things couldn't get any worse..."
Overemotional reporting aside, watching Ankiel's success since returning to the big leagues has been pretty amazing. He started his career as a promising pitcher with the Cardinals, but for some reason that maybe only Chuck Knoblauch can understand, he lost all sense of ball control and got shipped down to the minors.
Somewhere along the way, Ankiel figured out that he's a pretty decent hitter, so he became an outfielder, worked his way back up to AAA ball (where he led the league in home runs) and eventually got called back up to St. Louis.
Since his call-up a few weeks ago, he's batting over .300 and has five home runs, leading manager Tony LaRussa to give him plenty of playing time in left field. Oh, and as for his ball control -- after misjudging a fly ball against the Cubs on Monday, he recovered to throw out a runner trying to advance to third base with a spot-on toss.
I sincerely hope we hear more good things about Rick Ankiel.
-- -- --
And now, we have to touch on the ongoing atrocity that is the Michael Vick saga.
Obviously, the dog fighting aspect of the charges are pretty horrific, and there doesn't seem to be any need for ESPN to go into details anymore about what Vick may or may not have done to those animals.
The thing that's most disconcerting from the sports angle is that Vick was gambling, and apparently pretty heavily. It's never a good thing to find out that a professional athlete is into gambling -- especially now that the NBA referee scandal has hit the fan, it's on our collective mind -- because it has to be extremely tempting (and lucrative) to bet on the sport in which you compete.
Basically, if Vick was so desperate to gamble that he wagered on which dog would win a fight, it's not too crazy to think that he may have plunked down some cash on an NFL game. I don't know if we'll ever know for sure, but the question will always be there, even if we forget about the dogs.
One quick note on the Falcons: they're going to be a whole lot better off without Michael Vick. Maybe not this season, and especially not right away, but in the long run, they'll be glad they had an excuse to cut loose a 30-year-old quarterback with only one playoff win.
-- -- --
Finally, I'd like to wrap things up this week with a mixed reaction to the Little League World Series.
Don't get me wrong; I love that there's an outlet for kids to play a great game against other kids. The competition itself is a good experience when it's handled properly, and it looks as though it is.
I guess I'd just like to see more of a return to kids being kids. I remember growing up playing organized sports, but at most it was a once-a-week practice with a game on Saturday, and that was it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't a lot of leagues practice every day (especially once the kids are older than 11)?
Maybe it's the shift in society from neighborhoods to gated communities, or maybe it's a parental mindset that asserts that down time for a child is wasted time. I don't know.
But whatever it is, I really hope that kids out there have the time and the means to get away from mandatory practices and go play a game of wiffle ball (with a taped-up ball and bat) with whoever lives within biking distance.
I think I might even go see if the neighbors want to play this weekend.
-- -- --
Now of course this is just a small sampling of the many topics in the sports world these days, but I'm only one man and there's only so much room on this particular page.
But I'll tell you what: if you have a sports issue burning away at you and you want to share your thoughts with -- well, whoever will listen -- then drop me a line or eight at sports@valleycenter.com or by visiting www.valleycenter.com and clicking on the "RR Blogs" link to comment. I'm always happy to share your thoughts with the community, so keep those comments coming.
In the meantime, I think I'm going to have to consider giving up on sports writing, go back to the journalism minor leagues, and try to make a comeback as a TV weatherman.
I know who I can talk to for inspiration, anyway.
So we'll take a few moments to touch on some of what's happening around the world of sports, and hopefully that will lead to hearing some thoughts from you, the sports fans of the community.
Off we go.
-- -- --
In light of the ever-worsening negative stories we hear in sports, let's start this week's chat off on a good note: the story of Rick Ankiel.
If you haven't heard about the pitcher-turned-outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, it's one of those stories that makes Tom Rinaldi really excited about doing another piece for Sportscenter that involves a lot of muted lighting, piano music and phrases like "and just when things couldn't get any worse..."
Overemotional reporting aside, watching Ankiel's success since returning to the big leagues has been pretty amazing. He started his career as a promising pitcher with the Cardinals, but for some reason that maybe only Chuck Knoblauch can understand, he lost all sense of ball control and got shipped down to the minors.
Somewhere along the way, Ankiel figured out that he's a pretty decent hitter, so he became an outfielder, worked his way back up to AAA ball (where he led the league in home runs) and eventually got called back up to St. Louis.
Since his call-up a few weeks ago, he's batting over .300 and has five home runs, leading manager Tony LaRussa to give him plenty of playing time in left field. Oh, and as for his ball control -- after misjudging a fly ball against the Cubs on Monday, he recovered to throw out a runner trying to advance to third base with a spot-on toss.
I sincerely hope we hear more good things about Rick Ankiel.
-- -- --
And now, we have to touch on the ongoing atrocity that is the Michael Vick saga.
Obviously, the dog fighting aspect of the charges are pretty horrific, and there doesn't seem to be any need for ESPN to go into details anymore about what Vick may or may not have done to those animals.
The thing that's most disconcerting from the sports angle is that Vick was gambling, and apparently pretty heavily. It's never a good thing to find out that a professional athlete is into gambling -- especially now that the NBA referee scandal has hit the fan, it's on our collective mind -- because it has to be extremely tempting (and lucrative) to bet on the sport in which you compete.
Basically, if Vick was so desperate to gamble that he wagered on which dog would win a fight, it's not too crazy to think that he may have plunked down some cash on an NFL game. I don't know if we'll ever know for sure, but the question will always be there, even if we forget about the dogs.
One quick note on the Falcons: they're going to be a whole lot better off without Michael Vick. Maybe not this season, and especially not right away, but in the long run, they'll be glad they had an excuse to cut loose a 30-year-old quarterback with only one playoff win.
-- -- --
Finally, I'd like to wrap things up this week with a mixed reaction to the Little League World Series.
Don't get me wrong; I love that there's an outlet for kids to play a great game against other kids. The competition itself is a good experience when it's handled properly, and it looks as though it is.
I guess I'd just like to see more of a return to kids being kids. I remember growing up playing organized sports, but at most it was a once-a-week practice with a game on Saturday, and that was it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't a lot of leagues practice every day (especially once the kids are older than 11)?
Maybe it's the shift in society from neighborhoods to gated communities, or maybe it's a parental mindset that asserts that down time for a child is wasted time. I don't know.
But whatever it is, I really hope that kids out there have the time and the means to get away from mandatory practices and go play a game of wiffle ball (with a taped-up ball and bat) with whoever lives within biking distance.
I think I might even go see if the neighbors want to play this weekend.
-- -- --
Now of course this is just a small sampling of the many topics in the sports world these days, but I'm only one man and there's only so much room on this particular page.
But I'll tell you what: if you have a sports issue burning away at you and you want to share your thoughts with -- well, whoever will listen -- then drop me a line or eight at sports@valleycenter.com or by visiting www.valleycenter.com and clicking on the "RR Blogs" link to comment. I'm always happy to share your thoughts with the community, so keep those comments coming.
In the meantime, I think I'm going to have to consider giving up on sports writing, go back to the journalism minor leagues, and try to make a comeback as a TV weatherman.
I know who I can talk to for inspiration, anyway.
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