My Wife the Sports Analyst
Just a quick one.
I was watching Lebron dominate last night and score 45 including a game-winner with .9 seconds left against Washington (Gilbert Arenas aint too bad either, but he still has two names as opposed to just Lebron).
Anyway, after I finished almost waking up my kids yelling at the combination of Lebron's strength and control getting to the rim like that, coupled with Antoine Jamisson and Washington's utter lack of defense, I was on the phone with my brother discussing the maturing that Lebron just did in that 3 seconds and what it could mean for his career. Why? Because we're basketball junkies, it's what we do. And we don't even love the NBA. Whatever.
Anyway, my brother commented how college would have been a complete waste of time for this kid. Which I totally agreed with. My justification was that he started at 18 and had about 10-12 years to keep improving. That means at this point in his career, where he is arguably the best all around player in the NBA at 21, he still has a good 8 or 9 years of getting better ahead of him. The conversation, as it always does, quickly turned to the Yankees. I said, "how is it, that Derek Jeter at age 32 (in June) is still getting better every year?" He has had his best start ever this year. In general baseball players seem to get better as they get older for longer than other athletes.
Here is where my wife made me very proud. She was sitting next to me watching the game (1st thing that makes me proud), and was listening to my conversation with my brother. She very quickly responded to my baseball players comment by saying, "well, baseball is a game of skill as opposed to athleticism like basketball."
Brilliant! Can you believe those words came out of a woman's mouth? Unbelievable.
And it's true. Think about it - basketball obviously is a game that possesses much skill and talent, however, athleticism is needed to enhance that talent and bring it to the right level. A guy who could make 50 set shots in a row, but cannot run or jump or move well cannot play competitive basketball - he can only play horse.
Baseball is a game of skill first. If you can hit the ball hard and far, you can play. You have slow guys running and fielding all the time. As long as they can get that ball in play, there is room for them. That skill can continue to be improved upon year after year, even while athleticism starts to dwindle. Look at Barry Bonds. He is not nearly as athletic or mobile as he was in his younger days, but he is still a dominant force in the game and still is the most feared hitter in baseball. He can barely walk to first, let alone run, but nobody wants any piece of him. (Leave out the steroid argument. It doesn't give you hand-eye coordination or skill of any kind. You still have to be able to hit the ball. Bonds sees maybe 1 or 2 good pitches a game - and he never misses them).
Anyway, I thought that was an interesting point.
I was watching Lebron dominate last night and score 45 including a game-winner with .9 seconds left against Washington (Gilbert Arenas aint too bad either, but he still has two names as opposed to just Lebron).
Anyway, after I finished almost waking up my kids yelling at the combination of Lebron's strength and control getting to the rim like that, coupled with Antoine Jamisson and Washington's utter lack of defense, I was on the phone with my brother discussing the maturing that Lebron just did in that 3 seconds and what it could mean for his career. Why? Because we're basketball junkies, it's what we do. And we don't even love the NBA. Whatever.
Anyway, my brother commented how college would have been a complete waste of time for this kid. Which I totally agreed with. My justification was that he started at 18 and had about 10-12 years to keep improving. That means at this point in his career, where he is arguably the best all around player in the NBA at 21, he still has a good 8 or 9 years of getting better ahead of him. The conversation, as it always does, quickly turned to the Yankees. I said, "how is it, that Derek Jeter at age 32 (in June) is still getting better every year?" He has had his best start ever this year. In general baseball players seem to get better as they get older for longer than other athletes.
Here is where my wife made me very proud. She was sitting next to me watching the game (1st thing that makes me proud), and was listening to my conversation with my brother. She very quickly responded to my baseball players comment by saying, "well, baseball is a game of skill as opposed to athleticism like basketball."
Brilliant! Can you believe those words came out of a woman's mouth? Unbelievable.
And it's true. Think about it - basketball obviously is a game that possesses much skill and talent, however, athleticism is needed to enhance that talent and bring it to the right level. A guy who could make 50 set shots in a row, but cannot run or jump or move well cannot play competitive basketball - he can only play horse.
Baseball is a game of skill first. If you can hit the ball hard and far, you can play. You have slow guys running and fielding all the time. As long as they can get that ball in play, there is room for them. That skill can continue to be improved upon year after year, even while athleticism starts to dwindle. Look at Barry Bonds. He is not nearly as athletic or mobile as he was in his younger days, but he is still a dominant force in the game and still is the most feared hitter in baseball. He can barely walk to first, let alone run, but nobody wants any piece of him. (Leave out the steroid argument. It doesn't give you hand-eye coordination or skill of any kind. You still have to be able to hit the ball. Bonds sees maybe 1 or 2 good pitches a game - and he never misses them).
Anyway, I thought that was an interesting point.
posted by EDS | 12:15 PM
4 Comments:
hey there, i'm reading your blog and i notice - not too many other people are... writer's cramp is something that happens to even the best bloggers... good luck finding yourself....
HAHAHAHAHAHA... That's awesome! I just wish you had posted who you were so you could get some credit for a good line. Love it.
Thanks.
uuuh, 'roids do help one's reaction time, muscle twitch, and overall strength; thus hand-eye coordination is also improved. plus, the added strenght allown barry bondroid to turn on the bad pitches that other players couldn't.. i say ban his oversized head from the game!
-d
Steroids do nothing for one's reaction time or hand-eye coordination. Is this guy fucking retarded? You show me one emperical study that says steroids improve hand-eye coordination and I'll literally drink my own piss.
Also, what exactly would 'turning on a bad pitch' do for Barry Bonds? He still has to make near perfect contact on that bad pitch. Seeing as how making contact on a bad pitch is harder than on a good pitch, wouldn't this lend itself to prove that he is indeed a better hitter than other hitters - not just because of designer steroids?
I love idiots that know nothing about a) athletics or b) performance enhancing drugs who make assinine comments like the one above.
Rant over. Enjoy the day.
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