Foul Territory

My friend Joe was involved with running a wrestling tournament in Winston-Salem yesterday, so Janet and I made the 90 minute trip west to hang out and help a little bit. There was a brief, 1 hour, technique clinic before the competition starring yours truly. I taught some wrestling to about 50 elementary, middle, and high school wrestlers before the tournament began. Joe asked me to do it, since the original clinician was unavailable. I tried to stick to my strenghts and keep their attention. Hopefully, I succeeded on both accounts. I enjoyed myself at least, and I hope at least one person learned something valuable. A couple of coaches/parents videotaped the thing, so maybe my accumulated wrestling knowlege will live on in the next generation of wrestlers.

After that, the tournament began. Janet and I had the chance to talk to Joe a lot, which was nice, since I hadn't seen him in a long while. He always has some stories to tell about stuff that has happened to him or people he knows. They're always entertaining. Later that night, Janet and I helped Joe make 200 copies of a 14 page packet of bracket sheets. Joe manned the copier while Janet and I took turns stapling and separating the big pile into smaller ones. Luckily, everything was in order and just needed to be separated. That took a while, then we had some dinner and finally hit the road for home around 10:30. Joe is still at the tournament today finishing things off, but one day was enough for Janet and me.

Maurice Clarett, the starting running back for the 2003 National Champions from The Ohio State University, recently came forward saying he received illegal benefits while enrolled at the school. He only played for one season, and he was dropped off the team the next year for some shady dealings, like claiming not to know where he got money, cars, and clothes. Then he began an ill-fated journey to gain early entrance into the NFL, which ultimately failed. Now he's trying to work out and impress scouts so he'll get drafted in the 2005 draft, for which he is finally eligible.

He says that he came forward to let NFL GMs know what he's gone through. It's hard to know what to believe. He lost his eligibilty for being less than forthcoming, but it's also not hard to believe that boosters and professors did some of the things he said. I imagine it's pretty common practice at big athletics schools to direct athletes to professors and classes sympathetic to the athletic department. Every big school has academic advisors in the athletic department. Here at NC State, they help the wrestlers and everyone else in sports to do their schedule and stuff like that. I'm pretty sure some of them just show up and the advisor tells them what to take. It's a far cry from me poring over the schedule to make sure I can get in. Of course, I think they get preferential registration so they get classes that don't conflict with practice. That idea was being tossed around when I left Messiah. To a certain extent, academic advisors are a good idea, as big time college athletics is a huge commitment. On the other hand, you still have to go to class. NC State has a few guys who are inactive this semester for academic reasons.

It's hard to know what's to blame in the Clarett case. If you were a 19 year old that was offered the things he got, you might take it too, especially if college was just a bridge to the NFL and the untold millions that await. On the other hand, it's hard to know if he's telling the truth. I bet it's a little of both. Surely some booster gave him some money or use of a car (a definitely improper benefit) but I doubt it goes as far as Clarett says it does. To him, each dollar, car, or necklace, real or imagined is a status symbol, just like it's a status symbol to be getting acadmic help from a tutor (in that world). It's all a part of the entitlement a lot of big time college athletes headed for the pros feel. Not everyone can be Craig Krenzel, national champion quarterback by day, molecular genetics major by night.

I was just thinking about a book I read a few times a long time ago, and I think it's really good. It's called Out of the Blue, and it's written by Orel Hershiser and Jerry B. Jenkins. It was written after the 1988 baseball season. I really enjoyed it the times that I've read it, and if you can find a copy at your library, I recommend picking it up. Orel is the pitching coach with the Texas Rangers now, but when the book was written he had just finished a season in which he won the Cy Young award, won the NLCS and World Series MVP awards, and broke the longstanding record for consecutive scoreless innings. The book talks about his childhood, his career, his family, and it goes into a lot of detail about that 1988 season. Reading the book and watching his late career years with the Indians leaves no doubt in my mind that he would be an excellent pitching coach. He has a great understanding of the sport, as he was not an overpowering physical specimen, but he managed to have a long and productive career.

Here's a tidbit for you: Orel is kind of a funny name, don't you think? However, he is Orel Hershiser IV, and his son is Orel Hershiser V. Now you just have to read it, don't you?

I just checked, and my last five posts have been at least tangentially related to this week's Presidential election. Therefore, I'm going to veer away from that and talk about my favorite sport that can be seen on television, though not my favorite sport to watch. It's second, however. Here are some baseball related thoughts I had while trying to figure out a way to have a son that is both 6'3 and left-handed so I can watch him in the big leagues one day. I've got lefties in the family, but the 6'3 part may take some doing.

Gold Gloves were announced this week. Any given year, there are always choices that leave objective analysts scratching their heads. It's a given fact that many Gold Gloves are won with the bat, even though that's not really the spirit of the award. Additionally, once you win one, if you stay healthy the next year, you're likely to keep on winning. This is why Greg Maddux has 14 of these things now, though it's not certain he was the best fielding pitcher for all 14 of those years. He's not a bad choice in any year, however. On the other hand, there were a few travesties this year that have furthered stripped any remaining evaluative value from the award. First, Bret Boone won his fourth this year as a second sacker for the woeful Mariners. The boys (and girl) over at my favorite baseball website Baseball Prospectus have some fancy metrics that actually rated Boone as having a terrible year defensively. There is some slop in defensive statistics dues to the complicated nature of defense that relies on not only the individual but the batter, pitcher, and other fielders around him. However, if a player is rated below average, then they probably were. The statistics are better used for forming groups of equally good players than ranking them, and Boone belongs in the bottom group for sure, but his reputation and previous awards (when he was actually good) propped him up for at least one more year. It also helps to be well known (for monster offensive seasons past in Boone's case). The best statistically at the position was Orlando Hudson, and I doubt anyone reading this can tell me what team he plays for without looking it up.

Boone's selection was a minor blip, the likes of which are seen every year. The real story of the Gold Glove selections surrounds the second best shortstop on the Yankees. Derek Jeter beat the duo of being regarded as sub-par defensively and the lack of prior Gold Gloves to win the award this year. Objective analysts can hardly believe this. Actually, that's not true. They can believe it, but are flabbergasted by it. Jeter has, by all statistical measures, been nothing like a good shortstop in his career. In fact, according to Clay Davenport at BP, he has cost his team 138 more runs over his career than a league-average shortstop. To Jeter's credit, he had a good, for him, season this past year, coming in at roughly league average. The problem is that there is a perception among casual fans (thanks to Tim McCarver) and baseball people (thanks to SportsCenter) that Jeter is a great defender. He does have an above average arm and fairly good running speed. The problems are that he's not particularly adept with the glove, and he gets terrible, terrible jumps on ground balls. The most important characteristic of a middle infielder is the jump he gets on the ball, and Jeter is awful at it. This is why he costs his team so many runs. This is also why ends up diving so much. He just misses his jump. Edgar Renteria makes a lot fewer diving plays because he doesn't have to dive. He just gets to the ball. Of course, getting a good jump on the ball never lands you on SportsCenter. SportsCenter won Jeter this award. He made a play in the 12th inning against Boston in July where he caught a foul ball and then tumbled into the stands, hitting his face on the seat in front of him. This was replayed so much that my mom probably even saw it at some point. He won the award based on this play. Well, that and the fawning of Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan. Managers and coaches vote on the Gold Gloves. What do you think they do? Do they read about Range Factor, Zone Rating, Runs Above Average and such, or do they watch the highlights, check the fielding percentage (a useless statistic if there ever was one) and vote on reputation. They're busy men, so we'll cut them some slack, but they (or someone else) should do a better job.

I'm really not that upset about Jeter winning the award, since much of the value has been lost due to previous voting abnormalities, so it's not like the award is cheapened in any way by his winning it. That was done long ago. The part that bothers me is that people like Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver has some legitimacy in their claims about Jeter's defensive brilliance. If you watch baseball, be on the lookout for it next year. Should the Yankees again make the playoffs, you'll hear about Jeter's Gold Glove an awful lot.