Posted on August 15th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Baseball’s rain policy is all wet and no team this season has taken on more water than the Nationals.
I don’t know what it is about Washington and precipitation, but more than literal clouds hang over the franchise when showers loom. A reputation for postseason flame-outs apparently isn’t enough. The Nats are adding a measure of infamy for regular-season wash outs.
The team handles inclement weather the way Washingtonians drive in the snow – dreadfully.
The latest example occurred last weekend. To be fair, the Nationals weren’t liable for Saturday’s fiasco, when Bryce Harper narrowly escaped serious injury after torrential downpours and a three-hour rain delay. While running out a grounder in the first inning against San Francisco, Harper’s left foot slid off the base. He flew, twisting awkwardly and crashing to the ground. He grimaced and writhed, clutched his left knee and needed assistance to the dugout.
Undesirable combinations of letters flashed through our minds. ACL. MCL. DL.
The injury bug hasn’t merely bitten the Nats this season, it has tried swallowing them whole. But Harper received a fortunate diagnosis. “The good news is there’s no ligament or tendon damage, which is pretty remarkable in my mind just seeing the type of injury that he had,” general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters.
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Posted on August 10th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
In major college sports, the participants range from athletes who are students to students who are athletes. The ideal balance is found smack-dab in the middle, as rare and elusive as coaches who reject better jobs to keep their word to incoming recruits.
Nevermind that only a handful of college players advance to the pro ranks. NCAA Division I football is professional enough in its own right.
Ask UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen if you’re in doubt. In an interview Tuesday with Bleacher Report, he equated being a student and being a player to “trying to do two fulltime jobs.”
Rosen isn’t a stereotypical jock. He grew up rich with Ivy-League parents, a renowned surgeon and a journalist, the latter being a great-great-granddaughter of the founder of the Wharton School at Penn. He has spoken publicly of the advantages he enjoys by coming from an affluent, educated family.
So, Rosen’s take on the subject of major college football – “Human beings don’t belong in school with our schedules. No one in their right mind should have a football player’s schedule and go to school” – deserves our attention.
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Posted on August 8th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Shut up and stick to fill-in-the-blank.
For former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was acting. For former Congressman Sonny Bono, it was singing. For former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, it was basketball.
Why do some folks insist on placing others in a box that limits their expression? We turn to movies, music and sports as a form of escape, but asking performers to otherwise be silent is selfish. An inability to separate great scenes, riffs or plays from entertainers’ thoughts is a “you” problem.
Granted, enjoying the work of someone who committed heinous acts like sexual assault or domestic violence can be a struggle. That’s more understandable than rejecting the artistry of someone whose opinion on, say, police brutality or racial injustice, differs from yours. Some consumers might have a problem with any expression of thought (Blue Lives Matter?), but too often the resentment is caused by disagreement with expressed thoughts.
In that case, some football fans surely were unhappy with portions of the speeches Saturday during the Pro Football NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Former San Diego Chargers halfback LaDainian Tomlinson had the nerve to talk about his great-great-great grandfather being a slave and how America should fulfill the promise of liberty and justice all.
Former Seattle Seahawks safety Kenny Easley went a step further. He devoted one minute of his 22-minute speech to a social stance that can get a player blackballed.
“Black lives do matter, and all lives matter, too,” Easley said. “… We’ve got to stand up as a country, as black Americans and fight the good fight to protect our youth and our American constitutional right not to die while driving or walking the streets black in America. It has to stop, and we can do it, and the lessons we learn in sports can help.”
Yes, sports can teach lessons. But that doesn’t guarantee we’ll pass the exams.
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Posted on August 3rd, 2017
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Contrary to popular belief, NCAA doesn’t stand for National Collegiate Athletic Association.
It stands for No Compassion At All.
The body that rules intercollegiate sports and bleeds the revenue-producing laborers has struck again. Give the overlords credit for one thing: They’re remarkably consistent in their heartless handling of college athletes.
Donald De La Haye is just the latest example in a long line of young adults who ran afoul of the organization’s archaic rules. A kicker for Central Florida, De La Haye was ruled ineligible Monday because he refused to accept NCAA restrictions on his popular YouTube channel.
He created videos that depicted his life as student-athlete and brought him a small profit thanks to more than 95,000 subscribers. But the NCAA’s shorts bunch up when anyone else makes a dollar. De La Haye was told he couldn’t monetize videos that referenced his status as a player or showed his skills. Those videos would have to be moved to a non-monetized YouTube account if he wanted to maintain his eligibility.
“De La Haye chose not to accept the conditions of the waiver and has therefore been ruled ineligible to compete in NCAA-sanctioned competition,” the school said in a statement. “UCF Athletics wishes him the best in future endeavors.”
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Posted on July 31st, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Once upon a time, many little boys wanted to be police officers or fire fighters when they grew up. Perhaps that’s the still the case today. But it seems like more young tykes dream of being point guards, sluggers and quarterbacks.
Baseball’s trade deadline Monday put contenders and pretenders under the microscope. NFL interest is heating up with training camps underway from coast to coast. The NBA is cooling down – minus the bubbling Kyrie Irving rumors – after a torrid summer of intrigue.
And still they come. Wave after wave of high schoolers and preschoolers, eyes set on the college and pro ranks like the parents who drive them (figuratively and literally). With seemingly every game on TV, separated only by talk shows about the games and business, it’s no surprise that hands shoot up when kids are asked: “Who wants to be athlete?”
Our exposure to major sports and their media coverage make it clear we’re talking about a multibillion-dollar industry. And with that much money at the top, you know there’s plenty along the supply line. Especially in the travel.
The Associated Press reports that communities across the country are reinventing themselves to serve as youth sports meccas. A 2009 study by the National Association of Sports Commissions and Ohio University found that participation in youth sports travel increased from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. According to AP, spending has increased by 10 percent in each of the past two years, and $10.4 billion in spending was generated last year.
From the article: “More teams are going each and every year, because the one thing we found is families will always invest in their kids no matter what,” said Jim Arnold, director of business development for The Sports Force & Fields, a planning and management company.
Westfield, Indiana (population: 30,000) opened a 400-acre, $49 million complex built with public funds in 2014. Local officials in Florida’s Seminole County signed off on a $27 million facility completed in 2016. The Blue Grass Sports Commission in Lexington, Kentucky, has plans for a $30 million complex with multiple multiuse fields. This year, the city of Sandusky, Ohio, opened a $23.5 million facility on 57 acres.
Developers and elected officials argue that youth sports travel, with its associated regional and national tournaments, is recession-proof. Check back the next time one rolls around.
Either way, there’s a crisis back home.
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Posted on July 27th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
I’ve heard elders talk about a time when teachers could spank a child at school. That often would lead to another spanking at home, punishment for receiving the first one.
It didn’t matter if the original sentence was unjust, if the student mistakenly was blamed for another’s misbehavior. Cases of “he said, she said” never ended well for kids pitted against the adults. Teachers were the judge, jury and spanker – all in one. Their decisions were final and always respected upon appeal when children returned home.
Being falsely accused is infuriating, especially when others buy into the allegations. You’re fortunate if the “only” consequence is a dinged reputation.
But sometimes you’re not that lucky, regardless of your name.
Lucky Whitehead was participating in a session Monday at the Dallas Cowboys training camp when he found out Virginia authorities had a warrant for his arrest. They claimed he missed a court hearing for a shoplifting incident on June 22.
He asked the Cowboys for an opportunity to clear his name, to prove he wasn’t arrested for taking about $40 in food and drink from a Wawa convenience store in Prince William County. He wasn’t even in the state when the incident occurred. The team would hear none of it, dumping him within two hours.
“Let’s not sugarcoat anything,” Whitehead told the Dallas Morning News. “I was pretty much being called a liar.”
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Posted on July 25th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
The sports world has pilloried Kyrie Irving since Friday, when reports surfaced that the four-time All-Star requested a trade at a meeting with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Irving expressed that he no longer wants to play alongside LeBron James.
At first glance (second and third, too), Irving’s desire to quit riding shotgun is baffling. Cleveland has reached three consecutive NBA Finals with James behind the wheel. The Cavs’ offseason has been underwhelming but they are favorites to make another trip next season. Sharing the court with the world’s best player makes Irving’s seat more comfortable.
There isn’t much to debate regarding those sentiments. Irving’s best chance to win another title is as James’ sidekick. We’ve seen “Uncle Drew” in the lead role before and it was exceedingly ugly. Cleveland went a combined 78-152 with Irving running the show in the three seasons preceding James’ triumphant return.
According to Windhorst, Irving wants to play in a situation where he can be more of a focal point. That seems unlikely at San Antonio and Minnesota, two of his reported preferred destinations, where Kawhi Leonard and Karl-Anthony Towns are the entrenched young stars. Irving could headline Madison Square Garden for the Knicks (assuming Carmelo Anthony is gone) or be the man on South Beach with Miami, but he’d take a hit for lack of championship ambition.
Which brings us to the ol’ sliding scale on athletes’ motives. Irving clearly is on the wrong side of public opinion, though many critics make the right side a moving target they’d never hit if given a shot.
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Posted on July 23rd, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Don’t look now, but Washington suddenly is more attractive than the homely NBA outpost it resembled for 35 years.
Now, instead of being a punchline, the Wizards can punish opponents. Instead of being dismissed and forgotten, they can command respect and attention. Instead of lacking sizzle and star appeal, Washington can trot out one of the league’s best backcourts.
And in an Eastern Conference landscape that might lose Mount LeBron next summer, the Wizards are poised to be serious threats over the next several seasons.
Thank you, Ted Leonsis. By digging into your pocket and signing John Wall to a four-year, $170 million extension, you bought a level of relevance and competence that’s been rare for your franchise.
With the speedy point guard in uniform for at least the next five seasons, playing alongside sweet-stroke shooter Bradley Beal for at least four, Washington has positioned itself as a destination. Imagine that.
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Posted on July 20th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
Unlike pro athletes, fans’ relationship to their sports team is personal, not business.
Players come and go. Names on the back of jerseys are forever changing. But followers’ allegiance to the logo and color scheme remains intact. The franchise’s interests take precedence over labor’s wants and desires.
We love to imagine the feeling of earning, say, $24 million a season (Kirk Cousins) or $228 million for the next six years (James Harden). We fantasize over the thrill of signing a $400 million contract (Bryce Harper). The notion of that much money boggles our minds and numbs our senses.
Yet, fans typically align with management when player salaries threaten team success.
When the Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year pact for $252 million, the All-Star shortstop held up his end of the deal. In three years with the Rangers, he won an AL MVP and two Gold Gloves while leading the league in homers each year, with Top 3-finishes in RBIs and total bases.
Good for A-Rod; bad for the franchise. Texas finished last each season before trading him to the New York Yankees in 2004.
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Posted on July 13th, 2017
By DERON SNYDER
If issues with the All-Star Game were a league’s only problem, that league wouldn’t have much to worry about.
The annual gathering of top players might lack in most aspects compared to regular contests, but that’s largely unavoidable. There’s no escaping the fact that exhibitions fare poorly against real games.
Major League Baseball was wise to remove the “This Time It Counts” stakes from the All-Star Game, no longer giving the winner home-field advantage in the World Series. Granted, there are better marketing slogans than “This Time It Doesn’t Matter Again.”
But tying real consequences to an otherwise meaningless pickup game wasn’t the answer. It didn’t adequately address the real question:
What should be done to make the ASG better?
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