Yankees: Make up your mind!

It’s the bottom of the 10th, tense, rubber game against arch-rival Boston. Joe Girardi still has relievers at his disposal in the pen and a day off to follow. Not quite the dire situation necessitating the use of weekend emergency reliever Phil Hughes.

That’s a guy who’s just back from a three-month absence due to a dead arm, who was starting to gain some consistency as a starter. Hughes’ season ERA is 7.11 but he has given up two or less runs in four of his five starts since returning from the DL.

The Yankees’ problem is they have too many cooks in the kitchen, too many arms they want to put in the rotation. So it’s Hughes and rookie Ivan Nova who are being yanked around, unable to gain rhythm or confidence.

Nova earned the fifth spot in the rotation in spring training and became a solid option, continually improving. In eight starts since June 3, he has six quality ones and six wins, raising his record to 10-4. But the Hughes injury ultimately proved costly to the rookie Nova, as Freddy Garcia moved from pen to penciled in every fifth day and returned to the form of a decade earlier that made him a Cy Young candidate.

With the revivals of Garcia and Bartolo Colon, the Yankees are now in a pickle that has been met with a month of indecision. From the outside, it seems that they just do not know what to do with the options they have. Nova was sent down to allow for the return of Hughes but returned last Saturday when the Yankees needed another starter for the doubleheader with the Orioles.

He pitched well in that start and then had his best big league outing yet, striking out ten in 7.2 innings against the White Sox.

So now, the Yankees are waffling. Nova was good before the decision to demote him was made and he’s pitching even better since his return. Colon and Garcia both have low ERAs in the threes. You can’t move either of them. AJ Burnett is struggling but he’s making $16.5 million this season. He’s not going anywhere either.

That means it comes down to Hughes and Nova, a decision the Yankees already made, right or wrong, a little more than a month ago when Hughes took Nova’s spot in the rotation.

What has changed?

Nothing. Hughes has not pitched poorly, especially for a guy coming back from injury. Nova is still dealing well.

The Yankees need to make up their mind and stick to it. The indecision with Hughes has been an issue that has plagued his career since its start. He’s been a starter, a reliever, then a starter again. Now this weekend, he’s suddenly available as an emergency relief option. What are the Yankees doing?

Hughes is being pulled around like a piece of putty and eventually when you mess with it too much, it’s gonna rip in half. It has already proven detrimental in the career of Joba Chamberlain, a dominant reliever who the team tried to turn into a starter and ended up rendering less effective than what they began with.

There have been plenty of guys who have been moved from relief to starting and been successful. Alexi Ogando of the Rangers is the latest example. David Price with the 2009 Rays was a future starter who was used as a valuable postseason reliever but then rightly put in the rotation and allowed to carve his niche there.

The Yankees waffle with their young pitchers and in turn have to be killing their confidence. Hughes was just beginning to look solid again, set to make another start Tuesday against Los Angeles but for some reason he becomes an emergency long relief option from the bullpen. That turned into him being throw into the fire of an extra inning, tied game at Fenway when he hasn’t pitched as a reliever since the 2009 postseason.

Hughes won 18 games and finished with a 4.19 ERA last season. That’s pretty good for a guy in his first full season as a starter. The Rays wouldn’t throw Price in the bullpen as an “emergency reliever” if he was coming back from injury. The Yankees shouldn’t be doing the same with Hughes.

Whether it’s going to a six-man rotation or sending Nova or Hughes down, a decision needs to be made once and for all. With other talented young arms like Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances waiting in the wings, the Yankees need to learn from their mistakes and properly develop them. Mismanagement is not an option in bringing more championships to the Bronx in the coming years.

Why NCAA coaches banning Twitter is dumb

 When scrolling through Twitter, you read a good amount of dumb tweets. They may be insensitive, grammatically abhorrent or just completely unfounded in reason. Some college athletes are among that group. That said, for all the dumb statements they could make, it’s even dumber for college coaches to ban them from using Twitter.

Steve Spurrier is the latest, and most prominent, NCAA coach to ban his players from using Twitter. PR-wise it’s absolutely detrimental to a program. 

Let’s say I’m an 18-year-old prospective student athlete trying to choose a school. My friends and me have been using Twitter for more than a year, since it started to really catch on. We tweet at each other to share funny stuff and keep in touch. So I’m choosing between Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Suddenly, coach Spurrier has told me, potential recruit, that I cannot use Twitter, which I have responsibly used since getting an account. I’m gonna start to think twice about coach Spurrier’s program. Am I really gonna be able to relate to him?

Now, it’s an overstatement to say a Twitter policy is going to make or break a recruit’s decision. But banning it is not sending a good message to these high school kids. I’d start to think in the back of my mind, if he’s not gonna let us use Twitter, what else won’t be allowed? How tight of a ship is it gonna be? Will we have any freedom? You have to think similar thoughts go through recruits’ heads. 

These are 18-22 year olds. Going to college is supposed to be a step toward independence and becoming your own person. But your coach is telling you that you can’t use Twitter.

Spurrier and other coaches like Mississippi State basketball head coach Rick Stansbury are telling you they trust you to win games in front of thousands of fans but not to use Twitter. It’s like a dad giving his son the keys to a brand new Mercedes but then telling him he doesn’t trust him to use the blender in the kitchen because he’s afraid he’ll break it. 

These are young adults that you’re entrusting with your jobs yet somehow they are not responsible enough to express themselves through Twitter. Yes, they sometimes say things they shouldn’t like in the case of Mississippi State guard Ravern Johnson. He tweeted after a game:

"Starting to see why people Transfer you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me"

Forward Renardo Sidney retweeted that and coach Stansbury apparently had enough, putting in place the ban. Now, you can understand his frustration but instead of using this as a learning experience it instead just elicits punishment.

The right thing to do is teach players when and when not to tweet, how to properly conduct themselves through social media. If you’re going to take away Twitter, are you also going to ban Facebook, Tumblr, Google+ and the scores of other social media out there? College athletes are young adults and most of them will be going into the working world in just a few years. It would be a valuable lesson to learn that Twitter can be used professionally. Instead, the guys who are capable of tweeting responsibly are punished for not doing anything wrong.

Yes, these guys are the representing the Division I institution. But if you’re willing to pay them the cost of tuition in a scholarship then you should be confident enough that they will be a solid representation of your university. Coaches need to stop treating these guys like kids who can’t have the training wheels taken off.  Give them a chance to be adults, let them be like every other college kid who can have a Twitter and if they mess up, take it away then. Just putting down an outright ban on it is a very poor direction in which to go in this social media saturated world.

 

The Best Team You're Not Watching (or even getting a chance to)

There are 8 teams in baseball right now with 60 wins. Seven of those are prominently covered, preseason contender picks. Then, there's the eighth. 

They're 60-49, hosted the All-Star Game in July and have even won a World Series in their franchise's short history. They're the Arizona Diamondbacks- and there's a good chance they're the best baseball team we haven't gotten a chance to see this season.


Going into play today, the Diamondbacks are one game out in the NL West behind the defending champion San Francisco Giants. Surprised? Probably, if you don't pull up the MLB standings on a daily basis. Arizona's 7-3 in their last 10 and beat the Giants in the first game of a big series last night. It's a place no expert expected them to be, a young club under manager Kirk Gibson. 


But as a fan of not just my own team but also baseball as a whole, I'm disappointed. I have not seen much of these upstart Diamondbacks and I'm betting you haven't either. While surprise teams like the Pirates and Indians have been seen on ESPN, the Diamondbacks have not been once. The very makeup of MLB's national broadcast package puts west coast teams at a severe exposure disadvantage.


Take for example ESPN's Monday and Wednesday night baseball packages. Each are weekly 7 PM ET starts. There has yet to be a 9 or 10 PM ET start, which makes it impossible for a west coast team to host one of these. TBS' Sunday afternoon package suffers from the same fault. Each of its games have started between 1 and 2:15 PM ET. 


The FOX "national" game of the week is actually three regional broadcasts, which means if you live on the east coast you'll almost certainly see either one of the NY teams, Philadelphia or Boston. Last week's Tampa Bay vs. Seattle FOX game shown in NY seemed like a mistake.


Your best bet for seeing a variety of teams is actually the refreshing MLB Network,which has its national Thursday Night Baseball telecast (8 PM ET and usually east coast teams) but also broadcasts local feeds on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and some Thursday afternoons.


ESPN will have a 10 PM ET game for the final four Wednesdays of the season, as well as either SD/SF or CWS/LAA on August 24th. But that's still just five of those windows for the entire six month season. The fact is that the windows limit the opportunity for fans on the east coast to see any west coast teams. As of games scheduled through 8/8 ESPN will have had 59 national broadcasts. 17 of those feature teams from either the AL or NL West. That's less than a third of ESPN's telecasts. Only four of the 59 pit two West division teams against each other. 


TBS has not broadcast one game west of Texas this season. As a Yankees fan, yes, I like to see the team when I'm not in NY and they are the biggest ratings draw. But while the defending champion Giants were not shown on ESPN at all from April 4th-May 31st, the Yankees made six appearances. For the week of 6/13 to 6/20, the Yankees were featured in all four of ESPN's national broadcasts. How's that for variety? 


As young talents like Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson thrust themselves into the pennant race, they'll continue to stay under the radar. Good luck Arizona...keep it up and maybe you can get your showcase in October. 

Overreaction about '#1 Party School' unnecessary

Stop the presses…Ohio University’s a party school. Only this time, The Princeton Review has named our little haven by the Hocking the top one in the whole nation.

Ohio University administrators have again reacted with “disappointment.” There’s an email in my inbox from VP of Student Affairs Kent Smith telling me this is an unscientific study, quotes from Dean Lombardi saying, “there’s no validity to it.”   

So, my question is, why does it matter? 

Dr. Smith says there are party scenes on every campus, which is true. Ohio just happens to have some of the biggest ones, the Halloween festivities and the spring fests. Administrators have done a good job making these safer, instituting new policies with stricter consequences for irresponsible behavior. Athens is an Appalachian town with 20-something bars and not much else entertainment-wise around it. Does anyone really expect the majority of 18-22 year olds to sit around and play Scrabble or watch a movie every weekend? There’s no more weekly Friday night comedy act at Front Room and movies at Baker aren’t even free anymore. 

Dr. Smith’s email says there have been a 49% decrease in alcohol-related violations and an 8% decrease in self-reported high-risk drinking. Ohio University students that are drinking are doing it safer. Administrators will obviously never embrace the notion of being a party school nor should they. But what’s so wrong with college-aged students partying if they’re doing it safely and getting good grades? 

When you leave college you do it with a degree and four of the most whirlwind years of your life. A degree is what you seek to attain but along the way you learn so much more about yourself, about people, about the world. College helped me grow up, be more social and if it took going to a “party school” to do that, then I’m glad I went to one.

College is about memories and I can tell you I’ll have awesome memories from the nights spent hanging out with some of my best friends at a bar or fest but also of ones with friends in the study lounge writing papers well into the morning or doing hardcore studying for tests. Ohio’s such a great place because people know how to have fun but also know when to study. The ones that don’t understand that don’t usually make it to year two or even quarter two.

 

I know that from being an RA, where I had many different residents. I saw the ones who went out most nights, never studied and ended up on academic probation. I also saw the majority who did their work, partied on weekends and balanced their school lives very well with their social lives. In fact, I can’t help but think the ones who refused to go out and thumbed their noses at those who did are the ones who are really missing out. Honestly, goody two-shoes who sit and dismiss anyone who takes a sip of alcohol as “trouble” are just as disturbing as people who sometimes over-indulge. That’s coming from someone who used to be the former.

Dr. Smith says my degree is now “devalued.” Somehow, I disagree with that. I hope a prospective employer will be wise enough to realize that just because The Princeton Review’s “unscientific rankings,” as administrators call them, will not discount my experience or education from a top journalism school. And frankly, I probably wouldn’t want to work for someone if they were judging me based on that and not my qualifications and experience anyway. Maybe some more people will actually know that Ohio University is not Ohio State now, because, living in New York, I can tell you there are plenty of people that do not know that, let alone that fact that Ohio’s a big party school.

Administrators need to stop worrying about what a stupid list says. Yeah, it will work students into a fervor but are the parties gonna be any crazier now that we’re number one? Doubtful. Students didn’t even burn any furniture at Palmer Fest this year and the ranking went up.

Nowhere in the email from Dr. Smith was there made mention of the fact that Ohio University is also ranked: #11 most beautiful campus, #6 best athletic facilities, #12 best newspaper and #19 for most accessible professors. No focus on the positive rankings the university earned, only an overreaction to the #1 ranking, telling me “don’t be surprised when potential employers bring it up in a job interview.” Most potential employers have not even brought up my GPA, let alone a party school reputation in any interview I’ve done in my job search. 

Ohio University is an incredible place both to learn and have a good time. Administrators telling me that my degree is somehow now devalued is even more disheartening than these rankings that many probably laugh at and say “oh, those college kids.” I understand they need to send the right message to worried parents, most of whom probably have no idea what their children are really doing anyway. But in doing that they’re also sending a bad message to the students with whom they so badly want to relate.

10 Most Memorable of NFL 2010-11

The Lockout's over and I had the AC cranked up so high today it felt like mid-December. That means it's time to start looking forward to another season of NFL football. But let's first look back at what gets us so excited, those incredible Sunday (and Monday night) moments. Here are the 10 most memorable from last season: 

1. Jackson's punt return seals stunning comeback 
With a 21-point fourth quarter lead, the Giants were on their way to gaining an upper hand in the NFC East. Then, in just more than eight minutes, it all fell apart. Michael Vick led the Eagles all the way back, tying the game at 31. One of the NFL's most dynamic players finished it. 



2. Garrard's hail mary
David Garrard...big strong-armed QB. 'Nuff said.


3. Scobee hits 59-yard FG to beat Colts
They didn't make the playoffs but the Jags did have a flair for the dramatic, notching two of the top three spots on this list. In this Week 4 contest, Scobee takes down the division big dog.


4. Lynch goes into beast mode
Not many thought the 7-9 Seahawks could knock off the defending champion Saints on Wild Card Weekend. Most didn't even think they deserved to be in the Playoffs. Marshawn Lynch emphatically proved those many doubters wrong. 


5. Divine intervention
It's pretty common to see players thank God after a big moment. You don't usually see them blame God for a costly mistake. Cue the Bills' Stevie Johnson...

Here's his dropped TD in OT that led to those dramatics.



6. Sanchez bootleg, Taylor safety propel Jets
Two plays earn the six spot, as both were instrumental in the Jets' huge Week 15 victory at Heinz Field. Sanchez's 4th and 1 bootleg TD fooled even the cameraman and tied the game. Taylor's late safety pushed the Jets' lead to five, forcing the Steelers to need a TD they couldn't get on their last drive.




7. Matthews forces fumble in Dallas
The Steelers were gaining traction in Super Bowl XLV, down four and driving down the field. Clay Matthews promptly halted that, crushing Rashard Mendenhall and forcing a fumble to give the Packers the football. They would score, creating an 11-point deficit that was too large for the Steelers.


8. Big Ben to Brown bomb
The gritty battles between AFC North rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore usually come down to a couple plays. In this Divisional playoff tussle, Big Ben cut through the cold January air to put Pittsburgh in position for the win. 



9. Santonio breaks stalemate
Offseason addition Santonio Holmes made a lot of significant catches in his first season with the Jets. Time was waning and it looked like the Jets and Browns were going to play to a tie with the way Nick Folk was kicking. But Holmes broke free and made sure Folk would not see the field. 


10. He did WHAT?
No it's not Antonio Freeman's miraculous MNF catch that did in the Vikings.  But Al Michaels was on the mic for another improbable play with the Packers again involved. It didn't decide the game or anything but it was a historic return- by an offensive lineman. 


   

Bold (and not-so-bold) MLB Second Half Predictions

It counted- and the NL got home-field advantage. You may have watched or just taken a three-day respite from baseball but at any rate, the All-Star break is over and it's time for the second half. That can only mean it's also time for some predictions to look back at come October and say wow, those were really stupid but one was really good, so I'll do them again next year!

• The Yankees and Red Sox will go down to the wire for the AL East 
• They will not determine a division winner until their final series in the Bronx September 23-25.   Both teams will cautiously play starters though as the division loser has already clinched the Wild Card (so much for heated pennant races).    

•  But the Yankees won’t have the pitching to get to the World Series 
• While it has been a very strong first half for a cobbled together back end of the rotation, you have to wonder if Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia are going to pitch that good all season. They are fourth and fifth starters and solid rookie Ivan Nova is waiting in the minors but the Yankees cannot afford them to implode with Phil Hughes an uncertainty too. At the end of the day though the Yankees’ frontline starters are going to have trouble matching up come playoff time. A first round matchup with whoever wins the AL West would be very dicey. Texas can out-hit the Yankees  and in a short series with the Angels I take Weaver/Haren/Santana over Sabathia/Burtnett/Hughes or Colon or Garcia (?). Sabathia alone cannot carry the Yankees to a World Series. Andy Pettitte was the second dependable playoff starter and without him, I think the Yankees will have an uphill battle come playoff time. 

•  The currently fourth place Twins will win the AL Central  
• No, not the Tigers or surprising Indians who have been battling it out through the first half. The Twins are 24-11 since getting off to a putrid 17-37 start. They’ve also been doing it while battling a rash of injuries. Jason Kubel, Delmon Young, Denard Span and Justin Morneau will all be back soon or sometime this summer and can only make them stronger. Pitching will propel the Twins over a Detroit team that lacks strong pitching outside Verlander and a young Indians team with 14 walkoff wins that is due to come down to earth. 

• The Pirates will finish over .500….but won’t make the playoffs 
• They’ve been one of the first half’s best stories, with exciting young players like Andrew McCutchen, Joel Hanrahan and Jose Tabata. Last year at this time, they were 30-58. Right now, they’re 47-43 and a game out in the NL Central. However, the Brewers and Cardinals will prove to be too strong and both will finish ahead of a Pirates team that finishes with 83 wins, breaking the 18-year under .500 streak

• Neither Jair Jurrjens or Jered Weaver will finish with sub 2.00 ERAs 
• In the past two decades, there have been seven seasons when a pitcher has done that. It’s a feat accomplished by just five pitchers in that time. Both have been incredible in the first half but the dog days of summer will lead to a few blowups and rising ERAs. In fact, I think it is Justin Verlander, 2.15 ERA at the break and a 0.84 ERA since June, who has the best shot.

• Both Matt Kemp and Jose Bautista will fall off some 
• They were arguably the two best in their respective leagues in the first half. Each will still finish with excellent numbers and top three in MVP voting but on teams that aren’t that good, without much support in the lineup, they will not be able to surpass stars on playoff contenders.

Playoff Picks

ALDS

Red Sox defeat Twins

Angels defeat Yankees

NLDS

Phillies defeat Brewers

Braves defeat Giants

ALCS

Red Sox defeat Angels

NLCS

Phillies defeat Braves

World Series

Phillies defeat Red Sox in 6

Awards

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

NL Cy Young: Cole Hamels

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez

NL MVP: Prince Fielder

AL Manager of the Year: Ron Gardenhire

NL Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle

AL Rookie of the Year: Michael Pineda

NL Rookie of the Year: Craig Kimbrel

Leaving your mark

Defining moments don’t always come in championship games.

When the U.S. beat the U.S.S.R. in 1980’s ‘Miracle on Ice,’ it was not the gold medal game. It may have been one of the greatest sports moments ever but it did not assure that group top standing.

Just the same, the U.S. women’s soccer team’s win over Brazil was just a quarterfinal. Ali Krieger’s final PK strike was not for the title, as Brandi Chastain’s winner 12 years to the day was.  This win wasn't for a World Cup but it was a standout. The confounding calls of the referee that put the U.S. in such a difficult predicament, Brazil's stalling, the jump up and down moment of Abby Wambach heading Megan Rapinoe's perfect cross into the net when all hope looked lost and Hope Solo’s spectacular save to break the PK stalemate. Those all resonate as simply unforgettable.

But Abby Wambach said it best when she said for it to be truly historical they need to keep winning and get to the final.

There’s a very good chance that come a year or five or ten down the line it won’t be what the U.S. does against France today or if it reaches the final that we’ll wax poetic about. It will be the ten pound gorilla of a game that was U.S./Brazil, so chock full of drama that watching the replay later that day was like pulling out your favorite Oscar winning movie.

That said it’s easier to wax poetic about a champion’s struggles with adversity than one that falls short after a triumph. Landon Donovan’s extra time goal to keep the U.S.’ World Cup dreams alive last summer was captivating but you can’t help but then also think of the disappointment of the subsequent quarterfinal loss to Ghana.

It’ll be the same for the U.S. women. A loss to France would be an extreme disappointment after overcoming obstacles in the dramatic fashion they did to advance. Memorable moments will still be memorable even if the team is not a champion. They’ll still make best of lists and all that but something will be missing.

You don’t have to have your moment in the final game. A bunch of kids on skates proved that three decades ago in Lake Placid. People remember Mike Eruzione’s game winning goal and their Soviet slaying. They also remember that win led to a gold medal. How the U.S. women will be remembered, just what mark they will leave, is all theirs to determine. Wambach’s header will be the highlight. The comeback will live in lore. It will carry even more clout as a remarkable show of heart and spirit if it leads to a World Cup.