Instant Replay

Pro tennis currently makes the best use of instant replay to review calls. It is fast and infallible. Of course, the nature of tennis makes this possible. Almost all disputed calls are line calls which existing technology handles quite readily. Replay also works reasonably well in reviewing the clock in basketball. It is employed at the end of quarters or halves so there is no halt in the game's progress and it is quite definitive. However, in football, replay infringes on the continuity of the game, and as often as not is not conclusive. I fear the experiment in baseball has a similar downside. Already interminable games will get longer, and many of the reviews will produce ambiguous results at best.

Must See TV

The Olympic television coverage was not all that it could be - too much time for some sports like beach volleyball, not enough time for others such as the decathlon, major track and field events on a 24 hour delay, hyperventilating announcers. But it was still high-caliber broadcasting and good theater, with striking visuals and our introduction to some delightful personalities. Not surprisingly, NBC executives are reported to be ecstatic over their product and its ratings. Unfortunately, throughout the 14 days of competition, we were inundated with promos for NBC's fall lineup and this served as a harsh reality check. After being uplifted by gifted young and not-so-young athletes, we are about to be downgraded to mind-numbing, tasteless sitcoms and pointless, violent crime shows - from the sublime to the abysmal. The smog will not only be returning to Beijing, it will be returning to prime time programming.

Jimmy Rollins

Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies is absorbing a very harsh lesson in the vagaries of fame. Rollins had one of the most productive seasons ever by a leadoff hitter in 2007. He was recognized as the MVP in the National League and the articulate, engaging shortstop was the toast of Philadelphia. But that was last year. In 2008, Rollins has struggled at the plate for most of the year and his latest tailspin has dragged his batting average into the 250's. And it gets worse. On a national TV sports talk show, Rollins called Philadelphia sports fans "front-runners". The said fans took umbrage and when Philly fans take umbrage, you had better gather up the women and children and head for higher ground. No less an eminence than Tim McCarver commented that Philly fans may be a lot of things, but they are not front-runners.

From this fan's perspective, this seems like a great deal of fuss about very little. Rollins is a consummate team player who is frustrated with his subpar performance. He clearly did not mean his remarks in a malicious way and if he could have rehearsed them, no doubt he would have chosen his words differently. But has it gotten to the point where we parse an athlete's every sentence as if he were running for national office?

There is a more important issue for Philly fans: Was Rollins' career season in 2007 a case of overachievement, or was it the result of steady progress to a higher level? Jimmy Rollins, now in his 8th full season, has been a solid player but he is a career 275 hitter. Who anticipated 212 hits, 30 home runs, 94 rbi's, 139 runs and more? Will the real Jimmy Rollins please stand up?

Lendl and McEnroe A Precursor of Federer and Nadal

The hunter has become the hunted. Rafael Nadal has officially claimed the number one ranking in tennis, displacing Roger Federer who had claimed squatter's rights. Now Nadal goes into the U.S. Open as the favorite and the talk is of how Federer has to change his game, but can he? Can he charge the net against the best topspin passing shots in history? There is a parallel to the last generation but with a twist. John McEnroe, a consummate net player, was number one and pursued by Ivan Lendl, the Czech baseliner. McEnroe had already frustrated the best baseliner in history to that point, Bjorn Borg, into premature retirement. For several years, McEnroe dominated Lendl in their head-to-head matches; McEnroe's clever approach shots and precise angled volleys were usually one jump ahead of Lendl's magnificent ground strokes. So Lendl retooled his game. He improved his already potent serve and more importantly, he added a volley. Now Lendl at the net never looked much more comfortable than Rodney Dangerfield in a suit but the key was getting to the net before McEnroe did, thereby depriving the American of his best weapon. From that point on, Lendl dominated McEnroe. The challenge for Federer is that Nadal wants no part of the net. Federer will not come in to keep Nadal from doing it first, but he still really has no other choice.

20 Game Winners

In this summer of 2008, there are currently four pitchers in Major League Baseball with a realistic chance of winning 20 games: Brandon Webb of Arizona, Cliff Lee of Cleveland, A.J. Burnett of Toronto, and Mike Mussina of the Yankees. In 1971, Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, and Pat Dobson each won at least 20 games. And they were all members of the same team, the Baltimore Orioles. Anyone care to calculate the odds of that happening again?

Courage in Sports

Watching Chinese sprinter Liu Xiang pull out of the competition due to injury was a poignant scene. The pain and disappointment for Liu and his fans were palpable. Liu handled the adversity admirably and commentators were quick to describe him as "courageous". But "courage" has become a much overused word in sports. If an athlete plays in pain that is not in of itself an act of courage. It is an individual, frequently a highly compensated one, doing something he or she loves to do, and which most people would gladly do for nothing. When Brett Favre played a football game right after the death of his father he was praised for his courage. But wouldn't anyone, in the midst of personal tragedy, find comfort and solace in doing what they do best? Wouldn't a musician want to play his instrument, or a writer put words on a page? Let's put things in perspective. Real courage is the soldier on patrol in a mountain pass in Afghanistan, or a single mother raising three children in a tough neighborhood.

Chase Utley's Batting Slump

Second baseman Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies is one of the best young players in baseball, the leading vote-getter in fact for this year's National League All-Star team. This season Utley got off to a torrid start, among the leaders in batting average and leading the league in home runs and RBI's. However, in recent months he has endured at least two prolonged hitting slumps and his overall production is down significantly. He is also on a pace to strike out more than 100 times. Hitting slumps by the best of hitters are hardly unusual. But Utley's swing is quite unique; it is short and compact with an abbreviated backswing and follow-through. It somewhat resembles the short swing of the powerful golfer J.B. Holmes. One would have expected Utley's mechanics to provide a degree of immunity to extended hitting droughts and excessive strikeouts. Hitting theorists will have to return to their laboratories.

Beach Volleyball

"Beach volleyball" sounds like an activity scheduled right after the luncheon buffet on a Caribbean cruise. It does not sound like an Olympic medal sport.

Admission to Cooperstown

The Baseball Hall of Fame should revise its admission standards. Actually, "revise" is not the right word. Major League Baseball should establish unambiguous, objective statistical criteria for admission based on a player's entire career, with no exceptions. Special awards can always be bestowed for isolated achievements such as Roger Maris' 61 home runs. Otherwise, it is too easy to be influenced by favoritism or whim. The LPGA has designed an excellent model for this with their own Hall of Fame - minimum years played, minimum number of wins, major championships, etc. Character should not enter into it. The sole considerations should be on-the-field accomplishments. Inducting Peter Rose does not condone his extracurricular activities. Whether Ty Cobb or anyone else was a scoundrel may be unfortunate but this is not the National Honor Society.

Choosing a Baseball MVP

Choosing an MVP in baseball is an exercise in the arbitrary. The process is imperfect in other sports as well, but it is easier for an individual to dominate a basketball season and in football, quarterbacks will always have the inside track. But who is to say a good defensive catcher or shortstop hitting .250 is less valuable to his team than a home run or batting champion. The award should be either be changed to simply Best Player, or else, given the game's evolution, the MVP should be given to an outstanding relief pitcher, the sine qua non of modern baseball.

Jim Brown and Wilt Chamberlain

Jimmy Brown and Wilt Chamberlain were the greatest athletes of the 20th century to play in team sports. I hasten to add that this an entirely subjective, unscientific and unprovable assertion. But the combination of strength, speed, quickness, balance and agility that they demonstrated was remarkable. The accomplishments of Brown in football and Chamberlain in basketball were Paul Bunyanesque. Moreover, they each showed exceptional prowess in multiple sports at the high school and intercollegiate levels. Both Brown and Chamberlain exhibited the multiple skills necessary to have succeeded as world-class decathletes, the ultimate litmus test for an athlete.

Olympic Committee Strikes Out Again

The news that the International Olympic Committee had banned Iraq from the China Games dealt another body blow to whatever remains of the Olympic ideal. Athletes are punished because of what amounts to bureaucratic office politics? That the IOC subsequently reversed its decision is small consolation for the Iraqi contestants in archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting whose deadlines for entry had already expired. The IOC has morphed into a parody of itself.

Imagination in Sports

The word "imagination" should be avoided when describing athletic performance. If Phil Mickelson hits a flop shot six inches from the cup, it is evidence of a great short game, not brilliant imagination as many commentators insist. For imagination, I'll stick with Van Gogh, Dickens or Duke Ellington.

Is Showboating Necessary?

Dwyane Wade's emphatic dunk in a tune-up game against the Canadian Olympic team was classless and will do little to earn respect for the American squad. The U.S. team was up by more than 40 points in the fourth quarter at the time. Whatever happened to the concept of respecting your opponent? And besides, at this point in the evolutionary chain of basketball, acrobatic dunks are a dime-a-dozen.

Ted Williams' Self-Imposed Salary Cut

Ted Williams is reputed to have asked for a $35,000 (more than 25% of his salary) pay cut after a subpar season. If that standard were adopted today, 99% of major league players would be laboring for the minimum wage.

Dugout Interviews

The annoying practice of interviewing baseball managers and coaches in the dugout while a game is in progress is tacky and contrived. It is hardly breaking news that sports march to the orders of the networks but these interviews have lowered the bar. What's next? A roving reporter joining the manager at the mound when there is a pitching change?

African-Americans in Golf and Tennis

A couple of generations ago, Arthur Ashe was one of the best tennis players in the world. He won numerous titles including the U.S. Open and the Davis Cup. In one of the greatest upsets in tennis history, he defeated the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to win the Wimbledon final in 1975. Ashe was graceful, articulate, and admired and respected as a sportsman and a citizen. More recently, Tiger Woods has displayed his own brand of heroics in another sport. Many believed that these exemplary role models would draw more African-Americans into pro golf and tennis. It doesn't seem to be happening and I haven't heard a persuasive explanation as to why not.

The Sanctity of Records in Sports

Too much is made of the sanctity of records in sports, particularly in baseball. Records can be fascinating but they are of little use as yardsticks. There have just been too many changes in the games over the decades to make statistical comparisons valid. To take just one example of many, how can you compare contemporary starting pitchers who might average 6 innings per outing with previous generations who routinely completed 30 or 40 games a year.

Comparing Players From Different Eras

It is difficult to compare athletes from different eras. However, when John Stockton played for the Utah Jazz, he looked right out of a black-and-white newsreel from the 1950's - small, slow, couldn't jump, couldn't shoot particularly well. Yet he became one of the most proficient point guards in modern NBA history; a 1990's player in Eisenhower-era packaging. If scientists were to design a study to see if old-time athletes could compete today, the John Stockton model might be a good case study.

Olympic Nationalism

It would be refreshing if the media abstained from keeping a running tally of the medal count by country during the Olympics. Most of the time, we will pull for our countrymen and women but to overplay the nationalism undercuts the original Olympic ideal. For this reason, team sports. with their attendant jingoism, do not enhance the Olympic spirit.

Too Many Sports in Olympics

The Summer Olympics has too many sports. There is certainly no need for a sport like tennis, which is played every week with international fields, to be included in the Olympiad. As a matter of fact, there are already too many tennis tournaments. Now there is an ill-advised movement to include golf in the Games. Is NASCAR next?

British Open Television

During the TV coverage of the British Open, there were good close-ups of Greg Norman and Chris Evert, but the ABC/BBC cameras were less successful in following the actual golf shots.

Larry Brown

Larry Brown is almost universally hailed as a brilliant coach, coveted by teams at all levels. Yet in his pro coaching career, he has left at least three franchises in shambles - New Jersey, Indiana, and New York. And then there was the 2004 Olympic team debacle. Memo to Charlotte Bobcats: Let the buyer beware.

To DH Or Not To DH

Allowing a designated hitter in the American League and not the National League makes as much sense as if the NBA included the three-point shot in the Western Conference but not in the Eastern Conference.

The Amazing Disappearing Volley in Tennis

While the Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal provided great drama and shot-making, it was also probably the first time a grass court finalist won without volleying to any extent. Nadal treated the net like a contagious disease in quarantine. Bjorn Borg was almost exclusively a base line player but when he won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, he goaded himself into approaching the net despite being uncomfortable doing so. Nadal exhibited no such compunction. Future generations of tennis players may require the equivalent of the Rosetta stone to explain what the volley was and why anyone used it.

The Violence of Football

Football is an excessively violent sport at all levels. Announcers celebrate "great hits" and players employ their helmets, not to mention their souped-up bodies, as weapons. Defenders are encouraged to knock quarterbacks out of the game. The violence extends to the stands and and parking lots with rowdy, drunken behavior by fans. This is an inconvenient truth which is taboo to beer and automobile advertisers. A clean, well-played football game can be exhilarating but that is becoming increasingly atypical.

Shattered Baseball Bats Pose Serious Threat

The shards of shattered maple wood baseball bats are a clear and present danger to fans and players. Immediate action, not further study, is needed to prevent serious injury. To put this off for even a single day is irresponsible. This is a public health issue and if Major League Baseball won't act, the public authorities should.

Professional Sports Should Pay Their Own Way

Professional sports stadiums should not be financed with taxpayer dollars. The argument that such subsidies stimulate the local economies has been refuted by a number of economic studies. But academics aside, why should middle and lower income taxpayers provide venture capital for multimillionaire owners and players? For the privilege of paying exorbitant ticket prices?

Fear of Commercials and Other Olympic Matters

While eagerly anticipating the China Olympics, I am already dreading the endless commercials and overwrought stories of athletes overcoming personal hardships.



The success of the U.S. Olympic Basketball team will be an important measure of the status of American hoops in the international hierarchy. Failure to the win the gold this time, considering the talent of the players and commitment by the coaches in light of the recent disappointments, might well mark the official end of American primacy in the game it invented.



A poor showing by the American squad would tarnish the legacy of Coach K whose Duke teams have underachieved in recent NCAA tournaments.