Husky Heaven

I started off with the idea that this piece would be an ode to Shabazz Napier- the player. The Kemba-esque run that he lead the 2014 Huskies on. The clutch moments, the big plays and that sweet long-range three ball. His game is something that is taken from the early 1980’s in the days of Isaiah and Magic. Smooth and fluid, a glossy like feeling to it. He splits defenders with ease even though he’s not as athletic as some. He steps back with one leg high in the air. He finishes with enough spin on the ball to keep a Grateful Dead record playing for hours.

I started off asking myself how I could put this kid into words as the “greatest Husky ever” without someone spewing the words “Kemba” or “Ray” to me. The fact that he stayed loyal to a program that basically wasn’t allowed to have a season that mattered because of grades that he had nothing to do with a few years ago. The fact that his Hall of Fame coach had retired the year before. The fact that plenty of his own teammates left the program for higher ground when everyone and their siblings thought the End of UConn was near. He stayed. He, I’m sure, convinced others to stay as well. He bought into a system that a first year head coach administered and quickly became the leader.  I ask you this not with disrespect, but with honesty: Would Kemba have stayed with all of this adversity taking place during his days as a Husky?

I started off wondering what I could say to convince myself that this kid had a shot at becoming the greatest Husky of all time. It turns out that the answer wasn’t too far away. Shabazz is the greatest player in the history of UConn basketball- because he is far and away- the best leader that UConn has ever had. Napier has not only led a team that was thought of as “dead” a year ago to another National Championship- but he has now led a duel with the unforgiving NCAA to change something that he and many others thought was never right.

This happened today and it is Napier who was at the forefront of leading the charge, forcing the single-minded and notoriously stubborn NCAA to change a rule that seems to have affected thousands of Division 1 athletes from all over the country. He went from “champion” to “voice of the people” with a few simple sentences. It’s evident all over Twitter now, with thousands of D-1 athletes thanking Napier for his hard work. Hard work? Hitting a game winner with less than a second left against the #1 team in the country is hard work. Hard work? Nope, just Shabazz not only leading his team this time, but leading a reform.

Yes, this isn’t as big as student athletes forming a Union, or players getting paid millions to participate in a college sport. But this is something. Dammed is the NCAA if they are ever pushed around and dammed if it’s a student athlete that’s going to cause them grief in the media. But the kid did it and paved an important stepping-stone for many other athletes to possibly let their voices be heard. And for the thousands whose voices couldn’t be heard because the stage wasn’t big enough, Napier said it for them. Napier may or may not have been subject to “starvation” as some critics have stated, but the fact that there are most likely many that do have an issue with this shows the true leader that Napier is. He is caring of not only his team, but also a brotherhood of the student athletes who participate with him.

I started off asking myself what was important in a leader. Calmness under strain, strength to persevere through a tough time, all the clichés. But something that is not often included when defining a leader is being able to stick up for something you believe in not for yourself, but for others around you. Whether Shabazz really starved or not on some nights may always be up to debate, but the fact that he helped athletes around him is something that people will never forget about this kid.

The fact that he lead his team to a national title and himself to TWO national titles is special in itself- something no Husky has ever done. The fact that he has also created an opportunity for others to speak up over concerns as a student athlete? Name another Husky who has done that. I’ll wait. Name another student athlete who has ever done that. Shabazz has changed the game.

I started off with the idea that this piece would be an ode to Shabazz Napier- the player.  I will end this piece as an ode to Shabazz Napier- the person. Napier will never be forgotten in Husky lore. It’s been a pleasure to watch him grow during this time and as usual, lead.

The Curious Case of: The MLB All-Star Game

The MLB All-Star game is a great way to bring back America’s pastime. It’s a nice break from the first half of the season and reminds fans that the second and most important half, is looming ahead.

It’s a great way to showcase the sport for millions of Americans who may be losing faith in this tattered, drug induced, FBI investigated world that baseball is now trapped in.

The great players chosen to play, the timeless ballparks that host, and most importantly, the coveted home run derby the night before, the All-Star game is a wonderful advertising tool that will make fans happy, while gaining support from people who may not be so sure where their allegiance is.

It is not so great, however, for the losing side.

For this sport and this sport only, the winner of the All-Star game gets home field advantage in the World Series. This means that regardless of how good a team that may make the World Series was during the regular season, if their League did not win the All-Star game, their possibility for home field advantage gets stripped and they are awarded with three games at home, in the middle of the series.

The All-Star game should not dictate who gets home field advantage in the World Series. For starters, and this is especially true in baseball, home field advantage is a BIG DEAL. Baseball is the only sport where the championship format is still 2-3-2. This means that the MOST IMPORTANT games are the first and last two games.

You can argue that in basketball or hockey their format gives each team a fair shake at a home advantage, as towards the end of the series, when each team has already played two games at home, they continue to switch off until game seven. Yes, game seven is technically the “advantage” in home field advantage in the two sports, but the fact that it never stops rotating, especially towards the end of the series takes away much of the feeling that the home team advantage squad will win.

This is not true in baseball. The 2-3-2 format starts a theory that, the first and last two games of the series are the most important.

Here is the theory: the first two games are extremely important because if the home team were to win both or even one game, it gives them a big advantage. The next three games are away, but if the home field advantage team steals even one victory out of the three games away, it sets them up for a must win game six AT HOME and then a championship clinching game seven AT HOME. Win both of the first two games at home, and you’re in even better shape to win a title.

Now that my not so successful science explanation is out of the way, lets move from the traditional baseball statistical way of things and ask what happens when there is just a straight up better team in the World Series then the opponent? Is the All-Star game really going to take that away from a possibly deserving team?

One of the things that make sports so fun to watch is to see good things happen to good teams. Sure many root for the underdog, but when a team is good, man is that great to watch. How about a team in each league racing to the finish to have the best record in baseball, and possibly home field advantage in the World Series? Now that would give them something to play for with ten games left in the season. Having the All-Star game deciding a good teams fate is really monotone and a definite plot killer in the long, tedious season of baseball.

The All-Star game, just like every other All-Star game in sports, should be taken lightly. It’s a way to give back to the fans, and should be a special thanks in baseball to the fans that stick around to watch the first ninety-something games of the year. An All-Star game that decides home field advantage for the World Series makes the players playing work. Play hard. Possibly even get injured.

Bud Selig and MLB should take a page from the NBA and the NHL (and even the NFL) and use the best record system to determine home field advantage to our country’s greatest championship game. A creative way (and my favorite way) that could work is to take the better interleague record of each team and award them HFA. This makes the regular season more serious and interleague play a lot more interesting. Or, if they really can’t agree to terms, just switch every year on which league gets awarded. This may not be the climax that everyone would hope for, but it would get the job done.

You may be chillin’ tomorrow night, enjoying baseball, but the players, no matter what happens before, will not be. They will once again be grinding it out like they do day after day during the season.

Woeful Woes: The New York Yankees

For anyone who remembers the Yankees completely falling apart in the playoffs last season, one would hope that a few good off season moves and a few more healthy players would be the remedy for last years season to forget. I mean hey, it’s the Yankees, right? GM Brian Cashman will think of a way to fix the bats and heal the boo-boo’s all off season as usual. Right?

Wrong (apparently). As the Evil Empire’s actual Emperor’s, Hal and Hank Steinbrenner seem as if they’re trying to make their father roll over in his grave with the action that they have done so far this off season (none). And the injuries plaguing the already old Yankee team before the season has even started doesn’t make it sound much better.

Cashman was quoted today by saying he “still believes the Yankees will be a playoff team” come next October. Has that even been a question for the past how many years? (15 of the last 16 years the Yankees have made the playoffs.) Is this offseason mess the beginning of a truly rare and awful season for the New York Yankees?

Lets begin with the injury situation that the Yankees have in front of them already. (Today is March 6^th, about 2 weeks into the Grapefruit League.) We’re already aware that Alex Rodriguez has had surgery on his right hip and hasn’t announced a comeback date. Many skeptics have been saying he could possibly miss the entire year. But so what, they benched him in the playoffs last year because he couldn’t catch up to 88 MPH fastballs, A-Rod isn’t the same hitter he used to be.

That’s true- but the Yankee’s center fielding slugger (43 HR’s last season) Curtis Granderson broke his wrist a few days ago after being hit by a pitch and should miss the first month and a half of the regular season. There goes much of the run scoring capability right there as Granderson also had 106 RBI’s last season.

Lets make matter worse for the Yankees. First basemen gold glover Mark Teixeira- a vital part of their batting lineup has just been put on the injured list until at least mid-May with his own wrist issues-apparently injuring it during a tee drill. Teixeira’s bona fide hitting will also be missed in the heart of the order for the Yankees.

To top it off- starting pitcher Phil Hughes has been completely shut down all spring training (not a good thing for a pitcher) because of a bulging disc in his upper back and top left handed reliever Boone Logan has been dealing with inflammation in his left elbow which has sidelined him. Lets not forget top young pitcher- Michael Pineda, who hasn’t thrown a ball yet for the Yankees and isn’t expected to for the rest of the year due to surgery in his shoulder because of tendinitis.

Even Brian Cashman himself is on the DL. He broke his ankle on Monday after skydiving for a charity event. (Is that any sort of a sign? Maybe? A little bit? No?)

Ok, ok enough with the injuries. Lets talk about the Yankees age. For a team that literally couldn’t catch up to a fastball in the ALDS last year, man do they still look old. Here’s a fact that should stand out to people. Two players out of the entire Yankees starting line up are under 30 years old. This is including the players that are replacing the injured Yankees at their respective positions. 38-year-old captain Derek Jeter will be the first to admit that he’s getting older- but that doesn’t mean the rest of the team needs to be as well. Does it? Ichiro Suzuki comes back into right field for the Yankees- but he’s 39 and just doesn’t have the same speed that everyone has become accustomed to, as this will likely be his last year playing baseball. The young guys? 29-year-old Brett Gardner returns to his first full season back in left field for the Bombers after his own injury plagued season last year. And 27-year-old Francisco Cervelli, the unproven and highly skeptical catcher that the Yankees have benched for his first few seasons.

The sport of baseball is getting younger as we know it, year after year we see younger guys do more amazing things than the last and more importantly-becoming leaders for their teams- instead of the older guys. We see Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg as the leaders for the Nationals. (And Bryce Harper is 20!) We see Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen become the leaders of their own playoff candidate teams. Now yes, the Yankees have a bunch of savvy veterans with one of the top players ever in baseball history as their captain still. But as the game gets younger, can you really rely on the old guard anymore? Will it matter in the heat of the playoff race that these older guys have heart still vs. the younger guys that have just as much heart and about a 10 year age difference? Veteran teams are veteran teams, but if the Yankees don’t start thinking young soon- who knows what the future is going to look like.

This brings me to the last point of a scary off season for the Yanks. Their offseason moves. C’mon, they’re the Yankees. They get anyone and everyone in the offseason. They get the hottest guy on the market year after year. Not this season. (Turns out the hottest guy on the market this year- Josh Hamilton- was a terrible candidate to play in New York due to his past, so this may have been a good passing by the Yankees.) Who was their biggest signing? The self proclaimed “Yankee hater” years ago, Kevin Youkilis, former Boston Red Sox third basemen. He was called upon to take over for Alex Rodriguez at third base. A nice signing for the season there, but did they really get anyone else? Travis Hafner was signed to a one-year contract to possibly add some depth at offense but that really was it, which makes this an extremely meek year for Yankees off season signings.

This is rare for the Yanks to not get a few good young prospects, but as stated before- the Steinbrenner brothers have significantly cut back on spending the past year, and have been quoted saying that they will continue to. This isn’t the old Yankees anymore. (Which is ironic this year.)

It’s comical to think that the Yankees biggest strength this year is going to be their pitching, with an especially strong bullpen. (Including the reemergence of Mariano Rivera, who no matter what age, is going to be dominant.) Pitching has been a struggle for them these past few years, but now they must step up to make this team relevant in September.

A great season of baseball is ahead of us, with many teams on the rise that people would usually expect to be cellar dwellers. But to some people’s misfortunes and others delight (Red Sox fans laugh all you want at that, but you could be next in my Woeful Woes section) the Yankees may not be one of those teams this year.

But then again- baseball fans will never forget, they are the New York Yankees. They’ll probably end up winning the World Series. 

A Well Deserved Victory

Whether or not you were a fan of either team playing in the Super Bowl last night, the Baltimore Ravens deserved to win the final game of the year.

In a season that began with the passing of owner Art Modell, the man who brought the team to Baltimore in 1996, and ended with purple and gold confetti floating around the Superdome, this team had all the right reasons to cheer for them.

While the death of Modell brought a season “dedicated” to him, and a logo on the left chest of every Raven jersey with the word Art on it, another death struck the organization.

Wide receiver Torrey Smith found out a few weeks after the passing of Modell that his little brother had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Smith continued to play through the grief, and ended up producing career high numbers.

The season also brought along the maturation of quarterback Joe Flacco, who until this season, just seemed to never be able to convince anyone he was an elite quarterback.

Flacco has been in the league now for five years, and each year has made a playoff appearance.  Three out of the five years he led the Ravens to the AFC Championship game, but never won it. He has eleven touchdowns and zero interceptions in his playoff career already, without a Super Bowl appearance.

Last night Flacco threw three touchdown passes and scooped up the Super Bowl MVP honors as well. He finally showed the league why he should be considered one of the elite quarterbacks today.

Then there was Ray Lewis, the ever-famous linebacker who had been the heart and soul of the team since his first year in 2001, announcing before the playoffs that he would be retiring after the season ended. Lewis was the engine of the team, and will go down in history as one of the best defenders to ever play the game.

You can love or hate the man after his controversial career, but one thing is certain. The man has done more for the game then many people realize or give him credit for. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer with 12 career Pro Bowl appearances, seven first team All-Pro selections, 227 starts in 228 career games, one Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award, and two Defensive Player of the Year honors.

A man that has done all that for the game that our country loves so much should not be depraved another Super Bowl title. He has brought an athletic career to the game that should be celebrated.

Yes, the Ravens season started out as poor as one could start with the news of the deaths around the team. But all year they rallied around this and found a way to win ball games when it mattered.

Why not give them the victory last night? In the sports news we have going around today, sometimes its nice to hear that something positive has happened.