Let’s talk sports! Baseball has been a great game for over 100 years. In the last few decades changes have continued to be made that have gone against tradition and are not necessarily better. Balls gloves and bats have all improved but have not changed the basic game. It all started with the D H which changed the game to 10 players and gave the impression that pictures were not…
After playing golf over 60 years, I’ve seen a lot of things happen that were unusual. Here are a few that I remember. Number 1. I saw a 6-foot rattlesnake killed in the middle of 14th Fairway. Number 2. I saw two different men sink to their waist in a pond they thought was dry, trying to retrieve golf balls. Number 3. I saw a man try to play golf…
Spring is here. Spring is here and summer is on the way! The grass will grow and the greens will begin to get better. The golf courses will be full of folks living their best life. Baseball will soon be in full swing. America will be packing the stadiums and enjoying our favorite pastime. The little league parks around the country are gearing up for the new season and will soon…
“Did you hear about the man who was convinced he had been abducted by aliens?” He asked. “He said they were short, green and came from an unknown planet.”
I looked at him over my glasses. I’d read that somewhere. It’s a pretty old joke.
The man continued, “Anyhow, one day he saw a lot of strange lights in his backyard and headed out there to investigate. When he got near them a little voice called out: ‘Shoo! Shoo!’ The next thing he knew his goldfish was on the kitchen table.”
In any sport, when you set out to improve your skills it is essential that you have a benchmark from which to measure your progress. In golf, this would be called a handicap and in many ways, the term is appropriate because for most people their handicap represents the self-imposed limitations they place on their development as a golfer.
My grandpa was a pitcher in the big leagues. He pitched for three years before he got hurt, but he taught me everything I know about throwing a curveball. And now that you’re learning to throw one too, I want to tell you how it all started.
Of course, you probably already know what a curveball is. The idea is that as the ball is thrown, it spins on its axis at the same time that it’s thrown forwards on an arc-like trajectory so that by the time it reaches home plate, it breaks downwards sharply on the batter. The first person who invented this pitch is disputed – some say it was Fred Goldsmith of Harvard University in 1867, while others claim it was Candy Cummings of the Excelsior Club in Brooklyn, New York. In any case, it’s been a staple of pitching ever since.
In the spring most communities are looking for umpires for their baseball and softball recreation leagues. If you enjoy working with kids and know a little about these sports, look into getting trained and certified to be an umpire. You will need to find out the association that governs your recreation program, such as Dixie Youth, Babe Ruth, or the Little League to name a few. Find the league representative…
Basketball is a team sport, in which two teams consisting of five players compete against each other on the playing court. The point guard initiates the attack, bypassing or ‘dribbling’ the ball to teammates. Team-mates try to score points during an opponent’s foul, by making shots or 3pts (3 pointers) respectively 2pts (2 pointers). If one of them misses, they rebound and can pass it back to their player. If both teams have made the same number of field goals when all game minutes have passed, there is a jump ball between two players that are standing at midcourt. The winner gets possession of the ball. A made basket counts as two points but this eventually became three in 1965.
If you want to know how many times your favorite NBA team has won the world championship, just ask Alexa.
“Alexa, ask NBA machines who is the best in the league.”
The current champion is the Golden State Warriors, which took home their third title last year. The Cleveland Cavaliers are in second place with three wins in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The Chicago Bulls have six championships while Michael Jordan played for them in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997 (he retired after that season). On average it takes about 4 years for an NBA team to win one title. For this article, I looked at every NBA franchise that has won a world championship since 1950 (see chart below). To calculate the number of titles I did not include the San Francisco Warriors who won the franchise’s only title in 2015. I did this because that team does not exist anymore and is now called the Golden State Warriors. In addition, there were 12 teams between 1950-1968 which means one half of the league at a time won a championship while today two teams from each conference get to play in the NBA finals.
Injuries are part of football. In order to prevent injuries from happening, it is important for every team to have a good backroom staff, consisting of a physiotherapist and sports scientists. However, in this article I won’t write about the importance of these members on your backroom staff, but instead focus on some measures that can be taken by you as headcoach to reduce the chance of injuries occuring.