Self Sacrifice: The Unglamorous Side of Sports

Sports serve as a form of entertainment/source of recreation to many people. However, it is much more than that for those involved; it is a job, a committment, a lifestyle. As consumers and fans, we tend to have a myopic scope, only thinking of sports in terms of wins/losses, stats and championships, but it is much more than that. Case in point is the recent retiring (and subsequent unretiring) of well known Florida Gator football coach Urban Meyer. For those unfamiliar, Urban Meyer is currently one of the most successful coaches in College Football, having lead Florida to 2 national championships and 2 number one rankings over the past 5 years. But he has done so at a cost, an extreme one. For years he has overlooked his health. As detailed in the article Florida's Meyer to Step Down, his health has deteriorated to the point where his doctor has told him that stepping away from the game is the only way to maintain his health and avoid traveling down an unhealthy road. This is the other side of sports. The side the media doesn't publicize and society doesn't glamorize. The tireless dedication, committment and self-sacrifice for the great good of one's team. Althetes and coaches often sacrifice family time, a social life, extracurriculars hobbies and probably the biggest sacrifice, their bodies. There have been numerous profiles of athletes and the tremendous amount of post-career pain/discomfort they experience as a result of the pain inflicted on their bodies during their playing days. Nevertheless this post is not meant to solicit sympathy for atheletes and coaches, rather to offer up a measure of acknowledgement and admiration for the sacrifices they often make for our entertainment.

Urban Meyer (far left) and Tim Tebow (middle)

NBA changes traveling rule

The NBA recently made a change to its traveling rule. The new rule reads, in part: "A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball." Now, despite being an avid basketball fan, I had no clue that the rule officially stated that players could only take one step. My dad always told me that the rule was one step, but like most "I'm talented and going straight to the NBA" youths, I didn't listen. While the rule change is interesting to note, it won't change much about the way games are officiated. NBA players have been allowed to take two steps forever and by changing the wording of the rule, but not really the enforcement of it, the NBA simply adds some clarity to an issue that had become incredibly clouded. The complete traveling rule has eight subheadings (pg. 37), yet traveling is clearly a "you know it when you see it" type of situation. Regardless of the rule change, refs will continue to allow players to travel because it promotes scoring, and scoring sells tickets. Here are a few vids dealing with traveling in the NBA.

Yes, LeBron travels too

Some of these travels are ridiculous..

Yankees: Playoff Bound Once Again

There's no a better way to christen this blog than to talk about the all time "winning-ness" franchise in sports history/my favorite team, the Yankees. All is right is the baseball world once again as the Yanks recently clinched a post season birth after missing the playoffs last year. They've been dominating the competition, exercising their proud winning ways of the championship years, but with a slightly different twist. In the past we (yes, we - vicariism at its best) won with strong pitching, defense and timely hitting, whereas these Yanks win with strong hitting, good defense and timely pitching. It may not be the formula that I grew up watching, but I still have the same confidence and excitement as I did back then. Simply put, I like our chances. To all you fans of other teams: See you in October.

A Sports One Too?

Yes, I've created yet another blog, this time on sports. Sports have been and will continue to be a staple of my life, so I figured I'd devote some time towards creating/maintaining a blog. It's also the easiest and most enjoyable subject for me to write about. I'm aiming to write on a wide range of sports and use this blog to post everything from general updates to my opinions on various issues, probably stirring some debate along the way. I hope you enjoy reading.