'His Mother was in the Hospital Four Years Ago!'
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:34 am
I've been watching the Olympics. If there is ANYTHING that can make one appreciate home town baseball broadcasters, I suggest listening to the announcers at the Olympics.
These fellas remind us of injuries or family losses from years ago to bolster their heroes.
Yuck.
Say what you want about Hawk Harrelson, but he doesn't need to make excuses for an Adam Dunn strike out by telling his audience that Dunn may have still been thinking about the beloved second cousin's death 12 years ago to the day of the strike out.
One Olympic athlete had a Mother who was in the hospital four years ago!
How these guys persevere through hardships such as these.....excuse me, I'm verklempt....
Olympic broadcasters have made mole hills, mountains, and it's even better if the mole is cancerous.
Better story, don't you know.
It's E! meets ESPN. And we lose.
I've learned now, to record the Olympics and watch it with the sound minimized. This way I know I'll miss how Michael Phelps feels about the Aurora theater shooting, but I'll somehow manage.
It was while I was watching, and listening, that an announcer screamed about a new world record in swimming. A world record he never thought would be broken, because it was set when swimmers wore the streamlined swim suits.
This got me thinking as to how the equipment itself has changed so many things in sports.
Golfers are making it to the greens on some par four's with just one drive.
It wowed folks to see hitters who could hit a softball 300 feet over the local fence with a wooden bat.
Now, some unathletic pipsqueaks are doing it with an alloy that's been to the moon.
Major League baseball has for the most part, stayed the course. Sure, batters are trying new types of wood. But, wood is wood.
One of these days I fear that the wood will be 'treated' with something that'll possibly change the game, but as far as I know, that hasn't happened yet.
Still, if the players that helped invent the game were around, they'd be astonished. They played without gloves and preferred a 'dead ball'. Some balls had the yarn so loosely woven inside the cover that it was very hard for a batter to reach the outfield. When they did, the outfielder, even with the best of arms, could not throw it back to the infield.
This, was how the shortstop was born.
A 'go between' was needed between the outfielders and infielders. Today, he is called a relay man. The 'shortstop' was a 'short stop' between the outfield and infield. Hence the name.
At one point in the late 1800's, a man so fed up with bad umpiring calls, he made a baseball with a bell in the middle. The premise was to assist umpires in not only seeing foul tips, but hearing them too.
The bell would also ring when the ball (bell) was caught making it easier for an umpire to judge a play, especially at first base.
But too often, after a hard hit ball, the bell would cease to work and the ball would no longer be made.
At one time, balls were made the color red so that the fielders could see it more clearly against both a grass and sky background. But, pitches got faster and batters complained of how hard it was to see.
Back in those days, manufacturers of the balls advertised them as 'dead, red balls.'
It was a time when the fielders, still without gloves, were thought of, before the pitcher or hitter.
Imagine that!
In the 1870's, a stitchless ball was made.
It was not well received. Fielders complained of it slipping from their hands in an attempt to throw the ball.
Worse, in the 1860's, the curve ball arrived was the favorite pitch by a select few.
Hitters flailed at it.
Fans were wowed by it.
Some pitchers were even considered 'witches' or magicians for throwing a good curve.
The stitchless ball would not last long.
Balls were revered back in the day.
A team from St. Louis would challenge a team from Kansas City.
And a team from Chicago would challenge a team from Milwaukee.
The prize?
A baseball.
Not a new one.
The same ball that would be in use for the entire game.
I have no idea in how to close this post.
I started off being upset at Olympic broadcasters and ended up in the nineteenth century talking baseball.
So how about this-
What would a nineteenth century baseball player tell an Olympic broadcaster today-
"Swim fast?
Balance on a beam?
Bicycle quickly?
Is that how a measure of an athlete is constructed in the 21st century?
Alas!
I'd be betting that not one of these modern creatures would stand a chance against these new curve balls!"
These fellas remind us of injuries or family losses from years ago to bolster their heroes.
Yuck.
Say what you want about Hawk Harrelson, but he doesn't need to make excuses for an Adam Dunn strike out by telling his audience that Dunn may have still been thinking about the beloved second cousin's death 12 years ago to the day of the strike out.
One Olympic athlete had a Mother who was in the hospital four years ago!
How these guys persevere through hardships such as these.....excuse me, I'm verklempt....
Olympic broadcasters have made mole hills, mountains, and it's even better if the mole is cancerous.
Better story, don't you know.
It's E! meets ESPN. And we lose.
I've learned now, to record the Olympics and watch it with the sound minimized. This way I know I'll miss how Michael Phelps feels about the Aurora theater shooting, but I'll somehow manage.
It was while I was watching, and listening, that an announcer screamed about a new world record in swimming. A world record he never thought would be broken, because it was set when swimmers wore the streamlined swim suits.
This got me thinking as to how the equipment itself has changed so many things in sports.
Golfers are making it to the greens on some par four's with just one drive.
It wowed folks to see hitters who could hit a softball 300 feet over the local fence with a wooden bat.
Now, some unathletic pipsqueaks are doing it with an alloy that's been to the moon.
Major League baseball has for the most part, stayed the course. Sure, batters are trying new types of wood. But, wood is wood.
One of these days I fear that the wood will be 'treated' with something that'll possibly change the game, but as far as I know, that hasn't happened yet.
Still, if the players that helped invent the game were around, they'd be astonished. They played without gloves and preferred a 'dead ball'. Some balls had the yarn so loosely woven inside the cover that it was very hard for a batter to reach the outfield. When they did, the outfielder, even with the best of arms, could not throw it back to the infield.
This, was how the shortstop was born.
A 'go between' was needed between the outfielders and infielders. Today, he is called a relay man. The 'shortstop' was a 'short stop' between the outfield and infield. Hence the name.
At one point in the late 1800's, a man so fed up with bad umpiring calls, he made a baseball with a bell in the middle. The premise was to assist umpires in not only seeing foul tips, but hearing them too.
The bell would also ring when the ball (bell) was caught making it easier for an umpire to judge a play, especially at first base.
But too often, after a hard hit ball, the bell would cease to work and the ball would no longer be made.
At one time, balls were made the color red so that the fielders could see it more clearly against both a grass and sky background. But, pitches got faster and batters complained of how hard it was to see.
Back in those days, manufacturers of the balls advertised them as 'dead, red balls.'
It was a time when the fielders, still without gloves, were thought of, before the pitcher or hitter.
Imagine that!
In the 1870's, a stitchless ball was made.
It was not well received. Fielders complained of it slipping from their hands in an attempt to throw the ball.
Worse, in the 1860's, the curve ball arrived was the favorite pitch by a select few.
Hitters flailed at it.
Fans were wowed by it.
Some pitchers were even considered 'witches' or magicians for throwing a good curve.
The stitchless ball would not last long.
Balls were revered back in the day.
A team from St. Louis would challenge a team from Kansas City.
And a team from Chicago would challenge a team from Milwaukee.
The prize?
A baseball.
Not a new one.
The same ball that would be in use for the entire game.
I have no idea in how to close this post.
I started off being upset at Olympic broadcasters and ended up in the nineteenth century talking baseball.
So how about this-
What would a nineteenth century baseball player tell an Olympic broadcaster today-
"Swim fast?
Balance on a beam?
Bicycle quickly?
Is that how a measure of an athlete is constructed in the 21st century?
Alas!
I'd be betting that not one of these modern creatures would stand a chance against these new curve balls!"