THIS IS THE ULTIMATE “NOT SO CAL SPORTS, BUT SO WHAT” POST
And as I’m wearing a Dodger cap and jersey as I type this, I believe this personal sentiment says it all about this most significant of sports figures…
Willie Mays is the reason why I am most likely the only Dodger fan in existence who does NOT hate the San Francisco Giants, the over 100-year main rival of the Dodgers.
He is the reason why though I’m not a fan of the Giants and do not and would not wear any of their gear (unless I lost a bet),
I respect them as a franchise and the rivalry that spanned from New York City (Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan to be precise) to the two flagship cities of California.
Plus along with everything else,
I firmly believe that through his extremely spectacular play and the pronounced joy he exuded while playing in the Polo Grounds, Candlestick Park and Shea Stadium, Willie Mays did nearly as much as Jackie Robinson to not only integrate Major League Baseball,
He did much to make black ball players more acceptable to white fans who largely gave Jackie hell (particularly the non-Dodger fans outside of Brooklyn) during his first couple of years in the big leagues.
That catch in the 1954 World Series certainly didn’t hurt, either.
Nor did his dominant play over a 23-year career, putting up numbers that I won’t reiterate here as it’s been done on other websites and news sources.
It obviously saddened me when I heard he had passed away,
But being that he lived ninety-three years on this planet,
Assuming that he is in Heaven now, I strongly think he was told three words upon entering those gates…
“Well done. Welcome.”
And allow me to say this in closing this tribute to a Hall of Famer who in my view was the greatest ball player of all time,
A player who I put above all the other baseball greats, even Babe Ruth…
FAREWELL, WILLIE – FROM A LONGTIME FAN OF YOUR MAIN BASEBALL RIVAL.
YOU HAD A GREAT LIFE IN BASEBALL AND SO MANY OTHER WAYS.
GIVE JACKIE, HANK, AND ALL THE OTHER BASEBALL GREATS OUR PERSONAL REGARDS.
AND MAY YOU REST IN PEACE – YOU HAVE CERTAINLY MORE HAN EARNED IT.
In the opinion of countless others along with mine, this man was the greatest baseball player ever. And the reason why as a Dodger fan, I never hated the Giants. Photo courtesy of usatoday.com
I’ve been involved in this type of activity quite a few times on my birthday…
ANOTHER SET OF RECKONINGS CONCERNING TURNING ANOTHER YEAR OLDER, AND HOW THAT TIES IN WITH MY SPORTS LIFE
Though I’m sure I have mentioned this before on this blog around this time most years if not every year,
I’m always glad to mark the anniversary of my coming into this world, God blessing me to be able to add another candle on my proverbial birthday cake as I’ve always made it a particular point to thank the Lord in prayer for letting me see another birthday when I wake up on the morning of June 18th.
As I heard someone say on a TV show…
“Celebrate your birthdays. They’re precious.”
I’m particularly blessed and thankful that during the course of my sports life, June 18th has been a pretty good day for me as whenever I’ve played baseball or softball on that day,
I’ve done fairly well as I remember going 3-for-3 with a double the day I turned sixteen in 1983 while playing for my Colt League baseball team in Santa Monica;
I believe it was the only time I got three hits in an official baseball game!
I also remember the last time I played on my birthday – it was at a pick-up softball game in Mar Vista two years ago and I had a good day there, going 4-for-5 with a home run.
And I’ve played in and done well in at least a couple of more pick-up softball games over the years on June 18th, which was fun.
Of course the three times I’ve been to Dodger Stadium on my birthday – the first time in 1978 when I turned eleven, the Dodgers shutting out the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) 5-0, along with seeing that team the days I turned thirty and thirty-three in 1997 and 2000, respectively,
Are pleasant memories for me.
As such, my birthday plans for this year include going to some batting cages and taking some swings, along with other things that I think will be fun.
Castle Park Batting Cages in Sherman Oaks: I spent my birthday in 2014 here hitting balls, it was fun and a good workout…
However,
I have to be honest when I say that there are some thoughts I have regarding turning fifty-seven this coming Tuesday – a mere three years away from the “big six-zero”,
Which is mind-boggling to me.
Also,
Though I’m very well aware that it doesn’t compare to being a major league ballplayer getting older in the slightest,
And though it could very well be a temporary thing and nothing to worry about whatsoever,
I couldn’t help noticing while playing in my Saturday pick-up softball games that as far as hitting,
I haven’t done as well as I’ve normally done during some of my most recent games.
And I’ve particularly noticed players younger than me completely outhitting me, players absolutely whacking the ball very, very far and getting home runs like I used to,
While in the past couple or so games I was satisfied to get singles through the infield.
To put it another way in a long-story-short fashion…
Though I may be wrong, at least for now,
I’m beginning to feel that due to my beginning to approach the late stages of middle age, my skills are starting to diminish just a teeny, tiny bit in an “at the embryonic point” kind of way.
Not that it matters as it really is just a game at the end of the day,
But I’m starting to understand what veteran major leaguers and athletes in general whose best days are beginning to be behind them feel.
Of course there’s that possibility that I could go off and have a kick-a** day with the bat the next game I play.
But as I approach my late fifties,
I just can’t help feeling that my best days are at the embryonic stage of being behind me.
Anyhow,
That shouldn’t change how I feel about playing softball as if nothing else, it provides exercise that I need.
It’s just that sooner or later, I’ll eventually need to make an adjustment of my mind set, my expectations of myself on the diamond and how I perform, especially with the bat;
That the day will eventually come where I won’t be the same player and hitter that I was during most of the years I played.
I suppose that’s my goal now – to be able to enjoy playing softball despite the eventual and inevitable diminishing of my skills as I age, which I certainly pray won’t happen for a long time, but I know that’s ultimately not up to me;
We’ll certainly see how I do in my next game.
In the meantime, no matter what happens,
I’ll be sure to remember that God blessed me to be able to play softball.
And I’ll be sure to have a good birthday, thank the Good Lord for having and keeping me on his wake-up list,
And pray that He keeps me on his wake-up list for many, many, many more days to come.
A nice looking piece of birthday cake, though I prefer chocolate…
A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN LAKERS BASKETBALL AND THE NBA.
A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN BASKETBALL IN GENERAL.
A TRUE LEGEND NOT JUST IN SOCAL SPORTS FOR THAT MATTER, BUT…
A TRUE LEGEND IN SPORTS, PERIOD.
I’m not going to go on about the nine NBA championships that he won – one as a player in 1972 and eight as an executive as he basically built the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “Showtime” dynasty in the 1980s.
Or how, along with Elgin Baylor, essentially started pro basketball in Los Angeles as his rookie year in 1960 was also the Laker’s first year in Southern California, having moved to the Sports Arena from Minneapolis that season.
Or any of the other stats and accolades that he attained over the course of his career.
Or how if Yankee Stadium was the House That Babe Ruth built,
Or if Dodger Stadium was the house that Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale built,
Or if Pauley Pavilion at UCLA was the House that John Wooden built,
Then the Forum in Inglewood, which opened in 1967, was the House that West and Baylor built;
I’ll leave that for ESPN, Fox Sports, and other sports channels and news sites to cover.
I’ll just say this…
Without Jerry West, there would have been no Los Angeles Lakers as we know them.
And I’m talking about off the court after his playing career was done as well as on.
That was my prominent thought when I heard about his death this morning.
And along with the surprise of me posting Laker-based stuff on this blog in the middle of baseball season,
That will be my prominent thought going forward.
Of course it goes without saying that this multiple Hall of Famer and a member of the NBA’s All-Time 35th, 50th, and 75th Anniversary Teams, whose impact was so big that he was and remains the model for the NBA’s logo,
Will be missed on an extremely pronounced scale.
REST IN PEACE, MR. WEST.
AND BE SURE TO GIVE BILL WALTON AND ALL THE OTHER HOOPS LEGENDS OUR PERSONAL WARM REGARDS
I can see why the NBA logo (at top right hand corner) was modeled after this man. Photo courtesy of si.com
One of the softball fields at Memorial Park, a place where I did MUCH coaching and playing. Photo courtesy of santamonica.gov
One in a series
IT’S INCREDIBLE THAT IT HAS BEEN A FULL THIRTY YEARS TO THE MONTH.
Let me start at the beginning…
If I recall correctly, it was in April of 1994;
I was on the coaching staff of the Santa Monica College softball team, which had just started up again that spring after a hiatus.
Not that I could have really been considered a coach as career and just plain life-wise, I wasn’t in too good a shape as I had spent the previous seven months being unemployed, having been fired from a job that I hated anyway and routinely being rejected from even the most smallest of gigs.
Though I was eventually paid a small sum after the season, the SMC gig was a volunteer one, something to get me out of the house to be honest as I was more of a helper than a coach, keeping score during the games and doing various tasks during the practices.
Plus I didn’t get along with most of the players for whatever reason.
After an SMC game at Clover Park, a lady whose daughter I knew from having worked with her at my first post college job as a P.E. coach at an elementary school, approached me and asked if I would like to help coach her daughter’s softball team.
She played in what was then called the Santa Monica Bobby Sox Softball League on the minor division Royals, made up of young girls ranging from 9 to 12 years old.
It turned out to be a much better fit for me as I got along with the players better and was more involved with that team, coaching first base during the games and pitching pregame batting practice along with teaching them how to best approach playing, doing their best and all of that.
Unfortunately,
For reasons that I still don’t know three decades later, the president of that league both seemingly and absolutely hated me and didn’t want me anywhere near that league in any form, talking to me like I was something worse than dog poop as she ordered me to stay away until the board could decide whether I can coach.
Fortunately, I got a phone call a few days later where I was informed that I was okay and good to go for being an official coach of the Santa Monica Bobby Sox Minor Division Royals.
One of the softball fields at Clover Park in Santa Monica, where I likewise have a long history of coaching, playing, and even umpiring. Photo courtesy of alamy.com
What followed was two and a half months of what was, looking back, one of the best experiences of not only my coaching career, but working with youngsters in general;
Particularly when the league’s postseason championship tournament came around in June as although those blue jersey wearing Royals finished the regular season in the middle of the standings,
They caught fire during that double elimination tourney as everything just clicked with those young elementary school-aged ladies.
Incidentally, a very infamous event that will always be remembered not too fondly by too many people was happening around that time:
The murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman by O.J. Simpson (which he eventually got acquitted for even though everybody knows otherwise) and the subsequent slow speed police chase up the 405 in his Ford Bronco, which happened on June 17th with my birthday being the day after,
Which the Royals were scheduled for a playoff game that day with a team that ended up forfeiting to them due to all but three of their players going on family vacations, with the school year ending.
Which upset that team’s coach and which I completely did not blame her for.
I remember someone telling me that at least I got the present of a win, which I responded that I did not like to win by forfeit, and neither did the rest of the Royals;
At least I got a nice birthday cake that weekday afternoon at Memorial Park.
We ended up beating that particular team legitimately, with all of their players present, in the playoff semifinals a few days later.
Then, needing to beat another team twice to win the whole shebang, we proceeded to beat such team on the big Saturday championship day with the whole league watching before we ran out of gas and lost to them the next day, finishing in second place.
The biggest thing I got from the experience was not so much how good those Royals were or how well they performed,
But how they were such nice young people in which the chemistry between them, their parents, the coaches (including me) and each other was good to the point that I believe it was that chemistry that got that team as far as it did.
The fact that I’m writing about this thirty years later, with those young Royals now in their late thirties and early forties, should illustrate how significant a memory it was for me.
And how much of a positive experience it all was.
So much so that if they ever held a reunion, I would be there.
Oh, and by the way…
I was hired at a school in West Los Angeles that following fall, finally being able to earn a steady paycheck after nearly a year.
Another shot of Clover Park, where I spent so much time and where a lot of the games I coached with those Bobby Sox Royals in ’94 were played – along with it being the home field of Santa Monica College’s softball team that year…
The soon-to-be head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers? Photo courtesy of latimes.com
MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE POSSIBLE OF THE LAKERS HIRING THIS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP COLLEGE COACH
It’s been all over the sports news in So Cal the past couple of days;
The Lakers seemingly very much wanting to hire Dan Hurley, the University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball coach whose Huskies won their second straight NCAA championship a couple of months ago.
According to various sources, the Lakers want this guy badly, to the tune of offering him at least $100 million according to the Lakers Nation site.
After reading the feature article and Bill Plaschke’s column in the Los Angeles Times regarding this coach and his personality and approach,
Here’s what I have to say about the whole thing…
It’s not going to work.
Hurley should stay at Connecticut and build a legacy there, like John Wooden did at UCLA.
Here’s why…
Dan Hurley, the son of longtime New Jersey high school hoops coach Bob Hurley and brother of former Duke standout and current Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, has a personality that can be best describes as intense and in-your-face;
In Plaschke’s column, he quoted Hurley as saying that he can be “an a**hole” in order to get players to perform to their capabilities and win;
He has also had incidents with opposing fans in the form of yelling at them and saying things a coach shouldn’t say.
An intense and in your face style personality and style can work for high school and college kids – Bob Knight, the legendary coach who led Indiana to three national championships and was the leader of college basketball’s last undefeated team in 1976, is the perfect example of that.
But as far as men in the NBA?
One word…
NO.
Can anyone imagine Hurley trying to get in LeBron James’ or Anthony Davis’ faces when he feels they need to do a better job at something?
Not without some confrontations between player and coach that no one needs.
In short, men trying to feed their families in the NBA will tire of Hurley’s personality and approach fairly quickly.
And unless he changes such, which I doubt as one can’t change his personality in the tradition of the leopard not being able to change his spots,
Add to that the fact that successful college coaches rarely succeed in the NBA or even the NFL;
Pete Carroll, who was fired by the New York Jets and the New England Patriots before he came to USC and ignited the Trojans’ glory days in the 2000’s, and Nick Saban, who was fired by the Miami Dolphins before he became about as God-like as Bear Bryant at Alabama with all that dominance, are perfect examples of that.
Well, let’s just put it like this,
Should Dan Hurley be indeed hired as the Lakers’ new head coach,
I would give him two years at the helm.
At the most.
Unless they – at the very least – go far in next season’s playoffs, which I honestly don’t see them doing.
Of course, my opinion means absolutely nothing as the Lakers will probably hire Hurley and give him the keys to the Lake Show kingdom.
But that’s how I see all of this.
I’m looking forward to see how this works out at this time next year.
AN UPDATE:
Hurley did, in my opinion, the right thing and the smart thing in announcing that he turned down the Lakers’ $70 million offer to remain in Storrs, CT as the Connecticut coach and go for a third straight national championship next season;
Something that hasn’t been done in college basketball in nearly fifty years, since John Wooden’s seven NCAA titles in a row from 1967-73 in Westwood.
I wonder if he read this post and took my advice to heart…
FILE PHOTO: Apr 8, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley celebrates after winning the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA Tournament against the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports Photo courtesy of reuters.com
I decided to include this photo on top of this post in light of the Women’s College World Series – which UCLA was in – that’s currently going on…
As I was watching the NCAA Tournaments in college baseball and softball and the Women’s College World Series – with UCLA being one of the eight teams – on ESPN and ABC these past few weeks,
Due to my enjoying the action that my alma mater’s softball team and the other softball and baseball programs put on display all over the country,
An epiphany came to my gray matter, something which I have felt and was my opinion for a while but never 100% realized…
I enjoy watching the college baseball and softball playoffs and their World Series more than I enjoy watching Major League Baseball, including their World Series and yes – as much as I am a longtime fan of them, even more then the Dodgers!
I know that will surprise and even shock some people who have been perusing of this blog for as long as it has existed, my being a longtime Dodger fan and all;
DISCLAIMER: This should in no way, shape, or form imply or give the impression that I’m no longer a Dodger fan or a fan of MLB, I still enjoy watching the Dodgers and the other National and American League teams on MLB Network
In fact, allow me to explain the reasons why I’ve found myself enjoying the NCAA Regionals, Super Regionals, and College World Series in baseball and softball more than the Dodgers and Angels telecasts on Sports Net LA and Bally Sports West, along with the Sunday Night Baseball telecasts on ESPN…
BASEBALL HAS THE YANKEES, SOFTBALL HAS THIS TEAM: The UCLA Bruins, 13-time national champions and 32-time participants in the Women’s College World Series including this year’s – though unfortunately they lost to Oklahoma and Stanford and were knocked out.
Since this is a Southern California sports blog, due to the name on the jersey I thought this would be the perfect photo to include in this post – Thanks Pixels!
First and foremost…
The passion that the college baseball and softball players exude on screen are completely off the charts;
Every play they make – a hit, a run scored, a strikeout or some other put-out – induces celebrating like they had just won the national championship or even won a million dollars (each) in their Name, Image & Likeness deals.
Which was and is particularly the case in the softball playoffs and Women’s College World Series currently going on in Oklahoma City.
The way those young ballplayers celebrate after everything positive that happens would probably rub old-school sports people from previous generations the wrong way;
Even I found myself thinking how they go a bit overboard after making an easy routine play on the field or hitting a single.
Indeed, I remember seeing a documentary (I believe) in which New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle mentioned how whenever he hit a home run, he always simply put his head down and quickly jogged around the bases because he didn’t want the pitcher who he blasted the ball off of to feel worse than he already did.
But if I were the college players’ coach – in baseball or softball,
While I honestly wouldn’t be the biggest fan of such celebratory antics, preferring to have them “act like they’ve been there before” and saving the wild celebrating for after they had won the “natty”,
I wouldn’t forbid such enthusiasm either; I would let them do their thing as I’m not a totalitarian type of coach that rides my players for every little gesture or expression.
It’s the passion that those young men and women radiate on the diamond that I’m sure has increased the interest of the fans and the TV wiewers;
It sure has increased my interest, especially after I saw Texas and Texas A&M, two universities involved in one of the most bitter college sports rivalries in the country – clash in both the baseball and softball regionals;
Any rivalry which features the two schools’ football teams brawling during the pregame warm-ups, before even the referees had shown up, as was the case with those Longhorns and Aggies in 1989, would induce much interest with me;
They made the Crosstown Rivalry between UCLA and USC look like a love fest!
Another reason why I enjoy watching the college baseball/softball postseason more then their MLB counterparts:
It’s related to the passion that those young players exude;
For about 99.999% of them, especially in softball, playing for their college teams is “The Show”, having been among the very blessed seven percent of high school athletes that achieved the opportunity to play ball in college at any level.
Only two percent of those college baseball players will ever get a paycheck to wear a Major League uniform.
And with the pro softball leagues in this country totaling roughly 120 players, out of the 31,729 athletes playing college softball,
The percentage of them getting the opportunity to play in Athletes Unlimited or Women’s Professional Fast Pitch is about 0.003%!
So it’s no wonder that those players are exuding a passion and enthusiasm on a pronounced level out there;
It’s most likely the last time all but roughly one percent of them will ever put on a baseball or softball uniform, which I completely get and respect.
I saw it in the faces of UCLA’s softball team when they lost to Stanford in this year’s College World Series, which ended their season as quite a few of those Bruins, particularly the seniors, were in tears and getting tight hugs from their coaches and teammates.
Anyhow…
Watching the college baseball and softball postseason has been quite enjoyable for me,
And will undoubtedly continue to be enjoyable later this month when the Men’s College World Series, which decides baseball’s national champion, commences in Omaha, NE.
Even though UCLA won’t be in it as they had a pathetically bad season,
I’m looking forward to seeing the passion that those guys will show.