We Don't Walk Slow

Charging into the Finals

Sam informed me that Bob Ryan was going nuts how the offensive charge was ruining basketball. I wasn’t aware of this when I told him that I had the same thought. I haven’t heard anything Bob Ryan said but in the past week I’ve watched more basketball than the past 10 years combined and this was my conclusion. I do want to say that I do believe that there should be a charging call but I think that a no call should be the desired result.

I agree that an out of control offensive player barreling down the lane and slamming a set defensive player is charging. I don’t feel like a player who has released the ball and is falling into a defensive player can be considered a charge. I also think the defensive player flops half the time anyway. Meaning that if there isn’t enough force to create a charge, it should be a no call. No calls will prevent defensive players from flopping and you’ll create a line where flopping becomes too risky. As is, players just fall down whenever there is any contact and the refs are too stupid to not blow their whistles. This needs to be corrected.

By Tom Stortz|2012-06-07T22:55:44-04:00June 7th, 2012|Sports|0 Comments

Phillie Phans

2 baseball posts in a row… the world must be ending. The Phillies just lost their 6th game in a row and the uncertainty is starting to become a certainty. What spawned this post was actually a sentence I read in the Inquirer before today’s game. This isn’t verbatim but it went something like “to make matters worse, Freddy Galvis went down.” HAHAHAHAHA. If Freddy Galvis getting hurt makes things worse, then your team is god awful. He is hitting .226 with 3 homers and him getting hurt shouldn’t make a difference to your success. That being noted, I can’t wait to see how Phillies fans react to the team sucking. I want to see all those band wagon fans cheer their team who is going to be dead last 100 games into the season. I know that there are legit Phillies fans out there but you bet your last dollar I’m keeping an eye on the attendance at home games because I’ve known for a long time how false Phillie fans are. It begins.

By Tom Stortz|2012-06-07T22:39:26-04:00June 7th, 2012|Sports|2 Comments

Roid Rage

I find something humorous about baseball and it lies in the stats. Baseball players are known for taking steroids and there is nothing more blatantly obvious than reviewing some known juicer’s careers. I’m going to start with some obvious (and proven) ones so you can get the idea and then I’ll throw a few out who haven’t surfaced.

Pre-Juicers
Brady Anderson – In his first 7 years as a pro the most homers he hit in a season was 21. In 1996, he jacked 50 homers and had 101 RBI as a lead off hitter. He followed up 1996 with a respectable 97′ (.288, 18 HR, 73 RBI). His 98′ was mostly injury plagued as he batted .236. You’ll noticed the injury trend after juiced seasons. He never admitted to using steroids during his one epic season.

Greg Vaughn – In 1995 (notice the years), Vaughn played in 108 games and batted .224 with 17 dingers. In 96′, he hit 41 homers, 117 RBI and batted .260. He quit the roids in 97′ when he batted .216 with 18 homers. His most memorable season of 1998, he blasted 50 homers with 119 RBI and batted .272. Another solid year in 1999 with 45 homers and 118 RBI. He sputtered out his last 4 years injury plagued never to return to that level.

Ken Caminiti – Before 95′, Ken’s highest total season of homers was 18. He admits to using steroids around the next few years of his career. In 95′ he belted 26 and in 96′ he hit 40 homers. He batted .302 and .326 respectively and walloped an enormous 130 RBI during 96′. After that breakout year he averaged less than 100 games a year for the rest of his playing days.

The first two guys never admitted to roids (I don’t think) but Caminiti did (he’s dead to a cocaine overdose) but I think the trend and years played should be evidence enough. Now lets take this info and move it to present day with some players who should be suspected.

Post Juicers

Jose Bautista
A fairly easy one to spot and obviously unusual. In 4 seasons prior to 2010 he hit 16,15,15,13 homers per season. In 2010 he smacks 54 and follows up with 43 the next year. No trend upward or anything just straight up hits 40 hr’s more the next season. With all the testing going on prior to the fiasco during the Roid era, it’s hard to give an explanation to this. Whatever he changed is under the radar. When will he get hurt?

Jimmy Rollins
No one is safe. In 2007, Jroll was the National League MVP. He batted .296, had 30 homers and had 94 RBI while playing in 162 games. He followed that year backing off with just 11 homers, 59 RBI and .277 average. In 2009 this is taken from Wikipedia “towards the end of June Rollins was batting just .195 with a .237 on-base percentage when hitting leadoff, and through July 1 he had the lowest on base percentage (.250) in the major leagues”. Rollins has never been close to his 2007 season up through the present. What happened? UHHHHHHHH, baseball was cracking down on the juice, Jimmy stopped taking it and became just another above average player.

A-Rod The list just couldn’t be complete without the most obvious. Right back to the heart of time when steroids were rampant (1996) is when A-Rod started his run as baseballs most accomplished hitter. Between 1996 and 2007, A-Rod had 3 30+ HR seasons, 5 40+, and 3 50+ season. From 2008 on his totals have been 35, 30, 30, and 16. Let’s also mention that he played almost every game during that awesome time span. Since then he’s been a different player. What changed? I think that’s obvious.

Do I have any proof in any of this? Only the numbers. Numbers are the truth and as much as people like to believe that a player had an amazing season just one time, history tells a tale. What’s up with Chooch’s 2012?

By Tom Stortz|2012-06-06T22:25:29-04:00June 6th, 2012|Sports|2 Comments

Mondauk Basketball

Now that my living situation has changed, chances are I start playing a bit more basketball. I played this Saturday and I have a few observations from this experience. I’m not the greatest player but I do know what I can and can’t do. I also know how the game should be played. Most people don’t. Here are a few things I noticed throughout the game:

Players pass the ball so late on the fast break. The key to the fast break is to pass the ball early and keep your options open. Once you start getting closer to the basket, the window angle gets smaller and smaller. This happens so frequently that it is really what spurred this post.
Pass and cut. People pass and stand and if you don’t want to have an offense, than that’s a good strategy. I can’t believe how often people just stand outside the 3 point line doing nothing but waiting.
The difference between a 2 point shot and a 1 point shot are huge. If you have anyone who can shoot reasonably well, you should try to get them open looks. The better team doesn’t always win at Mondauk, it’s usually who can make the most 3’s.
The defense and boxing out (2 things I can do) is non-existent. This game I played in though wasn’t the highest competition so I expect that it comes with talent.

It’s very true that I’m going to be one of the oldest guys playing and have played for much longer than most but these are just some simple observations.

By Tom Stortz|2012-06-05T08:03:26-04:00June 4th, 2012|Sports|8 Comments

This is News?! by Yahoo

Wally Szerzerbiak Tweets about KG

I despise the media. This is an article that shouldn’t be an article. I can’t think of one reason why anyone should care what Wally Szcezerbiak thinks of about anything. I would compare the importance of Wally’s tweets to my tweets. We’re on the same level. So if some media moron wants to start using my tweets for news stories, then maybe I’ll reconsider my position.

Yahoo wonders why it sucks and I have to point to stories like this. I use Yahoo for 3 things, its finance section, its fantasy sports, and its headlines. The search engine is sub par and all the other crappy categories are a waste of time. They’re problem is that they try to do a little bit of everything and are good at nothing (but fantasy sports). I actually really like the company because the things I use are done extremely well but I just can’t believe that stories like these deserve attention.

By Tom Stortz|2012-06-01T09:51:48-04:00June 1st, 2012|Sports|0 Comments

Dedication

Today was 90+ degrees. I believe that this deters a lot of people from doing activities. This for me though is what makes me feel alive. I ran 8 miles at noon today and was completely zapped (a real Maine reference) to the point that I haven’t been happier finishing a run in a long time. Pushing yourself in conditions like this is how you know what you are made of. After that I went to play golf for the 3rd time in 4 days. I completed 18 holes on Friday (81 at Raven’s Claw), 41 on Saturday (87 at Westover and some unkempt number at Limekiln), and 18 today (90 at Lederach) to sum up a mostly golf weekend. Why? I point to the title of this post.

I want to get better at everything I do. I don’t just do tasks half assed. I work at them until I feel that I put forth my absolute best effort. The point to realize is that you don’t improve overnight. It takes time and effort. The other concept to take out is that you have to enjoy doing the activity. If you just keep doing things that you hate just because you want to get better, you won’t. I’ve learned in life that you need to pursue things that you like. Whatever it is you want to do, do it.

By Tom Stortz|2012-05-28T21:15:28-04:00May 28th, 2012|Sports|0 Comments

A level playing field

The type of equipment that you play with can make a huge difference in a person’s performance. I believe that people recognize this but don’t really realize the importance of it. Here are some good examples from previous experience.

When Adam and I were bowling with Jaweens, he owns his own bowl and his own towel to clean off the oil for a true roll. Adam and I are using house balls that have been rolled tens of thousands of times. This isn’t discrediting Jaweens ability but if we level the playing field with Jaweens throwing a house ball, I think we’ll see a different result. Time with tell.

When Sam and I play ping pong, we both use the same exact paddle. Now say I go out and buy a top of the line paddle and he continues using the old one, do I have a big advantage? Then ask, why would I ever want an advantage in a game between two people? If I win, I don’t want any advantages whatsoever. I want to be the better player, equipment aside.

In golf, I think people don’t realize how much equipment comes into play in competition. Give me a driver from 2000 and I promise you my driving distance will decrease 25 yards if not 50. If you are playing with an iron set that has Wilson on it, you aren’t going to play golf as well as someone who is playing the TaylorMade Rocketballs. So you’ll see two people in golf shooting 2 scores but it’s not always the fairest of match ups. Sure the player still has to play well but equipment plays a big part.

These are just some examples of keeping the fairness of the game in mind in whatever game you are playing. Both people should be playing by the same set of rules in terms of scoring and equipment to have an even match.

By Tom Stortz|2012-05-24T10:04:38-04:00May 23rd, 2012|Sports|0 Comments

Sports – Play or Watch

Baseball
Play – The game is slow. Stand in the field and wait to see if someone hits the ball to you. Hitting requires you to wait through at least 8 batters. Lots of waiting and not a lot of doing. Little physical strength is necessary. Extreme pressure placed on the individual. Bill Buckner knows what I’m talking about.

Watch – Painfully slow. 162 games makes the players tired of playing. Since it’s always on in season, it gives people something to do which I think is it’s biggest allure.

Basketball
Play – Pick up games can make for decent basketball. Everyone can get involved because there are the right amount of people on the court. You can be a good role player even if you aren’t good at offense. Requires a decent amount of endurance which keeps the heart rate up.

Watch – The NBA has gotten pretty lame. The players play when they want to and you can tell that they don’t give it their all during the regular season. Watching the Sixers shows how teams can really D up and produce low scoring games. Where is that defensive effort during the season? College bball is fun to watch because they are giving 100% every game.

Football
Play – Fun to play but relatively hard to get games. Getting a good amount of people together who all want to play football doesn’t seem to happen all that often. A good QB is essential to having a good football teams. A bunch of average joes can’t have a good football game without a Q. Physical ability and speed come into play as it is easy to expose your defender if you are a superior athlete.

Watch – Easily the best professional sport & collegiate sport to watch. Fast paced. Big hits. Action packed. Fantasy stats are also making the game more exciting. The best sport to bet on as well.

Hockey & Soccer
Play – Nope.
Watch – Nope.

By Tom Stortz|2012-05-17T19:05:10-04:00May 17th, 2012|Sports|2 Comments

SodaPump Strike Out

I promise that Bud Schmidt will laugh at the Soda Pop reference. Whatever braniac thought of SodaPop after watching that is my hero.

By Tom Stortz|2015-05-04T14:49:54-04:00May 15th, 2012|Sports|1 Comment

NBA Hipster Glasses

I’m taking no credit for this post but I saw it on another forum and decided it was worthwhile. Just my personal opinion, but these new players look moronic. Old school rec specs were legit.