"How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball?"

The New York Yankees and the New York Mets have their own television networks. These networks broadcast nearly every game live and replay every game at least once. They may have the best color and play-by-play announcers this side of Vin Scully.
Both networks have some pretty savvy former ballplayers as color guys. The Yankees have Ken Singleton, Al Leiter, John Flaherty and Paul O'Neill. The Mets have Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. Hernandez might have been the best fielding and best hitting first baseman of his era (he played 1974 to 1990).
The quote "How can you not be romantic about baseball?" is from the movie Moneyball with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill about the 2002 Oakland A's. The movie looks at the clash between baseball traditionalists and statistically driven innovators.
But the roots to this clash do not lie with Bill James, as the movie suggests, the Turning Point in moving away from a traditionalism to a statistically driven approach was Strat-O-Matic baseball.
If you know what that is (SOM or Strato for short) then you immediately get the point. Most kids from my generation either grew up playing SOM or its competitor, APBA. Basically, you pick a team, you pick your lineup, you roll dice, you play a baseball game. Every player has a card based on last year's statistics.
In S-O-M, you have pitcher cards and batter cards. If you roll a '1', '2' or '3' on one die you look at the batter's card. If you roll a '4', '5' or '6' you look at the pitcher's card. Then you roll two dice to get the result. Sometimes on the pitcher's card you will have to check a fielder's rating to get the result.
During a Mets game, commenting on a terrible play by an outfielder, Hernandez exclaimed "oh my, that guy is a '4'. Gary Cohen, the play-by-play guy, has no idea what Hernandez is talking about.
Hernandez went on to explain that in Strato, fielders are ranked from '1' to '4' with '1' being the best fielders and '4's the worst. This guy who made a lousy defensive play was a '4.' This made me laugh, because I knew from experience that Hernandez in his prime was a gold-glove caliber first basemen who was usually a '1'. It was so cool that a ballplayer knew about Strato. Especially an All-Star like Keith Hernandez.
Last week in a broadcast, Hernandez said he was going to play a Strato game between the 1969 Mets and 1986 Mets to see which World Champion team would win.
As kids, we were playing Moneyball well before 2002. We were playing it in the 1970s. When we picked a lineup we looked at more than just a players average or homeruns. We looked at his fielding, his speed, his hit and run abilities, his walks and ability to get on base (which included hit by pitches, anyone remember Ron Hunt?)

Most of us who managed Strato teams growing up could do a better job of managing and picking a team of players than most of the executives today. Because Strato always used the previous year's statistics, you would NEVER pick a player on what he did five years ago. NEVER.
Routinely, executives today pay enormous salaries to former All Stars well past their prime. Strato players know NOT to do this. They know the guy can't run, can't field, can't hit lefties anymore.
Moneyball just further exposed ludicrous traditional thinking and grounded it more solidly in mathematics. Heck, we didn't need math, we had Strato.
By the way, with the advent of the designated hitter, there are some players who never play the field and shouldn't. To reflect this, Strato came up with a '5' ranking for these players. You don't want to put them in the field in an inter league game, they will cost you. For those interested, David Ortiz of the Red Sox is a '5'.
One of the reasons the Yankees are so good, besides their homeruns, is that Texiara, Cano, Granderson and Gardner are all '1's. They can field, too.
How can you not love baseball? Enjoy the playoff races my friends!!

Because It Matters

The Virginia Tech Hokies football team will be playing in the Sugar Bowl tonight. For the first time since 1964, one of their biggest fans will not be watching or listening to the game.
Richard Barker, my dad and a civil engineering professor for 30 years in Blacksburg, Virginia, died December 19 of pancreatic cancer.
As a youngster, dad and I would walk to football games and wait until halftime when they would let us in for free. We would sit in end zone seats (there were no sellouts in the early 60s) and watch the second half. Those early 60s teams, coached by Jerry Claiborne had Kenny Edwards, Terry Smoot, Frank Loria and Frank Beamer playing for them.
Dad was a quiet, reserved Swede, so it was hard to tell unless you knew him well how passionate he was about VPI (as Va. Tech was called then) football. Through years of losing seasons, dad persevered. Always loyal, always hopeful. But, as most longtime Hokie fans, also fatalistic. Hokie fans know success is fleeting and sometimes illusory.We spent too many years getting drubbed by SEC powerhouses like Alabama.
Because Blacksburg is not a large media market (don't think 30,000 residents qualifies) the national media has usually ignored or when they did pay attention, ridiculed the Gobblers We call ourselves the Hokies now and I suppose that's an improvement.

Dad followed this season with his usual keen interest. He was able to attend the first few home games in a wheelchair, but had to leave at halftime. By the time Homecoming came around (see picture) he wasn't able to attend, but stayed home and watched on TV.
Longtime Hokie fans get a lot of enjoyment in defeating in-state rival University of Virginia. Dad couldn't talk much on the phone by then, but he could text. Throughout the game, he texted. It was fun, the 38-0 drubbing was the Hokies' best showing of the year.
The next week against Clemson in the ACC championship, dad texted through the first half, but faded during halftime and fell asleep. I watched the whole second half in agony, watching the Hokies fall to Clemson just as badly as they had during the regular season. It was like they had learned nothing from earlier mistakes.
Around midnight, I got a text from dad. It was to be the last one he sent.
It said "Can you say out coached?"
He was ticked. He knew it would be the last Hokie game he would be a part of, that he wouldn't make it to the bowl game. Fitting that it would end for him the way many Hokie seasons have ended, losing a big game.
I told the story to a good friend of mine, who understood my dad's anger.
"He was upset," my wise friend said, "Because it does matter."
I will miss watching Hokie games with my dad, and getting texts from him during the game. Virginia Tech football is a big part of our lives together. If the Hokies lose big to Michigan tonight, he wouldn't be surprised. But he would still be ticked. Because it does matter.

Hokies At 11-1 Still 'Don't Get Any Respect'

I'm sick of the national sports media. I've cringed over the years as the national sports media kissed Joe Paterno's butt. How'd that work out?
Here's an update, 'Bear' Bryant doesn't coach at Alabama anymore. You can stop kissing his butt, too. Here's another update, many of the schools that the media adores that have been awarded championships have been cheaters. Look it up.

I've got a chip on my shoulder because I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia and I'm a Virginia Tech fan. I watch a lot of college football. There aren't that many teams this year as good as the 11-1 Hokies. Still, when the national media goes over national championship scenarios, they leave out the Hokies. The NYC sports media has called the Hokies a 'fake' good team. WTF?
How many teams have won 10 or more games for the last eight years? None. With Paterno fired Hokie coach Frank Beamer is now the winningest active coach. Still no respect.
I've heard all the arguments national media types use. Goes something like this. "We like conferences that give us big TV ratings. We love Notre Dame, the SEC, the Big 10 and Texas schools. We love TV ratings. We love TV ratings."
A small market school tucked away in the mountains (Boise State fans know what we're talkin' bout) gets no respect. It's all about hype, entertainment, and ratings. It's sickening to see all these fired coaches and ex-jocks make fools of themselves every week, trying to sound like they know what they're talking about.
Against the University of Virginia, the Hokies had to win to get to the ACC championship game.
They won 38-0.
The Hokies ran the clock out in the red zone, with Beamer,as he always has, refusing to run up the score. With Logan Thomas and David Wilson, the Hokies have two of the best offensive players in the nation. They have the top two receivers, Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale, in school history.
Virginia geared up to stop Wilson, Boykin and Coale, so Thomas hits receiver Marcus Davis for 36 yards on the first offensive play. Thomas caps the drive with 14-yard run to put the Hokies up 7-0.
Then came the game's turning point. The Cavs took the ensuing kickoff down to the Hokie seven-yard line and went for it on fourth down. The Hokies defense stopped them.
At the start of the second quarter, with Boykin and Coale covered, Thomas hit Davis on a 52-yard pass. Three plays later, Thomas hits Boykin for a touchdown and the Hokies go up 14-0.
Receiving the second-half kickoff, Thomas guides the Hokies down the field, completing four passes to set up a 27-yard burst by Wilson for a score. Game over. Wilson runs amok the rest of the game, finishing with 153 yards, and the second unit gets to play much of the fourth quarter.
Next up for the Hokies is Clemson. The Hokies have lost to a team in the regular season before and won the rematch in the championship game (Boston College fans know what we're talkin' bout). It should happen again. If so, the 12-1 Hokies deserve to be considered for the national championship game. Will they?
Probably not.

Hokies Off to A Good Start in Downing Appy State

1-0 is better than 0-1. Every time. Last year, the Virginia Tech Hokies opened against powerhouse Boise State on a neutral field and lost.
This year, opening against Appalachian State at home, the Hokies did what you are supposed to do. They won big. When you win big you can make those opening day mistakes and not have them cost you the game. When you win big you can play a lot of people and develop depth you'll need as the season wears on and the inevitable injuries strike.
Last season, the Hokie defense just wasn't that good. Fortunately, the offense led by Tyrod Taylor, was so good the Hokies won 11 games. But in the BCS bowl game against Stanford, the Hokies mediocre defense was torched.
What was bothersome about the Hokies defense last year was that they didn't appear to learn from their mistakes. They kept making the same kind of mistakes all year long. They were out of position, they would over react and leave their lanes, they appeared to be easily fooled by clever offenses.
Even though it is only one game, the play of the Hokies defense is encouraging. They appear disciplined and stay in their assignments. The team speed on defense also appears to have picked up, especially at linebacker. Appy State had a good offense and a very good, athletic quarterback. Against the Hokies, he never got going.
The game was over at halftime with the Hokies up 38-0. Besides the defense, the offense and special teams look like they can be, well, special. Tyrod Taylor is playing for the Baltimore Ravens. His successor, Logan Thomas, appears to have amazing upsides. All he lacks is experience, which he will gain quickly. At 6-6, 250, he is going to run over defensive backs and be able to throw over the out-stretched arms of rushing lineman.
And we haven't got to the best part, yet. That is David Wilson, the running back who is threat to score EVERY time he touches the ball. He may not sustain a 10 yard per carry average throughout the season (162 yards on 16 carries) but he should have his share of long runs. What is incredible to watch is that even with his great speed, Wilson runs well right up the middle.

Keeping in perspective this is just one game against a non-conference foe, the signs are promising. The next three games, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall, should give the Hokies chances to keep winning and gaining experience before heading into conference play.
The Hokies are young, outside the O-line there aren't many seniors starting. None of the Atlantic division ACC teams the Hokies play this year are named Florida State.
It's a long year, we'll see how it plays out. But it's hard to argue with a good start.

Derek Jeter and Rod Carew and 3,000 Hits

In 1977, while living in Minnesota and attending the College of St. Thomas, I attended 32 baseball games at the Twins Stadium in Bloomington. The Twins weren't the best team in baseball (the Yankees won the World Series), they weren't even the best team in their division (the Royals won the West Division) but they had Rod Carew.
The 1977 Twins were fun to watch, even if they finished 17.5 games behind the Royals. They could hit (team BA 1st) and they couldn't pitch (team ERA 12th) so most of the games were high scoring affairs.
The big draw was Rod Carew spending most of the year batting over .400. He finished the season at .388. In this pre-steroid era, they had six players hit more than 10 home runs, led by Larry Hisle's 28. Even Carew hit 14, in addition to 38 doubles and 16 triples. Carew played in 155 games, scored 128 runs, had 239 hits and amazingly 100 rbis.
Every day at the ball park, Carew was guaranteed to do something amazing. One game against the Brewers, I got seats in the third deck behind homeplate right in front of the radio announcers. Back then, a younger Bob Uecker was doing radio for the Brewers.
Carew went four for five. After Carew's fourth hit, I looked back at Uecker, he had a big grin on his face, looked straight at me and lifted his hands in surrender as if to say 'we can't get him out, not today, not no way.' As a baseball player, Uecker was clearly enjoying, as we all were, one of the greatest players ever to play, in his prime.
Carew moved on to the Angels, where he never matched his success of that magnificent year. His skills declined as he entered his mid 30's. He retired at 39 after batting .280, with a career average of .328.
Many thought Carew kept playing past his prime so he could reach 3,000 hits. He ended his career with 3,053. They were probably right. Although, it needs to be said, not many players hit .280 even in their prime.
In 2011, I'm living in the NYC area, can't afford to go to Yankees or Mets games, but I watch them on HDTV every night (I make my own popcorn).
The big story in NYC this year is Derek Jeter closing in on 3,000 hits. The wags are on his case because he's 37 and not playing like he was, uh, two years ago. At 35, Jeter hit a phenomenal .334 with 18 home runs among his 212 hits. Not many players can do that at 35. This year, the wags are saying Jeter is washed up because he is batting .257.
I've been comparing Derek Jeter and Rod Carew careers. They are remarkably similar. Here's the numbers:
      Carew    Jeter
AB   9315    9602
R      1424    1725
H      3053    2998
2b      445      480
3b      112        62
HR      92       236
RBI  1015     1157
BA    .328      .312
SB     353       330
OPS  .822     .832

They were both Rookies of the Year, Carew in 1967, Jeter in 1996. Jeter is the better fielder, winning four gold gloves. As Carew got older, he switched from second base to first base. Jeter continues to play shortstop. Jeter has also shown more power, hitting more home runs, while Carew had more speed, hitting more triples.
The local sports talk radio shows have people calling in giving their thoughts on whether Jeter has had a Hall of Fame career. I think he does. Carew was a class act, so is Jeter. Something Jeter said in the paper recently about the enormity of the task to hit get 3,000 hits made sense.
He said that you had to average 200 hits for 15 years to reach 3,000. That means you have to be very good for a long, long time. For my penny, that means Hall of Fame.
Some day, Jeter will be in the Hall of Fame with the great Rod Carew. And he will deserve it.

Vick Gains New Fans, Supporters on the Road to Redemption

My partner works in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation field. She is a licensed and certified drug counselor, has a masters of divinity degree and is a seminary-trained ordained minister. She works in the field of Redemption, where people who have made mistakes and messed up their lives try and make amends and become better people.

It's hard work. It requires patience, commitment and forgiveness. It's also not always successful. Life's highways are littered with ruined lives. It's nice to see when someone can get up, dust themselves off and try to walk the straight and narrow.

Weekends, she likes to relax by watching cooking shows and knitting. This past weekend, I watched the first half of the Giants-Eagles game, thought the Giants were going to win and retired to read, turning the remote over to my partner.

It was with some surprise that a few chapters in I heard a "Woo Hoo!" coming from the living room.

Mmm, I thought, must have been a great recipe.

A few minutes later, another "Woo Hoo!" That can't be a cooking show, I thought.

Sure enough, it wasn't. During the commercials for the cooking show, she had turned over to the Eagles-Giants game and watched the Eagles recover an onside kick. The second whoop was from a Mike Vick touchdown pass that brought the Eagles within a touchdown.

My partner is a Mike Vick supporter. She was excited to see him doing well. She had read the Sports Illustrated article on Vick and was moved by it. The Eagles coach, Andy Reid, knows about Redemption as his sons have struggled with addictions.

I sat down with her and watched the rest of the game. It was wonderful to see Vick playing the way I saw him play in college for Virginia Tech. He was unstoppable.

Vick played two years for the Hokies. His record in games he started was 22-1. The only loss came in a national championship game against Florida State.

Vick's fall from Grace has been well documented. He spent 18 months in jail. It has been pointed out that people are more upset and less forgiving of Vick than other athletes who beat their wives, cheat on their wives and sexually assault women.

There are some people who will never forgive Vick. My partner works every day with people who have ruined other people's lives, spent time in jail, and are struggling to become better. She shares Vick's story with those she counsels. They understand.

They understand there are no guarantees, that every day is a struggle and that there will be setbacks. But they get up, dust themselves off and try and walk the straight and narrow.

It's good to see Vick doing well on and off the field.

There are few people that have Vick's athletic abilities, but there are many people that have fallen from Grace. They are in rehab facilities across the country. They are looking to turn their lives around. Not all of them will make it. But like Vick, if they do, they deserve Redemption, too.
Here's a 'Holiday Shout Out' for all those trying to turn their lives around. "Woo Hoo!"

Hokies Smack Seminoles; Win ACC Championship

Eleven in a row. It may take awhile for that to sink in. Looks like we get a month to savor it. Saturday's 44-33 win was the 11th in a row for the Virginia Tech Hokies since the loss to James Madison in September.
I am partying like its 1999. That's the last time the Hokies won 11 in a row. Michael Vick was the quarterback. Virginia Tech went 11-0 in the regular season, the Hokies were in the Big East, and played Florida State for the National Championship.
The Hokies led 29-28 going into the fourth quarter before falling to the Seminoles, then coached by Bobby Bowden. Saturday, the Hokies played Florida State for the ACC Championship, no longer coached by Bowden.
Tyrod Taylor, who reminds some people of Vick, quarterbacked the Hokies, still coached by Frank Beamer, to a convincing 11 point win over Florida State. The turning points in the game, all in the first quarter, set the tone and momentum.
Whenever the Hokies win the opening toss, they defer to the second half, the other team gets the ball, and marches down the field to score a touchdown.
The Hokies start slow, get close at halftime and then dominate the second half to seal the deal. This game was different.
The first turning point was a 3rd and 2 at the Hokies 14 yard line. Safety Eddie Whitley broke up a pass intended for Taiwan Easterling in the corner of the end zone. The Seminoles settled for a field goal. That made it 3-0 Seminoles.
On a wet, slippery field, Taylor had three incomplete passes opening drive and the Hokies had to punt. That was a shame, because Ryan Williams looked good, rushing three times for 31 yards.
One play after the punt, Seminole quarterback E.J. Manuel's pass was tipped by lunging linebacker Bruce Taylor. Instinctively, Jeron Gouveia-Wilson gathered the pass in and ran 24 yards for the score. The extra point by Chris Hazely put Tech up 7-3.
The next turning point was on the Seminoles' next possession. On a 2nd and 8, Steven Friday tackled Manuel for a three yard loss. Manuel's eight yard gain on third down wasn't enough and Florida State had to punt.
After a touch pass to Williams for five yards, Darren Evans burst through the middle for a 51 yard gain. On the next play, Evans scored from nine yards out. With Hazley's kick, the Hokies were up 14-3. They never relinquished the lead and never let the Seminoles back in the game. The Hokies were in control rest of the way.
Remarkably, both teams went on to score 30 points each. Sometimes a bad field can favor the offense.
Taylor was magnificent, throwing for 263 yards and three touchdowns. The Seminoles for some reason decided not to cover Danny Coales, who was wide open for many of his six catches. But Taylor's signature moment in the game was a run.
On a third and goal from the five yard line, Taylor weaved and juked his way through numerous Seminoles for a touchdown. Even a botched extra point didn't detract, putting the Hokies up 41-26.
It has been a joy watching Taylor take snaps for the Hokies these past four years. Knowing there will be one more game, the Orange Bowl, is something to look forward to, a sports memory to treasure.
What a year! It would be nice to be playing for the national championship. Looking at other teams, TCU seems to be the only one that could beat the Hokies. They aren't playing for a national championship, either.
By the way, JMU finished 6-5.