Self Value and Athletics

I read a story today in the Ft. Worth Star Telegram about a minor league baseball player who died of an overdose. Some are blaming his decent into drugs and alcohol dependence on the public humiliation he suffered for being dealt from on team to another for ten maple baseball bats. Upon reading this story I was reminded of Eddie Shore's legendary trade of Jake Milford to a Buffalo minor league team for a couple of nets. Milford was surely the butt of many jokes, but never let the trade define him as a man. Milford had a respectable career as a player then went on to become the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings (back in the days of purple and gold) and was inducted into the hockey hall of fame in 1984 based on his outstanding management of the expansion franchise.

The point being, professional sports is a business, predicated on making money. The trade for this baseball player was changed from a player for cash deal to the player for bats deal because the general manager thought the cash deal made the organization look financially unstable. I am not here to argue the reality of that fact, it's the way the executive perceived the situation, so he did it. Incidentally, the bat trade drew so much media attention that Ripley's Believe It or Not bought the bats with a $10,000 donation to a children's charity, making the trade a huge success for all involved. . . so it would seem. Team makes money, team gets publicity, struggling player keeps a job, charity gets large donation.

Am I being too callous?

Not everyone can play at the professional level, sometimes you have to give-up the dream and move on to other things. In today's fast paced world, children are often pushed hard into an athletic venture at an early age, the earlier they get started the better chance they have of achieving success in that field, so the logic goes. Does it limit the child's self value, to where they cannot imagine themselves without the external validation of their chosen sport? I don't know if that is the history of this young man, but if his death is related to the trade incident, it truly is tragic that he would let himself be overrun by the perception of his athletic shortcomings.

What really shocked me about this story was the reaction by other readers, calling those involved in the trade jerks, gladiator promoters, and MURDERERS! Ridiculous.

Mea Culpa

Yes, I did it. I looked at the twenty-eighth, it was a Saturday, I clicked on it and took my cue for a night off. What can I say, I had a very active weekend and wanted to go to bed. I'm sorry.

MAJOR

Blue Devils (4-2-0) 2
Spiders (3-1-1) 1

The Spiders get the first goal of the game from Jennifer Gray, I mean Heather. The Devils counter with David Ogle's opus. I was getting ready for a goalfest. . . The Blue Devils can barely get it out of their zone and every beautiful series of Spider passes ends up ringing a post or beneath the carcass of David Blubaugh. The event terminates in a shoot-out. Brett Syzmonik, who had played an outstanding game when called on, despite two years of rust on his game, is exposed in the first attempt, and the second, and when Roger Gray fails to deliver the stay alive goal the Spiders, he left the ice vowing to never return, or at least not for three years.


Komets (3-2-1) 4
Brewzers (1-5-0) 3

The Komets were cruisin' in spite of the absence of Coach Al they had a goal in the first from Wil Dobson and opened the second with a goal from Bryan Brookman. They never saw the Brewzer wrath awaiting them in the third. Rookie net minder A. J. DiBenedetto, falls victim to back to back goals from Rob Walker, tying the game, and then John Parker, singlehandedly, scores the third Brewzer goal for the lead. Realizing their arrogance and ignorance the Komets push for the win in regulation, without Al to turn to they send Scottie Baldree to the front of the net, and then the game was tied. Then, after nearly thirty shots against, the mighty Mike Moore allows the winning goal to punk-ass Wil Dobson. The Komets are in the hunt again this session, how will they let it slip away this time?


Privateers (4-0-0) 4
Whalers (1-5-0) 2

It was billed as a blood bath, but only generates a pedestrian twenty-two minutes worth of penalties. The 'Teers collect a slashing from Joel Bush and a roughing from Jonathan Horton to open the game. After Bush collects another two minutes for roughing, the Whalers crack back with a back to back slashing and tripping combo from Richard Walter. Tony Finazzo counters with a Privateer tripping minor, but before he can even get out of the box, Thomas Aarons, of the Whalers, pounds home a cross check. In the third, Gus Mask scores the elusive double minor with a roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct. The Hamster shows he can carry his weight with a garbage time penalty, and Mask goes for the hat trick with a holding call before the game can end. Also, the Privateers scored two more goals than the Whalers. Six goals, only one on the power play?


Patriots (6-0-0) 3
Snipers (1-3-0) 1

Rookie defenseman, John Thompson, logs the first Patriot goal, the only goal of the first period. In the second, the Snipers emerge from the chaos in front of the Patriot net with the tying goal, Kevin Cooke claims the bounty. Thompson takes it personally and delivers another goal for the Pats, and spends the remainder of the night controlling the neutral zone to insure he gets the game winner. Steve Benefield plays the lead differently, carrying the puck in for a security goal- the best defense is a good offense. The Pats continue to cut a swath through the I-league, what does it all mean?


Ice Bats (3-2-0) 6
LSI (2-4-0) 3

James Macha puts LSI out in front on the first shift and it takes until the last shift of the period before Eric Petty can tie it back up. Gabe Rivera puts the Imports on top again, but the Bats get a goal from Jason Doyton to strike it out. The teams trade goals again: LSI- Gabe Rivera, Ice Bats- Billy Quinn; to take a tie into the third, that's when things went awry for the Imps. Doyton sets up his line mates for two goals, the first to Danny Grimes, the second to Billy Quinn. With the game all but lost the Imports wave the white flag and Grimes plants the Flag with one more goal putting the Bats above the .500 mark. If this team doesn't implode they will be a force in the second half of the schedule.


Canadiens (3-1-0) 2
Stickmen (1-4-1) 1

Brad Bynum scores a Stickmen goal in the middle of the first, and it looked like it might stand-up. McCollister was certainly doing his part as the Canadiens rained down shot after shot. But the barrage takes its toll, not just the goal from Ryan Smith to send it to overtime, but the fatigue plays a part in the ensuing shoot-out also. With only eleven shots against, the rookie DiBenedetto, looked fresh and turned away all three shooters without the prize. McCollister sees his stupendous effort go for naught when the second shooter, Jason Neal, grabs the brass ring- sending the Sticks into the cellar.


minor

Ice Holes (0-3-1) 0
Grave Diggers (3-1-0) 2

The Holes were a force to be reckoned with for about three minutes, after having nothing to show for it they retreated into their zone depending on Jayson Jones. The returning netminder was up for the challenge, turning away nearly two periods worth of Digger offense. Stephen "Chilly Willy" Janis sinks the Ice Holes' battleship with his period ending goal. The Holes fail to answer the Chilly goal and end up allowing 29 shots on their own net, one more of those finds its way on to the waiting stick of Bob Barr who puts the game out of reach for the Ice Holes.


Shockers (1-3-0) 2
Mutineers (2-2-0) 5

The Shockers are in a ditch, and despite calling in veteran goalie Jesse Gonzales from Richardson, they cannot overcome the relentless Privateer wannabes. Those Mutineers had some difficulty putting the puck behind Gonzales, it takes more than eight minutes for Don Lyle to score. Eric Yepez ties the game on the power play, but John Swartzbaugh restores the Mutineer lead. Yepez closes the first with another Shocker goal to kill the momentum, unfortunately the momentum he killed belonged to the Shockers- they fail to score again for the duration of the game. The Mutineers score the game winner in the second from Spider perennial Mike Ginnard, a second in the second from Nathan Hamilton, and finally in the third, Patrick Haley makes the fifth. Sister, Ryan, was spotted swigging a fifth in the parking lot.


Silverwings (0-1-2) -
Warriors (3-0-0) -

Okay, this one I am pretty sure is legitimate, it doesn't appear to be on Pointstreak. Strangely enough, I was watching this game whilst listening to the woes of Louis Greco and should know who won it, but I don't remember now. Too many jello shots and Ryan Haley anecdotes.


Chiefs (4-0-0) 4
Puckers (2-2-0) 1

Yes, Old Blu is a friend of mine, but sometimes I can hardly stand to watch him play . . . Josh Ayala skates out of the Chief net and gets an assist on the first goal, scored by Bill Broad. In the middle frame, Broad plays the set-up man on the goal from Ryan Brett. The Puckers strike back with a Rob Constantine goal, causing the Chiefs to question their decision to put Stillwagon back in net, but rather than give him the chance to prove himself they score two more goals: Mark Millard, Bill Broad. Twice as many Chief shots as Puckers'.

What's the Frequency, Pointstreak?

There was a lot of action in the rink this weekend, I witnessed most of it. At 4:30, I had my first game and eventually my second game arrived at around 10:30, whatever time it was, it wasn't right on the monitor. I don't what that said or what that was. Okay, but I can't look on Pointstreak, there's no scores on it! There's NO SCORE THERE! What does that mean, "no games on this day"? I don't know what that means. . . end the Blog? I can't do it. I guess I should have done it live. We'll DO IT LIVE, FORK IT! I'll write it and we'll DO IT LIVE! The FLIPPIN' THING SUCKS!

That's it for the weekend, we'll leave you with crossbar talk. . .

Now, the schedule said 10:15 for my last game but there is a problem with the new 13 minute period that has not been accounted for in the ice management. For some reason if you add six minutes of clock time, associated penalties, stoppages (with changes), and whatever unforeseen events that are associated with a beer league game you just can't cram it into the same one hour of real time that was scheduled before. The Refs are none too happy about the situation, either. You may have your opinions about what the refs do or don't do in the games but the fact is they schedule with the rink a certain amount of time out of their personal lives to collect a modest paycheck keeping our asses in line, as best they can. When they sign-up for a night of I-league, the schedule shows six hours worth of games and can end up going seven and a half easily. The word is that the pressure is put on the refs to speed the games up to get everyone out of the building on schedule: players, coaches, Zam operators, and the rest of the staff. It's a trend that hasn't gone unnoticed. Some refs are sticking to their guns making every call, while others are letting everything go just to get the game caught up.

The simplest solution, it seems, would be to just allow an extra fifteen minutes on the schedule per game. When the ref has to try and balance so many off ice issues with the action on the surface, things can quickly get out of control. If the refs are scheduled for the appropriate time to begin with then they would be less likely to feel imposed upon and carry that attitude into the games.

Everyone will still have their problems with refs and the schedule will actually quote the 4:30 starts all the way to the last one at midnight, but it's better to start at midnight rather than sitting in your gear in a smelly locker room for ten or fifteen minutes. . . Okay maybe that smell is just me.

I was completely distracted by the talk in the crossbar and couldn't tell you much about any of the games except the two I actually played in, so we'll have to catch-up on the scores later in the week.