Posted on Jul 23, 2008 under Golf, Yessis Editorials |
The recently concluded British Open was a true challenge to the golfer. The conditions were adverse with rain and high winds and as usual, the rough was really rough. The scores indicated this and players who shot in the 70s were in my estimation, great golfers. Surprisingly, there were only four golfers who fell into this category. Most were in the 80s which is still great considering the conditions.
When we compare these scores with other professional tournaments taking place at the same time it is obvious that most courses in the United States are too well groomed and do not offer that great a challenge to most professional players. For example, in one tournament the winner was 16 strokes under par, in another it was 23 strokes under and in a third, 18 strokes under.
Jack Nicklaus may be correct in his assessment that “younger golfers have gone soft .“ His comment is supported by the fact that the top US finisher, Jim Furyk, finished fifth at 80. Phil Mickelson finished at 14 over. Where are the other players?
Most people were surprised that Greg Norman (who finished in fourth place with a 79) did so well when taking into consideration his age. They should not have been since the 50s is still relatively young for a golfer. Since we are seeing more older players in many sports that demand much greater levels of physical abilities, we should not be shocked to see a golfer, in a sport that is still quite demanding but not to the level seen in other sports, play so well with younger players.
What is disappointing is to now see many reporters saying that perhaps there should be an asterisk after winner Padraig Harrington’s name. The reason? Because Tiger Woods did not play. This is an idiotic statement made by people who probably believe that Tiger will win every tournament he plays. Why do they always need the same hero? When will they learn that on any given day ( or tournament) most any professional golfer can beat any other professional golfer.
What is especially hard to believe sometimes is how severe are some of the injuries that the golfers complain about. For example, Harrington almost did not play because of a wrist injury. According to reports the pain was so severe he could not even have a full practice on the day before the Open began. But as Tiger stated after the U.S. Open, his knee pain made him concentrate more on each shot. Harrington voiced a similar opinion.
The only conclusion I can draw from this, based on my experiences with many injured players, is that the pain could not have been severe enough to interfere with execution of the stroke. This does not mean that they were not in pain. It simply means that the pain was not exacerbated in the actual execution. They probably felt the pain after the execution. Thus they probably concentrated more on good execution to limit the pain. It would be informative if in the future reporters would get this kind of information instead of merely sensationalizing the condition.
Static stretches have become well accepted by triathletes and are practiced by most. For anyone to suggest that the athletes should not do such stretches is almost sacrilegious. But, if we closely examine the research done on static stretches in sports, as well as practical experiences, we will see that static stretches do not truly prepare you for running, cycling, or swimming workouts or competition, nor do they prevent injury. ( Read more… »
For years runners have been told that it is necessary to do static stretches before running, especially when sprinting. According to many runners and recent research, static stretching before sprinting does not improve performance nor does it prevent injury. In fact, it may be the cause of some injuries. Although this has been known for well over 20 years, the information still has not trickled down to runners.
When studying animals in the wild, you can see that they do not do any static stretching before going into a sprint to attack their prey. They often rear back to prepare for the initial leap, but that is the only preparation that is typically done. Read more… »
In today’s Parade magazine there was an article titled, “Are college coaches overpaid”? The article brought out some very interesting points of information. For example, the average pay of major college football coaches now stands at more than $1 million a year. Some receive $3 million or more while the average salary for professors ranges from 50 to slightly over $100,000.
What is especially interesting is that according to the NCAA, “college sports are, in fact, money-losing propositions. Among the 119 schools with top Division I football teams, only 19 had athletic departments that generated a profit in 2006.” Athletic budgets at some of these universities are over $50 million.
Whether these salaries and expenditures are warranted has been debated for many years. What has not been looked at is whether the universities are getting their money’s worth. For example, a large portion of the athletic budgets are for player recruitment. But do they always get the best athletes for the money that they spend? Do do they develop the full potential of the athletes that they bring in? Read more… »
Now that we are at the halfway point in the baseball season many sportswriters are looking more closely at their team’s successes and failures. In doing this they do a recap of the successful players and those who can be classified as failures. Very often they are compared to their past performances or the write-ups are limited to their performances in the present season. This is relatively easy to do since they only compare or write about the players statistics.
Even general managers and CEOs of the various ballclubs are the first to admit that many of their selections did not pan out. They were off on their predictions and were very disappointed in the performance of some of the players that they selected. It is interesting to note that many of them still defend their decisions and often chalk it up to factors beyond their control.
It is very easy to look back and see that many players did not do very well or as well as expected. To come up with statements to the effect that they should have gotten a different player or should not have traded a particular player or should have had more faith in some of the players that were selected but later traded is very simple to do. Everyone can be an expert after the fact. Read more… »
Posted on Jul 17, 2008 under Explosive Golf, Golf, Golf swing |
According to many teaching golf professionals, the most common fault in the game is swinging over the top so the club approaches impact from outside the target line. This comes from starting the downswing with an aggressive upper body move.
However this “common” fault of swinging over the top has never been shown with actual pictures taken from live digital video film. If this were done, they would see that it is impossible for this to happen when swinging the club in an effective manner. For example, if the club approaches impact from outside the target line, you will invariably lose your balance and fall to the rear after impact. Read more… »
Posted on Jul 17, 2008 under Baseball, baseball pitches |
While watching the All-Star game I noticed that the announcers were using curveball, breaking ball and sinker as being synonymous. At times, after stating that it was a breaking ball, they amplified the statement by saying that the ball really sank downward. Sometimes they would say it was a curveball that really sank downward. In essence, they make no distinction between these three pitches.
Thus it is not surprising that I often get into heated discussions with my baseball acquaintances as to exactly what a particular pitch does, i.e. the path that it takes in flight. Everyone seems to have his opinion as to exactly what each pitch supposedly does. To compound the problem, we see contradictory information presented in the papers by players and coaches and from radio and TV announcers and commentators. Read more… »
Over the years I have found that most people believe that you can be a better athlete but only up to a certain point. When you hit the professional, Olympic or world championship level most people say you are already the best and cannot be better. This is true not only of the average person but also of coaches on all levels.
When athletes attain a high level, it is believed that they now have perfect technique and their physical abilities are developed to the optimal degree. This belief however, is a myth. All athletes regardless of their level, from youngster to the top professional or world class performer, can still improve their abilities to become better athletes. In fact, I have never met an athlete who could not be better. This includes world-class and professional athletes. Read more… »
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