Alex Rodriguez gets booed in every ballpark, including his own. Tommy John, on the other hand, has a surgical procedure named after him. What’s the difference? That’s the interesting question posed by author Malcolm Gladwell in this New Yorker article. Says Gladwell, “Maybe Alex Rodriguez looks at Tommy John — and at the fact that […]
Today, major-league baseball is handing down suspensions to players it believes have taken steroids. New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez is the most prominent name. I have no first-hand knowledge of who did or did not take these drugs, but I do know this: Your decisions are your destiny. You are today the product of […]
Former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman once did a video called “Winning the Big One.” In it, Bertman spoke of the daily, constant, relentless effort to improve. I’m not sure if Yankees Manager Joe Girardi has seen the video, but his drive to improve has brought a motivational gem to the clubhouse. As related in […]
Getting drafted by a pro team guarantees nothing. History is filled with people who are picked high but who never live up to their potential. No one can ever say that about Barry Larkin. If anything, he went beyond expectations. Taken as the fourth overall pick in the 1985 draft, Larkin has landed in the […]
Today we begin the end of the year awards by selecting the best quote of 2009. In terms of mind-body performance in the world of sport, nothing really compares with an observation heard during the World Luge Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., in February. “Luge is a gravity sport. You can’t do anything to make […]
By the time we see them, players in the World Series are already wearing the trappings of a big-leaguer. But it wasn’t always that way for them. David Eckstein, named the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 Fall Classic, was a college walk-on who earned his scholarship only through persistent work. Cole Hamels, who won […]
Somehow you knew this: The Transportation Department reported yesterday that nearly 6,000 people died and about half a million were inured in this country last year in accidents related to distracted driving. Authorities cite cell phone use and texting as among the culprits, though the article points out one woman died when rear-ended by a […]