So why do we watch sports?
Obviously, we watch when cheering on and supporting our favourite team or player, but what makes us tune in when Roger Clemens or for that matter, Josh Towers, has a no-no through 7 innings, or when Kobe's got 75 through 3 quarters? It’s the desire to, in some small way, be part of sports history in the making, to be present while superstars attempt to become legends, legends add to their lore, or unknowns chase immortality. After all, sports would be infinitely boring if the favourites always won, the underdogs always lost, the great players never disappointed and the average ones never overachieved.
So why is Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons taking out Shaun Marcum after 6 innings of no hit ball after just 78 pitches?
Yes, we know the argument - Marcum, up until recently, a Jays reliever, was on a strict pitch count, as to not over extend him and risk causing him injury. This is however, yet another reason why sports fans are feeling alienated. If its not the million dollar contracts, its level of coddling that they receive from management, whose fear of injury befalling a player seems to drift further and further away from reality.
John Kruk's infamous statement, 'I'm not an athlete, I'm a ball player' notwithstanding, baseball players are in fact, considered to be world class athletes. At just 78 pitches, was a chance of injury to Marcum really more likely with each additional pitch? Proponents of the move will exercise the power of selective memory and site Oral Hershiser in 1988 literally sacrificing his career in order to secure a World Series title for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The truth of the matter is that a situation like that is a worst case type of scenario and is definitely the exception, not the rule. Athletes are constantly pushing themselves past their natural limits in pursuit of excellence. Willis Reed returning from a severely sprained ankle during the NBA championship. Emmitt Smith playing with a seperated shoulder in order to help his team secure home field advantage throughout the play offs.
In this particular case, no play off spots or championships were on the line, but for Marcum,who in all probability will be nothing more than a decent big league pitcher, a no hitter and a shot at baseball immortality was at stake. Marcum might have blown his arm out on his 77th pitch, his 78 pitch, his 79 pitch, his first pitch of his next start - Marcum and every other big league pitcher is always one pitch away from injury and letting him continue until he ran into difficulty would case no more of a risk.
After a very disappointing beginning to the season, marked by injuries to closer B.J. Ryan and ace Roy Halladay, a historic performance by Marcum just might have been the emotional boost that the Blue Jays needed, much like the no-no tossed by Mark Buehrle helped shake the Chicago White Sox out of their doldrums and vault them back into contention in the American League Central. Instead, the Jays beleaguered bullpen wasted Marcum's gem, Gibbons is left looking like he again dropped the ball, and Toronto fans are left with a sour taste in their collective mouths. Sadly for the Blue Jays, 'Wait Until Next Year' is less a cliché and more a commentary on a season that once promised such high hopes.
Gotta go, 'Battle of the Planets' is on.
Obviously, we watch when cheering on and supporting our favourite team or player, but what makes us tune in when Roger Clemens or for that matter, Josh Towers, has a no-no through 7 innings, or when Kobe's got 75 through 3 quarters? It’s the desire to, in some small way, be part of sports history in the making, to be present while superstars attempt to become legends, legends add to their lore, or unknowns chase immortality. After all, sports would be infinitely boring if the favourites always won, the underdogs always lost, the great players never disappointed and the average ones never overachieved.
So why is Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons taking out Shaun Marcum after 6 innings of no hit ball after just 78 pitches?
Yes, we know the argument - Marcum, up until recently, a Jays reliever, was on a strict pitch count, as to not over extend him and risk causing him injury. This is however, yet another reason why sports fans are feeling alienated. If its not the million dollar contracts, its level of coddling that they receive from management, whose fear of injury befalling a player seems to drift further and further away from reality.
John Kruk's infamous statement, 'I'm not an athlete, I'm a ball player' notwithstanding, baseball players are in fact, considered to be world class athletes. At just 78 pitches, was a chance of injury to Marcum really more likely with each additional pitch? Proponents of the move will exercise the power of selective memory and site Oral Hershiser in 1988 literally sacrificing his career in order to secure a World Series title for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The truth of the matter is that a situation like that is a worst case type of scenario and is definitely the exception, not the rule. Athletes are constantly pushing themselves past their natural limits in pursuit of excellence. Willis Reed returning from a severely sprained ankle during the NBA championship. Emmitt Smith playing with a seperated shoulder in order to help his team secure home field advantage throughout the play offs.
In this particular case, no play off spots or championships were on the line, but for Marcum,who in all probability will be nothing more than a decent big league pitcher, a no hitter and a shot at baseball immortality was at stake. Marcum might have blown his arm out on his 77th pitch, his 78 pitch, his 79 pitch, his first pitch of his next start - Marcum and every other big league pitcher is always one pitch away from injury and letting him continue until he ran into difficulty would case no more of a risk.
After a very disappointing beginning to the season, marked by injuries to closer B.J. Ryan and ace Roy Halladay, a historic performance by Marcum just might have been the emotional boost that the Blue Jays needed, much like the no-no tossed by Mark Buehrle helped shake the Chicago White Sox out of their doldrums and vault them back into contention in the American League Central. Instead, the Jays beleaguered bullpen wasted Marcum's gem, Gibbons is left looking like he again dropped the ball, and Toronto fans are left with a sour taste in their collective mouths. Sadly for the Blue Jays, 'Wait Until Next Year' is less a cliché and more a commentary on a season that once promised such high hopes.
Gotta go, 'Battle of the Planets' is on.
posted by average john at 1:05 PM
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