Who's To Blame?

When names like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Bobby Orr and Jim Brown are brought up, what comes to mind? I'd venture a guess that topics such as shooting your self in the leg, dog fighting, womanizing, and other random sexual transgressions aren't first. For me, these great athletes that our fathers grew up reading about in the newspaper and seeing on TV were iconic figures, demigods almost, two-dimensional stars that they looked up to as kids on the walls of their bedrooms.

Almost all my thoughts about these sports deities are positive, whether it be The Splendid Splinter giving up five years in the prime of his career to fly planes for the U.S. Armed Forces, or Russell and Wilt's epic battles between each other on the court – and their subsequent friendship off it; And Hammerin' Hank, an African-American who endured the wrath of breaking the all-time longball record the immortal Babe Ruth held for so long in one of America's most tumultuous eras. Bobby Orr and Jim Brown seem to me men that worked damn hard to get where they got and deserved every last bit of praise for what they did on their fields of battle.

Kids, and probably adults too, looked up to these athletes because they all appeared to us mere humans clean as whistles, a more impressive breed of men that stood above all others, succeeding the most in the darkest hour to come out victorious.


But today's athletes . . . They now appear mere humans like us, except they make tens of millions of dollars and get their photos taken by TMZ, their personal lives strewn across the internet like Kool-Aid splattered across a kitchen counter. The media saturation is unbelievable. The closest thing to squeaky clean and cool-as-a-cucumber athlete todsay is Tiger Woods. The man is in some way realted to Teflon, I'm not sure how.

Other than the flesh-and-bones melting pot himself, no one comes to mind as seemingly other-worldly, a dominant figure. Tiger pulled what is commonly refer to as a "Willis Reed" in the recent past, playing in, and winning, the 2008 U.S. Open with a torn ACL and stress fractures in his tibia, and I think it was legitimate. He rose above, called upon extra will and determination, and Got. It. Done.
Somehow, Tiger seems to have stayed above the constant barrage of media pokings and proddings, while most of our other "super star" athletes' lives are hung out like a load of laundry on a clothesline across Mass Ave.
I can only assume that the idols our fathers and mothers and aunts and uncles looked up to tended to have stranger-than-normal personal lives off the courts, fields and rinks than you and I. They had skeletons to hide, I'm sure, but they stayed out of the light of day because those were different times. The Media's agenda has changed enormously since those Glory Days. Stand-up, blue collar, family-oriented stars are not featured on ESPN; trouble-makers and show-boaters are.
I don't think anyone will ever hold a candle to Orr, Muhammed Ali, Williams, Aaron or Russell, et al. They are elevated for all eternity in my eyes. The question is, do we – or will we ever – know all there is to know about these athletes? More importantly, would you really want to know if Ted Williams killed someone while driving drunk, or that Wilt had a gambling problem and had a penchant for young girls from Colorado?
If there are stories that have been permanantly swept under the rug, I'm glad. Because when it comes to the athlete-fan relationship, ignorance is bliss.

Drilled.... and Pissed

Question for you: what do Nick O'Keefe, Brian Curran, Adam Kulis, Jim Farrell and Brian Millea have in common?

Answer: earlier this week, they all plunked one batter or more in South Boston's 9-5 win over the McKay Club. It was a weird game that saw a first inning grand slam by Kent Anderson, some poor base running and flaring tempers.

While it was fun on the bench, trying to figure out what make-shift weapons we would take to the field with us in the case of a brawl stemming from seven hit batters in one game, the occurrence was more an aberration that anything else. Seven HBPs in one game? Really? That shouldn't happen.

Mike Barthel of the Beacons took the brunt of this extravaganza, as he took one off the hands in the first inning and another between the numbers in the third. After his back got zapped by a Jim Farrell (now 3-1 this season) fastball, he took two steps towards the mound, probably more in frustration than anything, and tempers flared momentarily.

But the bigger question I pose to you guys out there is this: have you ever seen a legitimate bench-clearing brawl in the Yawkey League? When was it? Was it an all-out Donnybrook? Care to share your experience?

The other, less-interesting and colorful question is, Have you ever seen seven hit-batters one a YBL game? Share if you'd like. It's such a once-in-a-career occurrence that I'd love to know if it has ever happened before.

Thanks for returning if you frequented this blog last season. If you're a first-timer, welcome and know that the YBL News Blog should be back in mid-season form soon. Summer is upon us, and the Yawkey League is teeming with story lines. If there's anything you'd like to see here this summer, shoot me an email.

YBL Board Convenes amid talks of Schedule Shortening.

If you haven't been here in a while, no need to worry – nothing has changed. There have been no aesthetic changes to the Yawkey League News and Action blog.

But now, in the doldrums of February, with snow blanketing our splendid playing surfaces and the bitter cold freezing nipples at an alarming rate, there is news coming from the bowels of the YBL. As many of you probably already know, the West Roxbury Devils and Cambridge Spinners have been contracted and are no longer a part of the YBL schedule. At the time news broke, League President David McKay said "more [contractions] may come," but at this point, the number of teams still stands at 15.

As a result of this, the Board of Directors is convening on Sunday, February 8 to discuss chopping as many as six games off the season schedule, bringing the total down to 26 games.

I know last season in the comments section of this blog (where many a feeling was hurt), there were rumblings of players who advocated the contraction of teams and a trimming of the schedule. Well, now those rumblings have come to fruition, pretty much, and I'm happy about it.

I think the YBL had become slighty watered down over the last two seasons, and since the number of games forfeited went up last season (not just the weather-related ones), the contraction and possible schedule-trimming will be a good thing. My only gripe will be if the number dips as low as 26 games, because 28 are needed if there are going to be 15 teams in the league. A 28-game schedule would give very team a chance to play the other 14 teams twice – once at home, once on the road.

Also, some of the impact players from the Devils and Spinners can reintegrate with other YBL teams, bumping up the overall talent of the league.

Count me in. The Board of Directors gets my vote.