Sure it seems great to put some kids in the spotlight for once and celebrate the hard work they’ve put into their game over the course of the year, but maybe it’s a bit too much. We have to remember that we are throwing 12-year-olds onto ESPN and expectingt them to play and act like professional athletes. I’m not saying necessarily to take it off TV, but maybe just cooling off the media attention would make it a little better for the ones who really matter, the kids.

But that’s not even my major issue with LLWS. Currently, there are seven major league baseball players who played in the LLWS. They are Jason Bay, Sean Burroughs, Jason Marquis (pictured right), Lastings Milledge, Colby Rasmus, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Varitek. You know what’s interesting about those group of guys? Only one of them is a pitcher. Granted, this is an incredibly small sample size, so it’s hard to draw any conclusions from it. Regardless, I’m willing to bet if this list were expanded, we would see very similar results on a much larger scale.

The fact of the matter is that in the LLWS you see kids throwing curveballs, sliders, screwballs, and all sorts of pitches that dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge out of the way of the bats. I have no idea what percentage of breaking pitches are thrown in the tournament, but from watching the games it seems to me to be higher than in the major leagues. And that’s a serious problem. Because 12-year-old kids’ arms can’t handle breaking pitches. It’s terrible for them. And inevitably, a few years down the road, their arms break down and their “career” is over. I remember Cal Ripken Jr. saying that kids this age should be throwing fastballs and changeups, and maybe a knuckleball if they can throw one, but that’s it. The way kids were being made to pitch was bad for them and it was hurting the game. So maybe if recognize that these are just kids out there on the mound, there might be a little less pressure for them to win, and therefore a little less pressure to ruin their arms.

Last Sunday, Usain Bolt of Jamaica shredded the 100-meter dash world record with such gusto and bravado that one couldn’t help but smile. Usain clearly has that Caribbean spirit that we like to think of as laid back and joyfully rebellious. No one can forget his chest thump at last year’s Olympics with 20 meters left to go in the race. Only a Jamaican sprinter can turn such a cocky gesture into an act that delighted fans the world over. The fact that he set a world record in this race only added to the sheer spectacle.

Usain’s greatest quality is the subtle fact that he constantly reminds us that he his human. Just listen to his pre-world-record-setting routine:

“I work around 11 AM and decided to watch some TV and had some nuggets. Then I slept for a couple of hours more. Then I got some more nuggets and came to the track.”

Bolt is America’s perfect foil. American universities produce great sprinters like an efficient factory, and the result is machine-like sprinters who we have trouble connecting to. It’s hard to imagine Tyson Gay consuming anything besides Gatorade Focus and boiled chicken. Bolt may run fast, but he is no machine. He made English headlines by giving pointers to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, crashing his M3 while driving barefoot, and donating $5,000 to China’s earthquake victims.
While America’s sprinters wear mirrored sunglasses, Bolt exchanges mid-race grins with his club teammates. While Americans look tense and on the verge of vomiting before a race, Bolt does little dances and his now-signature archer stance. America sprinters are happy to win. Bolt is happy to run. Jamaicans run sprints like Brazilians play soccer, with a playful grace that is a joy to watch.

I’m not trying to suggest that Bolt’s 9.58 world record is the product of his cultural approach to sprinting. Undoubtedly, his freakishly long legs, access to some of the world’s best coaches and an intense work ethic are more important than being born in Jamaica. Historically, America’s approach is just as effective at producing world records. But in a sport that is having trouble attracting viewers in its own post-steroid world, Bolt is exactly the type of ambassador it needs.

Here’s where I have a problem. I don’t care whether TIger considers his season a failure, I get to choose what I think on that subject. And when the question is always answered with, “Tiger has set different expectations for himself because of his surgery.” So what? Tiger’s job is to go out there and try to win the major. End of story. Then the rest of us get sit around the dinner table and debate whether he is really that good or whether this season was a “failure” and when his knee will fully recover and all that business. And by all means, Tiger can go ahead and say he doesn’t expect much out of himself this year. He can say it, but I don’t care and I really wish ESPN didn’t report on it, because an athlete has to go out and try to win, and that’s it. It’s not like Brian Urlacher gets to say that after missing the playoffs, the Bears are happy with their season because they won seven games and that’s pretty good.

Interesting semi-side note: Yesterday on Around the Horn they were debating whether Tiger should have been fined for his comments against the referee (don’t know how I feel but I though it was a good thing for Tiger to do anyway). Woody Paige wondered what would have happened if the PGA had fined Tiger, and then Tiger said no? Seriously, I don’t know what would have happened, because the PGA needs Tiger, but Tiger doesn’t need the PGA. He can just go out and play and someone’s going to play with him.

If you read all of what Ozzie says, it is pretty clear that he is just trying to protect his players. Guillen has been known to say crazy things before and the MLB is now investigating his comments. I think Ozzie will be suspended for a couple of games for threatening to hit other players, but I think the MLB should not suspend him. I understand that the MLB does not want to encourage the intentional beaning of batters, but it is a part of the game. It often leads to fights, which is unfortunate, but the MLB should let the players police themselves. Personally, I like to see a good fight. It shows the emotion that I like to see in players.

This condemning of rough play is not happening only in baseball though. Both football and basketball are doing the same thing. In football, you can barely touch the quarterback without drawing a penalty, and almost any hard hit will garner you a fine. In the recent NBA playoffs, any physical play was given a flagrant foul which often lead to suspensions. Never again will something like the McHale-Rambis takedown happen again without a huge suspension. The main reason the leagues are doing this is to protect their players from injury, but they also are trying to avoid any major conflicts, like the Artest melee. While these are good reasons, sports fans want to see their players play with passion and the leagues are discouraging that.

Until I started this site, I was a Twitter critic. I thought that it was simply one aspect of Facebook (status), which some find to be Facebook’s most annoying feature. This is somewhat true, were I to follow a bunch of random people on Twitter I would undoubtedly be bored out of my mind. But instead I decided to follow only a few sports fans, some bloggers, some athletes, and mostly sports reporters. And boy did this pay off.

On the morning of the trade deadline I checked headlines on the usual sites, scanned over my Google reader and wrote an article that morning without any idea of the sort of exhilaration I would be facing in mere hours. Sure I was excited for the trades to go down, but I didn’t quite realize exactly how close to the action I was going to be.

All of a sudden, as I refreshed my twitter, different reporters were talking about possible players the Red Sox would exchange for Victor Martinez. Two minutes later reports were coming in confirming names. Two minutes after that and new names were coming in. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Jeff Blair (a Canadian columnist), MLB.com’s Ian Browne, Bob Nightengale and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman were all in this circle of news, hearing a rumor and posting it immediately. And I was a part of it, it was almost as if I was in the war-room with these guys, spitting sunflower seeds and talking potential deals. Because of a tip off one of these guys got, I was able to post that the Twins had pulled off the deal for Orlando Cabrera several minutes before MLBTradeRumors was able to.

I really felt like I was right there on the front lines, I was literally watching these rumors unfold before my eyes. And I wasn’t just standing-by either. I was writing an up-to-the-minute feed of what was going on in our forum (which got a substantial number of views, so clearly some people were relying on my feed for their news) all the while, updating articles, checking sites and refreshing twitter. It was clicking and typing mania. And of course, I was updating my own Twitter, so I could keep my legions informed. And when I heard that the Twins were in the Heath Bell chase, I wrote this…and then this 17 minutes later. And what happened then? People were re-Tweeting my Tweets essentially citing me as their source for the news. Because I was right there with the rest of the reporters, updating news just seconds after they did.

And when, around 4:20 p.m., after it seemed impossible for any new deal to break, Jon Heyman tweeted the Peavy deal, I had the immediate reaction as all of the other reporters, ‘is this a joke?’. But I quickly found out it wasn’t. And my heart was racing. If it was a couple hours later and I was reading it on ESPN it might not have been that exciting. But it wasn’t like that. It was exciting because I was finding out before people at ESPN. And considering I was just sitting in the Bowdoin College library…that’s pretty neat.

We know that there have been technical issues with the site at times. Specifically, we were having coding problems that caused the site to look skewed or disproportioned on certain browsers, namely Google Chrome and Safari. With a big thanks to Seth Glickman, we were able to fix those coding problems and the site should appear correctly on all browsers (we are still having minor issues with old versions of internet explorer, but 7.0 and 8.0 handle it fine).

Also, for those of you who want to hear some fresh voices on the site, good news! We have found several people interested in writing for the site on a semi-regular basis, so look out for some new authors in the next week or so. If you are interested in contributing downswinging.com in any capacity, contact us at seth@downswinging.com and steve@downswinging.com.

Saving maybe the best for last, I am proud to announce the opening of the forum on our site. The forum is a place where you, the readers, can discuss your thoughts on sports, whether we’ve written on a subject or not. By all means go ahead and start a new topic or respond to one already started! On Friday I got the Forum going with my live commentary on the trade deadline for the final couple of hours. I can safely say it was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. The last half-hour was crazy.

Today when watching SportsCenter they got about 40 minutes through with a very boring edition mostly filled with summer league basketball games when they did a long feature on “Disco Demolition Night” from 1979 at Comiskey Park. The feature was nice and fun because while I had heard about the night I didn’t know that much about it. But then I realized that ESPN was talking about the 70s, and all the bloggers were talking about Erin Andrews (well, that’s fairly common I suppose) and that yesterday was, in fact, the one day all year where there are no professional sports. Just nothing. Glad real baseball is back again.

Quick and important question: If the ESPY’s were held last night, but aren’t going to be aired until Sunday, why would ESPN release the winner’s names. I watched SportsCenter today and now I know all of the big winners. So why would I watch on Sunday? Well, I won’t. Don’t really see the logic there.

Even though actual games weren’t being played, doesn’t mean things weren’t going on in the sports world. Roy Halladay talks are still ongoing, with more and more people feeling like he’s gonna be gone soon. Beyond the Box Score examines what type of package would be a fair trade for Halladay.

The Red Sox have been busy over the break. They signed 19-year old Cuban shortstop Jose Iglesias to an $8.25 million deal with a $3 million bonus. Iglesias is mostly touted for his defense, something the Red Sox need. The Sox also are trying, but failing, to deal Julio Lugo, who basically is worthless given their current roster. Clay Buchholz will make his first start of the season for the Red Sox in Toronto tomorrow, and look for the Sox to start negotiating a big deal with Jason Bay, who has been a huge producer so far this season.

Also, if you’re looking for a cartoon on the most entertaining baseball managers, then here’s one for you.

So what if baseball (or really any other sport, but we’ll use baseball as the example because its current turmoil) employed a similar method? Personally, I think it would work great. Even with the (sort of) steep penalties in place, I don’t think that there is any doubt there are still players using PEDs, and they know they can get away with it because there is no test for whatever substance they are using.

But if the MLB used retroactive testing, all that would change. I’m not suggesting using it simply to catch players from 2003-2009 (I highly doubt they keep old samples anyway), but rather, to make immediate change to the game’s present and future. Steroid allegations are damaging to a player’s character, and baseball players are pretty egotistical people. The second they realize that five years down the line they might get caught for something they’re doing now, they’ll stop, because when they get caught they’ll be even more embarrassed than this guy. Even if they don’t know for sure, odds are that a test will be developed before their Hall of Fame ballots are in, so it sure isn’t worth it. No matter what, doing it this way sure is a hell of a lot easier than whatever method (is there one) that the MLB is using to maintain (?) the prevention of PEDs taking over the game again.

1. They did a Not Top 10 just for the Mets. I love Not Top 10s, but a one-team special is awesome, as long as it’s not the Red Sox. I love how the more and more pathetic the Mets get, the less confidence they are getting on that poll we have on the front page. It’s pretty representative actually. 5th place has received 3 votes.

2. Apparently in Finland they had the annual wife-carrying competition. Obviously. The winner won his wife’s weight in beer. The funniest part about this was the risk/reward scenario each man has to think about before choosing his perfect woman…

Update: Here’s the Not Top 10