Obsession

One of my best memories was going to the ballpark to watch baseball games. I always made it a point to carry my glove in the hope of catching either a home run or foul ball. While I always had my hopes, I never got the opportunity. Still, it is a rite of passage for all baseball lovers.

While I took my glove for sentimental reasons and dreams, you also have people like Zack Hample.

Hample, a self-described native New Yorker, has turned it into a business/obsession. According to his website, he has collected more than 11,000 baseballs in his tour of more than 58 different major league baseball stadiums. Some of his more famous collected baseballs include Mike Trout’s first career home run and Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000^th hit.

As for the business side, he has a YouTube channel, deals with corporate sponsors, is the author of three books and has a business in which he takes people to baseball games with the  guarantee of, wait for it, catching at least one baseball.

And don’t forget the t-shirts.

Now for the other side. His methods for getting baseballs have come under controversy. While my descriptions wouldn’t do it justice, let’s just say they have been on the more aggressive side. This behavior involves young kids. Back in 2016, he attended a game that was the first sports game played on a military base. The problem was that the game was only for Department of Defense personnel only. This did not sit well with the numbers of veterans that were in attendance. He tried to make things right by making a $100 donation to the America Veterans association for each ball he caught that night ($1,100).

He still kept one ball for his self.

On the face of it, the word obsession has a negative connotation. In the case of Zack Hample, I cannot hate the player or the game.

Underdog

I almost always root for the underdog. It comes from people not believing in the power of the human spirit. It doesn’t always happen, but it happens enough to make me believe. Ask Mike Tyson about taking their opponents lightly.

The latest case in point are the Denver Nuggets. They are in the NBA Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, led by their version of Batman and Robin, Lebron James and Anthony Davis. This duo are the first teammates to both make first team All-NBA in the same year in 13 years.

The Nuggets were 2,000-to-one pre-season favorites to win the title. For non-gamblers, that means that for every $100 you wager, you would win two grand. The Nuggets are eight wins from winning that bet. These guys are led by two foreign born players: Canadian born Jamal Murray, who is averaging a solid 24 points per game (including shooting almost 50% from three point range) this playoff and Serbian born Nikola Jokic better known as “The Joker”. He is averaging 25 points per game himself.

This year’s Denver team is the first team to overcome two 3-1 deficits in route to their first conference finals appearance since 2009. They are one of eight NBA teams that have yet to win a league title.

The Lakers were the second team most likely to win the title, getting 450-to-1 odds. The preseason favorite was the Los Angeles Clippers, the team that Denver beat to get to the finals.

The Lakers came out strong taking Game 1 convincingly. Game 2 will say a lot. But remember, even if they lose, Denver has been there before. 

Hope

With the impact that the pandemic has had on the sports scene, all eyes were on the one sport that has not been tested yet. For some people, football is the only sport that matters. I personally admit a slant of my own in the hope of a successful football season, both real and fantasy.

So far, the numbers provided by the league seem too good to be true. Since the start of training camp in August, only 24 players and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. From August 30^th to September 5^th , only eight (one player and seven staff members) out of 8,349 players and staff members have tested positive. That’s 0.0000958% for your math types.

How are they doing it…so far?

The league is using a strict classification system of its personnel. Tier 1 employees include anyone, in addition to the players, who has direct access to the players. This includes coaches, trainers, physicians and necessary personnel who must have direct access to the players.

Tier 2 employees include general employees, football operations employees, other assistant coaches, video personnel, security and other essential personnel who may need to be “in close proximity” to the players and individuals who may need to access restricted areas.  

Both groups are tested every day with the exception of game day.

In addition, the league is using a device called a proximity sensor. When a player or staff member comes within six feet of another person, a red light will appear as a warning signal. After five seconds, an audible alarm will be emitted from the device, alerting the wearers that they need to distance themselves. The device is always worn during the workday and returned after practice for downloading information and disinfecting purposes.

I can’t help but think that’s not the case for the players while they are on the field.

While Thursday’s game seems to have gotten the season off to a good start, my only question is: Can it last the season?

Coach

I woke up to learn of the passing former Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson, a coach who is on my personal Mount Rushmore of college basketball coaches. While he was a college coach, he also was a coach in so many other ways. There isn’t much I can add that will already be said about one of the top collegiate coaches in Division I history. But I will cite two things that I will always remember him for.

He coached the 1982 title game against the Tar Heels of North Carolina. After Michael Jordan hit the go-ahead jump shot with 17 seconds to go, Georgetown brought the ball up court for the last shot. Point guard Fred Brown mistook James Worthy for a teammate and mistakenly passed him the ball, giving Carolina the title. Brown said that Coach Thompson with an arm around him told him, “You've won more games than you lost.”

Two years later, he led the Hoyas to the school’s first ever Division I championship, making the coach the first African American to win such a title.

The second instance was his stand regarding Proposition 42. This rule denied scholarships to freshman athletes who meet only part of the standards of Proposition 48. Prop 48 calls for the athlete to have a 2.0 grade-point average in high school and a minimum 700 score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. In a game before Boston College, coach Thompson walked off the court in protest of the rule. Said Thompson: “I feel it is a discriminatory thing, especially for a kid who is at a low socioeconomic level.” In fact, he said that he would not coach again until the NCAA showed tangible movement reconsidering the measure.

By that Tuesday, the NCAA agreed to meet to reconsider the vote.

There are coaches and then there are coaches. Mr. Thompson was one of a kind.