- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,386
- 113
So, I don't spend a lot of time watching softball on TV. Honestly I can't handle listening to the announcers. It's beyond sick. Last week, in the Alabama vs. Stanford game, with a runner on 2 ( can't remember if it's 1st and 2nd or just 2nd base, it doesn't matter. Runner at 2 and 1 out, Alabama's top hitter was up. She hits a semi-deep fly ball to RF that the Stanford RF catches. The R2 tags up and advances to 3rd. Now there's 2 outs, with a runner on third. The announcer actually said this: "A lot of coaches would've wanted the RF to let that ball drop so the runner doesn't advance to 3rd and be 60 ft away from scoring". ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? You got their best hitter to pop out and now have 2 down. Please name a single coach that would've wanted that ball dropped. I can't handle the stupidity.
Today, as I was doing some maintenance and a water change on my aquarium, I put on ESPN to see Texas vs. Arkansas. I thought, I'll leave this on while I clean fish crap. In or about the 5th inning, score was 0-0. TX had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Whoever was calling pitches for Arkansas was either on drugs, incompetent, or both. The pitcher threw riseball, riseball, and another riseball. WTF are you thinking?? A fly ball will score the run!!! There's a lot more fly balls on riseballs than there is dropballs. How do you not play the percentages there? I was/am completely baffled. This is the #4 team in the country and to me this is softball pitching 101. While I am former teammates with Mike White and I'd consider him a friend for many years, so I was cheering for him I guess. And I'm happy they won. I couldn't understand the thinking there, it doesn't make sense. I absolutely hate when things like that are on TV and young pitchers/coaches watching this don't understand the significance of what was happening.
#2. You could've knocked me over with a feather when, during the in-game interview with Mike White, he mentioned something about his pitcher's need to locate her change up and screwball. SCREWBALL???? Folks, I can tell you that I have spent a long time with Mike White. We've been teammates and opponents for 30 years. He recruits my students annually so he calls me frequently. On top of that, in terms of pitching..... he is the GOAT. I'm not smart enough to articulate how good he was. How intelligent he was in his playing career. How much I learned from him both as teammates and opponents. The man has literally forgot more about pitching than anyone else. That's truly not much an exaggeration. I've got to play with and against many of the best players the world has ever known, and each of them say: If I had a single game to play for the world championship, Mike White is the guy I'd want pitching for my team. Guys, I'm trying desperately to explain how good this man was during his career. GOAT is all you can say. And for him to acknowledge a pitch that he KNOWS to be ****** it baffling to me. The only thing I can think of is, if he calls it ***** publicly (which I KNOW is how he really feels about it) he might ruin his pitcher's confidence. But I'm telling you, he and I have had conversations about how full of crap the TV announcers are, about the "screwball", and other things we shake our heads about regarding pitching. As good as he was as a RHP, he could not make a ball spin in the direction of a "screwball" movement. Neither could I. I could not believe he gave any credence to it. If anyone wants to talk about the benefits, and the need, to throw the ball inside to hitters, I'll talk about that all day. But the ball doesn't "screw" in. When he said that, I think I murdered a fish out of anger. LOL. I have to end this now and take my fish to the vet. I'm going to bill Mike White for it.
Today, as I was doing some maintenance and a water change on my aquarium, I put on ESPN to see Texas vs. Arkansas. I thought, I'll leave this on while I clean fish crap. In or about the 5th inning, score was 0-0. TX had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Whoever was calling pitches for Arkansas was either on drugs, incompetent, or both. The pitcher threw riseball, riseball, and another riseball. WTF are you thinking?? A fly ball will score the run!!! There's a lot more fly balls on riseballs than there is dropballs. How do you not play the percentages there? I was/am completely baffled. This is the #4 team in the country and to me this is softball pitching 101. While I am former teammates with Mike White and I'd consider him a friend for many years, so I was cheering for him I guess. And I'm happy they won. I couldn't understand the thinking there, it doesn't make sense. I absolutely hate when things like that are on TV and young pitchers/coaches watching this don't understand the significance of what was happening.
#2. You could've knocked me over with a feather when, during the in-game interview with Mike White, he mentioned something about his pitcher's need to locate her change up and screwball. SCREWBALL???? Folks, I can tell you that I have spent a long time with Mike White. We've been teammates and opponents for 30 years. He recruits my students annually so he calls me frequently. On top of that, in terms of pitching..... he is the GOAT. I'm not smart enough to articulate how good he was. How intelligent he was in his playing career. How much I learned from him both as teammates and opponents. The man has literally forgot more about pitching than anyone else. That's truly not much an exaggeration. I've got to play with and against many of the best players the world has ever known, and each of them say: If I had a single game to play for the world championship, Mike White is the guy I'd want pitching for my team. Guys, I'm trying desperately to explain how good this man was during his career. GOAT is all you can say. And for him to acknowledge a pitch that he KNOWS to be ****** it baffling to me. The only thing I can think of is, if he calls it ***** publicly (which I KNOW is how he really feels about it) he might ruin his pitcher's confidence. But I'm telling you, he and I have had conversations about how full of crap the TV announcers are, about the "screwball", and other things we shake our heads about regarding pitching. As good as he was as a RHP, he could not make a ball spin in the direction of a "screwball" movement. Neither could I. I could not believe he gave any credence to it. If anyone wants to talk about the benefits, and the need, to throw the ball inside to hitters, I'll talk about that all day. But the ball doesn't "screw" in. When he said that, I think I murdered a fish out of anger. LOL. I have to end this now and take my fish to the vet. I'm going to bill Mike White for it.
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