Tiny Tim Should Show Up Big in All-Star Game; Historical All-Star Seasons of Note

Everyone has their own favorite team that they follow day in and day out, but seldom do we get to see the best against the best. Tuesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis we will get to do that as the 80th Major League Baseball mid-summer classic, the All-Star game, is set to be played.

Personally, I am beginning to feel, albeit totally unintentional, a little bit like those journalists who get get pinned with the tag of "east coast bias" when it comes to spreading the good word about any athlete or team west of the eastern time zone. Despite my passion for baseball and being able to sit and watch game after game on TV, it is simply too hard to follow west coast teams.  Sure, you can catch some highlights on the various sports re-cap shows. But, trying to really follow and learn about a certain player or his team by watching a handful of highlight clips is like hearing a 30-second sound bite from a politician and trying to fully understand their solution on how to fix the economy.  They are just snippets--they catch your eye or ear for a few seconds then it's on to something else.

I wish I could see more of some of the better west coast players on a regular basis, but a 3-hour time difference is brutal when if you, like me, require 7-8 hours of sleep to function effectively.

That's why I am particularly excited about the chance to see the San Francisco Giants "Tiny Tim", 25-year old right handed starting pitcher Tim Lincecum, take on the big bats of the American League.  Lincecum, who is just 5'11 (in cleats) and weighs only a buck-70, won the NL Cy Young Award last year and is well on his way to another. Tiny Tim found his groove in June as he dominated opponents by remarkably turning in three complete games, including two shutouts.  He heads to St. Louis boasting a 10-2 record and a sparkling 2.33 earned run average.  

For the season, opponents are hitting a paltry .215 off of him.  He leads the league in strikeouts with 149 in 127 innings of work. He tames opposing lineups that feature a host of multi-million dollar hitters, yet  Lincecum is a bargain, for the time-being, with his original contract paying just $650,000 this year. A Washington state native, Lincecum pitched collegiately for the UW Huskies.

There is some talk that Lincecum may have to take a backseat to Arizona's Dan Haren for the starting nod on Tuesday.  I hope not.  America deserves to see an average size guy, to whom many can relate, do extraordinary things.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING ALL-STAR YEARS IN HISTORY

Sports Illustrated did a nice piece trying to pick all-time all-star teams for both leagues and to have at least one player from every team that has ever fielded a major league team.  In doing so, they tried to select a player based on what they felt was that player's best season, and it be a year in which he was chosen for the all-star game.  I picked up a few interesting things that you, too, might enjoy.

1941 was the year that two of the most amazing feats in baseball were achieved.  Joe DiMaggio hit safely in his amazing 56-game streak, and Ted Williams finished the year with a .406 batting average--the last man to finish above the seemingly unattainable .400 mark.  How did Williams feel when Joe D. ended up getting the league's MVP award?  I don't know how you don't have co-MVPs.  1941, what a year, huh?

One of my favorite pitchers of all time was Baltimore Oriole Jim Palmer.  In 1990 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Keep in mind, this was just prior to the designated hitter becoming part of the American League, but Palmer's 1975 season showed the tremendous disparity between the load that pitcher's used to bear before the pitch-count crazy, pitcher coddling era came in recently.

Palmer started 39 games (today's best may get 30-32), he completed 25 of the 39--all nine innings!  Of those 25 complete game, 10 were shutouts.  His overall record was 23-11, so two of those complete games were in a losing effort--probably one of those low-scoring 1-0, or 2-1 duals.  He yielded way less than a hit per inning (just 253 in 323 innings) and pitched to a glistening 2.09 ERA.

In 1978, "Louisiana Lightnin'", Ron Guidry of the Yankees, put up the best ERA of the DH-era in the American League.  It was tied 22 years later by Pedro Martinez, but Pedro's total innings, number of decisions, and overall numbers fell short of Guidry's overall stats.  The lefty with a wicked slider, who was also nicknamed "Gator", Guidry posted a lofty 25-3 record in 1978.  He started 35 games, completed 16, and fired 9 shutouts. His ERA was a minuscule 1.75 over 273 innings of work.  That was all done with nine legitimate hitters in the lineup, as we have come to know American league baseball for about 30 years now.

Tuesday night the 80th All-Star game will be played.  Who will we see in that game and still be talking about in another 30 years or so?

SPORTS FIGURES CAN K.I.S.S. & AVOID PARALYSIS

The Tampa Bay Rays had to beat one of baseball’s best pitchers, Toronto’s Roy Halladay, to complete a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays yesterday. Rays rookie left-hander David Price, making just his ninth start of the year, would be on the hill for TB.

The problem was Price, who showed flashes of brilliance when TB brought him up for last year’s post-season run, started this season in Triple-A to refine some pitches. To this point, anyway, Price had not really reached the same level of effectiveness that he showed the baseball world in his few post-season performances. The St. Pete Times offered the following summary of Price’s approach to his head-to-head battle with Halladay.

After watching the prized prospect pitch poorly on Saturday, Rays man­ager Joe Maddon told Price, and then pitching coach Jim Hickey, they would skip the usual planning sessions and just have him go to the mound, rear back and fire. The plan was, well, simple: Trust his instincts, don’t think too much about what he was doing.

In doing just that Price cured some of the ills that had been haunting him. He pitched six strong innings, giving up just one run on six hits, while walking only one Blue Jay. He got ahead of hitters by throwing first-pitch strikes to 18 of 25 batters. The Rays offense provided just enough and the bullpen supported him for the last three innings as they went on to close out Toronto, 3-2.

Price’s simplified approach-- less pitch-scheming versus certain hitters, throwing what he throws best and has most confidence in, and just rearing back and throwing—these elements produced great results. Coming into the game Price was pedestrian. He pitched 38 innings, gave up 35 hits and issued an unacceptable 30 walks en route to a 5.21 ERA. Following the winning outing yesterday his ERA tumbled to 4.71.

All of this brings to mind an acronym that is popular in coaching—K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Coaches and players are often guilty of thinking that more is better. In football, especially, you see coaches making the offensive or defensive call from the sideline or press box with these huge laminated cards which often carry well over 100 different calls. There’s paranoia about not having enough, killing themselves with, “what about this, or what if they do that?”—what-iffing themselves to death.

When it comes down to it, they end up using a fraction of that, especially once they sense what is actually working and what is not. We have all heard players and coaches talk about “getting back to basics”, or “we really tried to simplify things.” I can’t remember the last time someone explained the reason for winning was by being more complicated or doing more than they felt they needed to do.

No matter what sport you are in, it’s all about execution. You can only execute what you understand. There is another coaching phrase that runs along a parallel track to the KISS approach and that is, “Paralysis through Analysis.” If someone is thinking too much, they can’t possibly play or execute to the best of their ability.

As you follow your favorite athlete or team, see if they are better off with KISS, or are they trying to do too much and suffering from Paralysis through Analysis.

FOURTH OF JULY JUST PART OF HISTORICAL VIBE AT NEW YANKEE STADIUM EXPERIENCE

Photos--Top-A shot of the front of Yankee Stadium from the subway platform on the opposite track. Middle-The "Great Hall" where banners of former greats like Mantle, Howard & Rizzuto hang throughout the concourse. Bottom-The Stadium from behind home plate in the upper deck prior to pre-game festivities. 

Taking the NYC subway 4 Train up to the Bronx from Manhattan, I couldn't help but look out of the right side of the train like a grade-schooler with great anticipation as we neared the stop at 161st Street.  Literally just hundreds of feet away from the historic original site, baseball's most expensive new stadium appeared to be living up to its billing.  As I had repeatedly heard from all of the baseball pundits who have weighed in on their impressions of Yankee Stadium, the structure itself is just huge, intimidating to some degree.  If you are only building a new stadium every 85 years or so, you need to get it right, right?

As advertised, the concourses are amazingly wide, allowing for reasonably good flow of foot-traffic from one point to the next.  The stadium is as much of a museum as it is a sports venue.  When you first walk in "The Great Hall" has long, rectangular banners (see photo above) with Yankee greats adorning the walkway throughout the ground level concourse.  Of course, the Yankees recreated Monument Park behind the centerfield fence, just like it was in the original stadium, and they host tours prior to each game for thousands of fans. Yankee logos for each of the 26 World Series Championships with the respective year underneath them are painted on a large wall that serves as the back-drop for the right-center bleachers.  There is a Cooperstown-like atmosphere throughout with classic photos of old Yankees wherever you go on any of the four stadium levels. All that being said, the signature visual that confirms you are in Yankee Stadium is the uniquely famous white facade that trims the front of the roof's edge.

It being the Fourth of July, there was no better way to spend it than in the Yankees' new  home in the South Bronx and to share the excitement with about 53,000 others like myself. Not only were we celebrating the most important day in our country's history, this day also marked the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous "luckiest man" speech as he announced his retirement from baseball due to ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease).  All of Major League Baseball participated in an awareness campaign over the weekend to promote research for this still incurable debilitating disease.  Being in the stadium, and seeing the entire crackly, old black & white news-reel footage of Gehrig's speech displayed on the 100' HD jumbo screen in centerfield was particularly moving.  

Prior to first pitch the sell-out crowd stood in applause as P.A. announcer Paul Olden introduced four local military veterans in attendance who had recently returned home after being injured in military activity in Iraq. The U.S. Marine band then marched in from centerfield to home plate to play our National Anthem while their brothers from the Navy presented the colors. Ever since 9/11/2001 Yankee Stadium has had some rendition of "God Bless America" played or sung during the 7th Inning Stretch. This day it was famous Irish tenor, Ronan Tynan, in-person performing his passionate version of the song that is usually a 60-year old Kate Smith recording.

Adding it all up--the Fourth of July, injured military heroes being saluted, the Marine Corps Band and Navy teaming up for the National Anthem with vocals from 53,000 amateurs, Lou Gehrig's speech, God Bless America, and a Yankee win...maybe I'm getting just a bit sappy as I get older, but it was one very historic day for a lot of different reasons.  One I probably won't forget.

CAN'T FIGHT THE FEELING 

Because I could not miss being a part of one more historic experience, I joined a couple of million others along the west side of NYC watching the ultimate fireworks display that commemorated 400 years since Henry Hudson mistakenly found his way onto this river while searching for a northern route to Asia.  Although the television broadcast of this event probably provided a wonderful visual treat, especially in HD, it couldn't effectively portray the faces of young and old, representing essentially a United Nations collection of people, that I witnessed that night.  One older man who spoke broken-English stood behind me, along with his family, with his portable radio tuned into an all-news station. The station was doing a play by play of the fireworks with some patriotic music playing behind their commentary.  Once the fireworks started, his conversation with his family stopped as he took in the pageantry 

Standing amongst a diverse mass of some million-plus people, all of whom had their own story, that were assembled to honor America in a very calm and organized manner as tons of fireworks were launched from three barges on the Hudson, was certainly a lot different than the basic backyard barbecue followed by some personal firecrackers that a family member smuggled in from out of state.

Sabathia Fun to Watch; Could Be One of Best Big Men in Sports

Throughout the course of time in sports history the athletic big man has always been a favorite.  People just like to see big guys perform at the highest level of competition.

In basketball, who has been bigger, in terms of attention garnered in their day and for decades beyond, than Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? 

Modern day football has so many, but turn the clock back to the 60’s in the AFL, a pre-cursor to the AFC.  They boasted 6’9 Ernie “the Big Cat” Ladd, a giant defensive lineman, before Ernie turned to the world of professional wrestling.  The Cowboys dynasty of the 70’s featured defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones, another 6’9 athlete who could rush the passer as well as chase down running backs.  In the 80’s Coach Mike Ditka turned a heavy, sloppy looking, run-stuffing defensive tackle named William “the Refrigerator” Perry into an American hero by allowing him to touch the football for the Bears as a running back.

Heck, where would the wrestling entertainment industry be today had it not been blessed with the late, great Andre The Giant?

Long ago baseball was dubbed “America’s Pastime”.  Many think it was because it was a unique game played from coast to coast on the amateur and professional levels, but it was not common around the world; it was America’s game. I have a different thought. 

Just like America opened itself up in the early 20th century to all comers seeking an opportunity, the game of baseball has always done the same by welcoming anyone possessing the requisite ability, regardless of size.

It is not uncommon to see scrappy baseball players who stand just 5’8, yet have the necessary hitting, fielding, throwing, and base-running skills to make a living professionally.  On the other hand, there have not been a great number of big men who have had enduring baseball careers.  Some big guys have flirted with better than average careers, but very few have dominated, or at least had good success over their entire career.  One big man who is close to wrapping up his career is Randy Johnson, the 6’10 lefty pitcher, now throwing for the Giants.  Just a couple of weeks ago he reached a magical milestone by earning his 300^th career win.

Today baseball has a big man who, assuming he can stay healthy, should rise to the highest level of fame.  CC Sabathia is not just tall as a 6’9 southpaw hurler with the NY Yankees, but he is big—easily carrying 290 pounds on his large frame.  

What makes Sabathia an attraction is not just his 95 mph fastball, his darting slider, or his deft change-up, but his overall athletic ability.  Last year Sabathia was traded from the Indians to the National League Brewers and got to show his skills at the plate.  As a pitcher with limited time in the batting cage CC proudly owns a .263 batting average.  Playing for the Yankees, CC only gets to bat during inter-league games, like this weekend as the Yanks go against the cross-town rival Mets.   Friday night while limiting the Mets to three hits over seven innings, Sabathia hit two bullets up the middle, one producing a run and was robbed of another by the shortstop who was cheating the middle.  CC can also bounce off the mound to field his position with great hand-eye coordination and reactionary skills.  The big man is a complete player.

Last week Sabathia had to leave a game with just one out in the second inning due to muscle tightness in his left bicep.  Fortunately, some therapy in the training room and a throwing schedule on his off days allowed him to step right back into the rotation and tame the Mets.

If Sabathia were to ever lose his ability to pitch, I am sure he would make a great power-hitting first baseman while providing infielders a sizeable target.  Or, if he really wanted to try something different, NFL teams could line him up at left tackle and let him protect the blind side of their franchise quarterback.  Sabathia is known as a big hoops fan and also played that in his younger days.  I imagine him displaying that same combination of power and finesse that he shows on the mound.

At 29, Sabathia is in his first season playing on the world’s biggest stage with the Yankees.   If he continues to do the things that he has shown the last couple of years he should go down as the top big man baseball has seen in a long, long time. 

STEINBRENNER, MARTIN MADE HISTORY 21 YEARS AGO TODAY

It was June 23, 1988 when one of the most telling episodes occurred in the history of the Bronx Zoo, also known as the NY Yankees during the 70's, 80's & 90's, under owner George Steinbrenner's rule. I stumbled across an archive photo and story from the Sports Illustrated July 4, 1988 edition while browsing their website www.si.com.

The story was authored by one of baseball's premier journalists, Peter Gammons, well-before his career blossomed throughout sports TV via ESPN. I have copied the most important 80% of the story here for your reading enjoyment.

This day in baseball history saw the Yankees fire manager Billy Martin for the FIFTH TIME. That's not a typo. The Boss (Steinbrenner) hired and fired the same manager in the person of Billy Martin FIVE TIMES. For Yankee fans out there who know their Pinstripe folklore, this particular year the Bronx Bombers every day lineup featured Don Mattingly, Willie Randolph, Ricky Henderson, Dave Winfield and Mike Pagilarulo. Arming the mound was an aging Ron Guidry, an aged Tommy John, terrific lefty Dave Righetti, and the Candy Man, John Candelaria. At the time of Billy's fifth dismissal the Yankees had just fallen out of first place. Over the course of the next 90+ games they slipped to fifth place out of seven in the old AL East.

As a loyal Yankee fan and baseball aficionado, I am still amazed to this day. It goes to show that time can cloud memory. How in the world could I not have readily recalled how many times Billy Martin skippered the Yanks. That, my friends, is an historical feat that will never be challenged by any other sports franchise. I guess we have to take that along with the 26 World Series titles. By the way, when is that 27th coming? I am trying to be patient.

July 4, 1988 Sports Illustrated

by Peter Gammons

Billy V Turned into what Animal House V would probably be like. Billy I and Billy II worked. They were funny. Even Billy III got two stars. By Billy V, it was neither funny nor meaningful. Who wanted to watch an ashen, trembling man get thrown out of a Texas topless bar or toss dirt at an umpire? "I find this boring by now," says Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry, who has seen Billy I-V and survived 14 Yankee managerial changes since 1975, of which last week's sacking of Billy Martin—he was replaced by Lou Piniella, who had also preceded him—was only the latest.

Contrast the New York Mets and the Yankees: The Mets don't have people laughing at them. They finished second in 1987 and acquired 10 young players to restock their farm system. The Yankees finished fourth, rehired Martin and added some $4 million to their payroll. Davey Johnson is in his fifth season as the Mets' manager. In that time the Yankees have had Yogi Berra II, Billy IV, Lou Piniella I, Billy V and Lou II. Oh, yes. Billy I lasted 471 games; Billy II, III, IV and V a total of 471.

George Steinbrenner never has figured out that a baseball season is not a high-speed car chase. He also hasn't learned that making headlines doesn't get a team to the World Series. So his wild, emotional swerves continue, with 15 managerial and 22 pitching-coach changes since he became the team's owner in 1973. Steinbrenner was cunning in his most recent ousting of Martin, using his latest office boy (also known, in the Yankee scheme of things, as the general manager), Bob Quinn, to carry out his orders and take Martin's heat.

Despite a rash of injuries and a recent 2-7 road trip culminating in a three-game sweep by Detroit that knocked the Yankees out of first place, Martin's team was still in the race. However, Steinbrenner felt that the pitching staff was being blown out and that, with 94 games left, Piniella would have enough time to save a very talented team.

BAD NEWS WEEK IN SPORTS WORLD; NEED SUN TO SHINE ON U.S. OPEN

The last week or so around the world of sports has become increasingly depressing.

From our country’s land of wheat comes this sad news. Last weekend former Kansas director of athletics, Bob Frederick, died from injuries suffered in a bicycling accident the previous day. What makes this more tragic is that “Dr. Bob” was returning from a ride, wearing a helmet, and upon hitting a pot-hole, flipped over the handle-bars and sustained the fatal injuries. Dr. Frederick earned three degrees from KU, served as AD for 14 years, and most recently was teaching at the university in the College of Education. Under his watch, the Jayhawks reached their peek in 1992-93 when they won a basketball Final Four, a football bowl game, and made the school’s only appearance in the College World Series. People that I know and trust, who knew this man very well, say that he was known as a person who loved people, was a model of integrity in sports, and stood for what was right in college athletics, he was 69.

Also in the college arena, Alabama, no stranger to dancing outside the NCAA guidelines and time serving time on probation, was slapped with stiff penalties for a text book scandal. The end-result, as it stands now, is that the football team will have 21 victories earned over a span of three years (2005-2007) stripped from their record. There were 15 other sports involved, too. Crimson Tide athletes were caught using their scholarship to get free text books and other supplies for other students. ‘Bama is appealing the ruling.

Shifting to the professional level, in a case that makes you just shudder, especially if you have raised a daughter, former major league baseball outfielder Mel Hall, who finished his 13-year career in 1996, was found guilty this week of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl he coached on an elite basketball team a decade ago.

I remember Mel Hall because he grew up in Auburn, NY, which is only about 25 miles from my hometown.

A Tarrant County, Texas jury took about 90 minutes to convict the 48-year-old Hall on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child. He received a 45-year sentence, and must serve at least 22-1/2 year of that term.

Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Donte Stallworth took full responsibility for killing a pedestrian while driving drunk in Florida and began serving a 30-day jail sentence Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter. Stallworth helped himself by reporting the accident immediately, showing contrition, and cooperating with the investigation from the very beginning.

Stallworth reached a confidential financial settlement to avoid a potential lawsuit from the family of 59-year-old Mario Reyes, according to Stallworth's attorney, Christopher Lyons. Reyes was struck and killed March 14 by Stallworth, who was driving his black 2005 Bentley after a night drinking at a swanky hotel bar.

"I accept full responsibility for this horrible tragedy," said Stallworth, who was accompanied at the hearing by his parents, siblings and other supporters. "I will bear this burden for the rest of my life."

According to an ESPN report, Stallworth was covered by two insurance policies: a car insurance policy and a $5 million umbrella policy. Stallworth, 28, told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy that he hopes to get involved in drunken-driving education programs. Stallworth had faced 15 years in prison. According to the plea agreement, Stallworth needs to serve only 24 days of his 30-day sentence. After his release from jail, Stallworth must serve two years of house arrest and spend eight years on probation.

Ryan Leaf, the tragic character who was a first-round NFL pick out of Washington State the same year that Peyton Manning came out, but ended up being the poster child for “bust” draft picks, posted a $45,000 bond Wednesday in Washington state for drug and burglary charges out of Texas after being arrested by customs agents as he returned to the United States from Canada.

He is charged with burglary to a habitation, a second-degree felony. Leaf was also indicted on seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance. This allegedly took place while Leaf was trying to carve out a career as a college football assistant coach at West Texas A & M, a Division II school in Canyon, TX.

Finally, in a news story that has all baseball fans trying to catch their breath in shock (just kidding) a congressional committee will look into former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s denial that he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs in light of a report that he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003.

In 2005, Sosa told Congress that he had never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Sosa tested positive two years before his appearance at a House hearing. Sosa’s name supposedly leaked out from a confidential report that listed 103 players who tested positive in 2003, before MLB had testing and banned drug policies in place. Alex Rodriguez was the first big name that leaked out a few months ago. This story will continue to drip, and drip, and drip

That’s enough bad news for quite a while. It’s now time to turn the page…as in Bethpage! Let’s hope for an exciting 109th U.S. Open Golf Championship this weekend being played on the Bethpage State Park’s Black Course on Long Island, in Farmingdale, NY. Given the fact that the opening round was delayed by rain, and for a whole lot of reasons like those above, we need Mother Nature to bring us some sunshine and cooperate.

By the way, who do you have…Tiger or the field?

FOOTBALL PLAYERS HEAD INTO NEXT SEASON--SUMMER

Spring sports seasons have wrapped up on the high school and college level.  The number of states that do allow high school programs some type of spring football practice, as well as the older guys playing college football, are now gearing up for their next season.  Most fans are not as in-tune with the football players’ next season, but it is very critical to their team’s success.  The next season is summer.

No sooner than the high school year ends, most competitive programs will have their players trying to get an edge on their opponents by getting right into their summer training program, which always consists of strength-training/conditioning, and often position skill development.

Unless restricted by their state’s rules, most high schools usually run their own camp at some point in the summer, and/or go away to a college campus for some type of camp.  “Skill position players” (everyone who is not a lineman) also compete in 7 on 7 passing leagues and camps.  Even the big guys, the offensive and defensive linemen, have position drill work and camps that are geared to them improving their fundamentals and techniques.  Where at one time in history guys who played other sports didn’t start worrying about football until August rolled around, today’s high school athlete is asked to commit much more time to just one sport.  If lucky, he may find time to play two sports.

College football players get about a two week hiatus between the end of their spring semester classes and post-spring ball training workouts before the start of “voluntary” summer workouts.  These workouts are called voluntary because, according to NCAA rules, they cannot be mandatory. But, when the athletic department is footing the bill for the cost of summer school tuition, and room/board, there is a real strong understanding that players will "voluntarily"partake in these workouts.

Just as the winter off-season training program fits into the college player’s yearly cycle between the regular fall season and spring practice season, summer training fits between spring practice and fall. 

This training is usually built around four hard days of strength-training (M-T-TH-F), with Wednesday used as a recovery day.  Combined with strength work, athletes also get a mix of speed, quickness, agility and position-specific training under the hot summer sun.  To that, mix in 3-4 nights of competitive 7 on 7 passing drill competition (for skilled players) and pass protection/pass rush drills (for linemen) with competition between the team’s own offensive and defensive players.  Team leaders on each side of the ball step-up to organize these workouts which are done without the benefit of  their coaches being present.   Not done yet, players also usually spend a couple of hours or more on opponent film study at the football office.

Throw in a couple of summer school courses, and tutoring or study hall for those classes, and your average Division I football player has put in quite a week’s worth of work--not as relaxing as people would like to think.

Summer workouts are all coordinated and supervised by the strength coach and his staff.  The regular football coaching staff is not allowed to work with players on the field in the summer.  Therefore, the strength & conditioning coaches take the responsibility for, and are held accountable for, each player’s development of physical traits, as well as their mental discipline and toughness. Has each player gotten stronger, more powerful, attained ideal body weight, improved his agility/quickness?  After toiling in the heat all summer, is he mentally tougher, more disciplined?

These questions all need to be answered in the affirmative for the summer training to be deemed successful.  The ultimate test is in seeing how the rigorous training translates to actual performance on the field in September.