By Roger Wallenstein

“We work harder when we have something to prove.”
So writes L. Jon Wertheim in a neat little book, This Is Your Brain on Sports, his second anthology where the Sports Illustrated editor teams up with a psychologist – in this case Sam Sommers of Tufts – to investigate certain aspects of the games we watch such as home field advantage and the appeal of the underdog. It’s entertaining stuff.
Sox pitcher Mike Pelfrey is a good example of the above declaration which Wertheim included in a chapter about the tendency of athletes – regardless of their fame, talent, or ability – to feel disrespected. Many times it’s the thin-skinned superstars who moan and groan, especially when they lose.

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Posted on June 19, 2017

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

And help may not be on the way. Plus: On Hahn; The Human Journey Of Scott Darling; Bears Look Good Against The Bears!; Dwyane Wade’s Fake News; What Kevin Durant Has Done; The Pens & P.K.; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on June 16, 2017

By Jason Zaremski

Unfortunately, we sports medicine doctors are seeing an increase in injuries to the throwing arm in youngsters, and many of these require surgery. Most worrisome is that the risk for developing a throwing injury was shown to increase by 36 times in adolescent pitchers who continued playing with a fatigued arm.
As a sports medicine physician and a former collegiate baseball player, I am concerned about this rise in injuries. They not only take a youngster out of commission for a game or season, but they also can have lasting effects. My team of researchers at the University of Florida is looking for ways to prevent arm injuries.

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Posted on June 16, 2017

By Jim Coffman

Mired in mediocrity.
That is all the Cubs have been this season. The last month has been about streaks forward and backward, but it all adds up to average (31-31). And it is becoming ever more apparent that this is most likely who the 2017 Cubs are.

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Posted on June 12, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Back on May 17, a post on the White Sox website claimed, “White Sox Creating Winning Culture In Minors.”
But the question is, “Can you create a winning culture by losing?”

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Posted on June 12, 2017

By Thomas Chambers

There was a big day of racing Saturday at Belmont Park.
And they also ran The Belmont Stakes.

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Posted on June 11, 2017

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Theo takes honest tack. Plus: Grandpa Heyward; Cubs Still Mediocre; White Sox Now Officially The Worst; The NBA’s Defenseless Finals; Pens Looking To Join Kings, Blackhawks In Decade’s Pantheon; Butler Bullshit; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on June 10, 2017

By Thomas Chambers

If Thoroughbred horse racing had a mirror today and through this weekend, its gaze would reveal a diminished opacity, ghostly, with the demonic horseflies of fan discontent, ill-bred horses, greedy track companies, oversaturation and perverted priorities dancing about its head, without so much as a Thoroughbred’s tail to swat them away.
It would also see, standing right behind, an image frozen in time. Frozen on Wednesday, June 7, in fact. The racing “industry” will never be able to escape his eyes, his plea eternal: “I did my part. Will you now do yours?”
For today, we mourn the passing of Holy Bull, just as 12 horses – as of this writing – of questionable talent and soundness, are to be sent off Saturday in the 149th Belmont Stakes (Grade I, $1,500,000, 12 furlongs/1.5 miles) at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

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Posted on June 9, 2017

By Shereen Lehman/Reuters

Male and female high school athletes have moderate levels of knowledge about concussion symptoms, but the boys are much more likely to not report concussions for fear of seeming weak, a small U.S. study suggests.
The reasons boys gave for not wanting to report a concussion tended to center around not wanting coaches or teammates to think they were weak or to “get mad,” researchers report in the Journal of Athletic Training.

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Posted on June 7, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

If you’re scratching your head after the announcement about Hawk Harrelson over the weekend, join the club.
Reducing his broadcast responsibilities strictly to road games last season, we all knew that Harrelson, who will turn 76 in September, was nearing the end of his tenure in the booth alongside Steve Stone. Always one to challenge boundaries, Harrelson abandoned home games after the 2015 season since he lives in South Bend. What reasonable person would drive 180 miles round-trip when the Sox played at home, especially for night games when he might not get on the road until almost midnight or later?
When the news first broke last week that Harrelson would do 20 games (primarily Sunday home games) next season, Hawk was in typical form.
“Living in the eastern zone and working in the central zone, after the games are getting longer, that makes my trip with my temper – semi-truck driver and my temper don’t mix,” Harrelson was quoted as saying on Fox Sports. “Not at 3:30 in the morning, especially when it’s raining because I’ve got an axe-handle in the back of my car with some mace. And I’ve literally chased some of those guys before. I’m just glad I haven’t caught anybody because one of us would’ve been knocked out.”
Whew! Suffice it to say that Hawk won’t be running for a position in the Teamsters Union upon retirement from broadcasting.

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Posted on June 5, 2017