Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
(Post 615705)
Absitively, posalutely 100% correct. Accomplishments and deeds are no more a qualification to claim knowledge than longevity is for a good umpire.
Rant on! (Anyone who is afraid of being annoyed, please skip to next post :D)
There are huge gaps in knowing that something works, knowing how something works and knowing why it works in the manner it does and knowing how to operate/manuever/use it.
Michelle Smith was a helluva ball player, but that does that mean she knows everything there is about how everything on the ball field breaks down? And that damn "tight rotation" of the pitch! Anyone ever see a loose rotation? Does that mean the ball actually take more of a spiral path to the plate? ;)
Anyone who believes that being an athlete means one is qualified as an all-knowing guru of the sport needs to let go of the tree, put down the joint and take off the rose-colored glasses! Damn, I probably just caused another wildfire in CA!
Just watching the NBA or baseball programming on ESPN should give you an idea of exactly what some of these "all-star" players really know about the game. They can offer personal experiences and comparative opinions, but when it comes to cause and effect, rules or management of the game, they talk loud and fast and pray they just blew their BS by you.
Don't get me wrong, there are many who are intelligent, but that is demonstrated by actually stepping back and learning more about the game than they ever did on the field. Two of the best I can think of are Tom Jackson and Ron Jaworski. Both entered the analytic field quietly, but have studied and learned more about their game and how it works. Ron Jaworski came out of YSU and did okay with the Eagles. I believe if he knew than what he knows now, his career may have been a bit more heralded.
Much like players who become umpires. I have yet to meet one who hasn't conceded they more than doubled their knowledge of the game in the first five weeks and that is just during rule clinics!
No, there is not grass on a softball infield and other than the bases and maybe the pitcher's plate, it is flat with no "mounds" to be found.
"Yeah, but everybody says that". Does that make it right? What if everyone said you were a dick? Does that make it right? What if everyone called me anal? Does that make it......wait a minute!! :cool:
Plenty of people involved with the game for years who insists that the hands are part of the bat? Should we just say, "okay, enough people have said that so it must be true and we are wrong!"
Yep, that makes a lot of sense.
Rant off! Thanks for your patience.
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