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What is Talent?

Asking what talent is may seem silly. It’s something we can all identify. Yo Yo Ma is a talented cellist. Shohei Ohtani is a talented baseball player. Kate Atkinson is a talented writer. Everyone knows these things. But what is talent? That’s a much harder that simply identifying talent. The internet defines talent as “natural…

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My Favorite Historical Baseball Players

Who is my favorite historical baseball player? That’s an easy and difficult question at the same time. First of all, what do we mean by historical? Technically it could be anyone who played baseball in the past. That’s far too broad, though. It should be obvious that active players, even though they’ve played in the…

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A Crossword Puzzle Puzzle

Have you ever spent time on Google Trends? It’s an oddly fascinating place. It’s basically what it sounds like. Google lets you see what is trending on their search engine. You can see real time searches or look up specific topics. Real time almost always has soccer at the top, which I find interesting, but…

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Some Thoughts About Deion Sanders

After weeks of speculation about his decision, Deion Sanders formally announced that he would be leaving HBCU Jackson State to become the head coach at the University Of Colorado. As a lifelong fan of Deion Sanders (save for a couple of unfortunate years when he played for the Dallas Cowboys), I’m conflicted about the news….

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The Responsibility of the Opponent

I tell my students that winning isn’t the most important thing when they compete. Their goal should be to constantly improve. My thoughts are, if their goal is only to win, then they may seek out weak opponents to ensure victory. If they want to improve, then they’ll seek out stronger opponents who may defeat…

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Naomi Osaka, Sports, Entertainment, and the Press

Last week, Naomi Osaka, the current #2 tennis player on the WTA tour, announced that she would not be engaging with the press at all during this year’s French Open. When she followed through after her first round win, the tournament fined her $15,000 and said that the penalty will escalate with each match, possibly…

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A Baseball Gig

I just published my first piece with MLB & NFL News and Videos – Grunt Talks G.T Sports (grunttalksmlb.com). You can read it here: Who Referees the Umpires? I’d appreciate any feedback. And, while you’re there, check out some of the other content, like this great baserunning video or the comparison videos. This should be…

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Defensive Shifts Are Not the Problem

Jay Bruce retired from Major League Baseball thirty-four at bats into his fourteenth season. It’s always a little sad when a player retires, especially if the retirement is forced by performance or injury. In Bruce’s case, it was performance. He only had four hits in those thirty-four at bats. That’s a .118 average, much better…

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The Atlanta Baseball Team vs. MLB

Major League Baseball made the decision to move the 2021 All-star Game out of Atlanta because of the new Georgia voting laws. This is absolutely the right decision, but I have to admit to being a little surprised. It’s been a long time since Jackie Robinson, and in my experience, MLB can’t even make the…

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Musings On Opening Day 2021

Baseball’s opening day ought to be a holiday. It feels like one to me. One of the best days of my 20s was an opening day. My boss knew I was a big baseball fan. He told me to take the day off so I could watch the game. I didn’t have cable at the…

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