Sports Commentary

As I have aged and continue to hike solo, I have become a little anxious about crossing paths with a bear somewhere off the beaten path. My concerns may be unfounded but I feel like I am due.

Major League Baseball instituted a reverse-order draft in 1965, severely limiting the negotiating leverage of amateur players. That may soon change.

Tennis in Prescott would be stagnant if it weren’t for the likes of a few very important volunteers working with and some for the Prescott Area Tennis Association and some on their own.

Watching the NCAA Golf Championships (Men & Women) as well as the PGA and LPGA Tours’ events, it is mind-boggling how slow the governing entities allow their players to play golf.

Major League Baseball’s total revenue has been steadily rising since the strike year of 1994 and until three years ago, the same was true of the league’s attendance. That may no longer be the case.

Here and there some of the rules of tennis and other oddities that infrequently come up when you’re on the court may throw you for a loop. Would you know what to do?

What’s your story? We all have one, actually many. This summer is the perfect time to share your story at your favorite library because the theme for the State’s summer reading program is a Universe of Stories.

Larry Nassar, the former doctor for Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, is rotting in prison for sexually abusing over 300 girls and women during a 30-year period.

With the new technology within our grasp building or rebuilding a recreational facility can be done in a manner that makes so much more sense in regard to: longevity, safety, long term costs with less strain in upkeep, building costs, being user friendly, security and future add ons and/or change of use situations.

Playing golf with your spouse can be fulfilling. The dream is to do something together with your spouse that enhances your relationship.

What will the game of tennis be like in 20 years? I saw this question posed lately and it’s interesting how the evolution of a sport that is popular or becomes such unfolds.

Progressively increasing pain in your legs is one thing but on a four-day solo backpacking trip through West Clear Creek, any little pain can assume a high degree of significance. This 40 mile cross-country trek in central Arizona involves floating a dozen ponds, negotiating cliffs and bushwhacking.

Mention college sports and people think of scholarships, intense recruiting, and professional opportunities. That’s certainly the norm for sports like football and basketball.

Many people remember Arthur Ashe, the first African American to win a Grand Slam tournament; you might remember Jackie Robinson, the first black to play Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, but how many tennis players even know the name of Althea Gibson, a woman of color who had so many firsts that it’s tough to even keep track?

The way we make sense (or non-sense) of incoming data is through our senses. Those five senses are: Visual (seeing); Auditory (hearing); Kinesthetic (tactile touch); Smell and Taste. In the realm of golf, the first three are of concern.

Every world class athlete has certain biological and physical advantages that sets them apart from “normal folks.” As examples, most basketball players are taller than average and most baseball pitchers have large hands.

This past weekend, I had a couple relatives of mine and more than a few friends playing in a “Pickleball Tournament” at the Prescott Athletic Club - a well attended event and fundraiser for the Yavapai Humane Society called “Pickle for the Pets Charity.”

As I listened to the Park Ranger speak about the early explorers who came here in the 19th century, he cited a conversation they had. One asked, “Is that stream good for fishing?” The other answered, “No, it’s a dirty devil.”

On the opening night of the NFL draft, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray completed his stunning one-year transformation from little-known college backup planning a career in baseball to the No. 1 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals.

A couple weeks ago I had a column that went into the aspect of dealing with a health curve-ball of a bad hip situation that had taken me from not only being able to compete, but to not even being able to stand in one place and teach tennis for an hour at a time.

Spend a few hours observing a “driving range” or what should be appropriately called a “practice area.” Just watch. You will see friends coaching friends, spouses teaching spouses, parents instructing children – and you hear the regurgitation (another name for this is vomit) of myths that have perpetrated golf for a long time.

It’s not a stretch to say home plate umpires have the most influence of anyone on the outcome of a baseball game. The man behind the plate – all 89 MLB umpires are male - makes a call on every pitch and each one is a judgment call.

The Indianapolis 500 is steeped in a century of tradition with rules and regulations, pomp and pageantry that have remained largely unchanged since 1911.

Juan Bautista de Anza hiked from Tubac, AZ to San Francisco, CA in 1775. That’s quite a hike, especially back then. He followed stream courses such as the Santa Cruz and Gila Rivers, when possible.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The first green jacket was all about the future. The fifth green jacket Tiger Woods won Sunday at the Masters was more about the past, best measured by a powerful celebration and enormous popularity than by any ripple effect it might have in golf.