So much ado over text messages

It looks like this will be my last post for a while (technological updates and such, boring stuff really), so I guess it’s only right that I discuss a college sports issue. Though, I had a lot of fun creating my own mock draft and offering up a new book of the month. But Hat Trick is a college sports blogger at heart, so let’s get back in the swing of it, shall we?

A number of months ago, the NCAA put a ban in effect (beginning for next season) on coaches sending text messages to players they are recruiting. There was a lot of questioning at the time, as the average sports fan wondered why this was even necessary. But upon closer examination, the NCAA’s rationale really isn’t that complicated.

Every traditional recruiting tool - visits to the campus and by coaches, recruiting packages, phone calls, etc. - are all limited. Coaches simply can’t invade a recruit’s life and overwhelm them with…well, crap…for lack of a better term. It is also, hypothetically, supposed to even the playing field, and create competition between schools for recruits.

But prior to this ruling, text messages, a relatively new technology in the context of recruiting, were completely unaccounted for. Coaches could literally text recruits as much as they wanted, and receive as many texts as they wanted. But the NCAA said no more.

So why then am I babbling on about this? Well, today I opened up my new ESPN MVP service on my cell phone (quite possibly the coolest gadget thingy ever created) and one of the top headlines read as follows: “TTYL? NCAA to reconsider text messaging ban.” Hmmm, I wondered; why would they do that?

As it turns out, the ban is going to be put into effect on August 1st regardless. The NCAA will have a board of directors meeting on August 9th to decide the fate of the ban. Many schools objected to a ban on texting, saying they would be OK with a restriction on it (just like all other recruiting tactics), but not with an outright ban. Honestly, I would have to say that I agree with the schools on this one.

How can you ban texting but not phone calls? It sets a bad precedent to treat one recruiting strategy differently than others. My hunch is that the board will either rescind the ban completely, or, more likely, amend it so that texts are allowed, but only to a degree.

My first NBA mock draft

Yes, I realize this blog is intended to be a Division III sports blog. But I’ve always wanted to be able to post an NBA mock draft online for the public to see, so I’m taking that opportunity now. As a die hard Minnesota Timberwolves fan, this year’s draft (7 p.m. Thursday, June 28) is arguably the most important in the team’s history. The team pretty much sucks, except for Kevin Garnett, who can become a free agent in the very near future. The T’wolves need to add an impact player that can help return the team to the playoffs. And, fortunately, that seems very possible in this year’s deep draft.

So without further ado, here’s my first mock draft. Note: trades are not taken in account and I reserve the right to change any of my picks before 7 p.m. next Thursday. Enjoy. Read more

The future of ticket sales

So my Diamondbacks are getting throttled (shout out to College Ave.) by the Yankees for the third day in a row, so I’ve been looking to occupy myself with other activities for the past hour or so. Then I remembered a conversation I had with my academic adviser earlier today.

My adviser, Ellen Staurowsky, also happens to be a sports fanatic. We often spend much of our time discussing games, news, and any other events in the sports world. Today, we chatted about whether or not the Cavaliers would be able to extend the (so far) depressing NBA Finals. I brought up the issue of television ratings - which if you read this blog you know this it’s an issue I take dear to heart - and how the ratings have dropped with each game. I believe I said: “Where are the American sports fans?”

Dr. Staurowsky followed that up with an interesting fact. She said that she had visited cavs.flashseats.com earlier this morning, and found hundreds of tickets for tonight’s game still for sale. There were even pairs - PAIRS - of tickets being sold for a little over $100. That’s cheaper than a lot of regular season games. And this is the NBA Finals. But I was more interested in the actual website than the ticket sales, as they hardly surprised me.

Cavs.flashseats.com is a new innovative website that allows fans to purchase tickets directly online, with no need of an actual paper ticket. From their “About” section:

Flash Seats’ paperless ticketing does just that – it eliminates paper tickets. Fans swipe any form of electronic ID (credit card, driver’s license, etc.) at the gate and then enter the arena. No lost or stolen tickets. It’s really fast!

Besides buying tickets, you can also sell and transfer them on the website. Essentially, as Dr. Staurowsky explained to me, the Cavs are trying to make back some of the money they have traditionally lost to ticket scalpers. What this website is doing is taking scalpers off the streets outside of the arena, and putting them in an online network. And since the website is through the team, they can monitor all sales, transfers, etc.

This seems like a pretty ingenious idea to me, and is one that is surely going to grow in popularity over the next few years. Within the next decade we could see all professional sports teams operating ticket sales this way.

Bad week to be a Nugget

I swear I’m not picking on the Denver Nuggets. The team, or more specifically the players, are just having one hell of a week. J.R. Smith, a young guard in his third season in the NBA, was at the wheel of his 2003 GMC Yukon on Saturday when Smith went through a stop sign and hit another car, causing the Yukon to flip over.

Smith, who was not wearing a seat belt at the time, was actually thrown from the vehicle, but walked away only with scratches and an injured left shoulder. One of his two passengers, 21-year-old Andre Bell, was not as lucky. Bell, who was in a coma from severe head injuries, died Monday night.

As is the case with most car accidents, this incident could have been avoided. The more alarming discovery came today, when the Newark Star Ledger reported Smith had his license suspended five times in a span of less than a year. From the Associated Press story on ESPN.com:

 

Smith amassed 27 points against his license from April 22, 2005, to Jan. 10, 2006, with eight violations on seven different dates. The violations included five speeding citations. His most recent license suspension came on Feb. 7, 2006.

And though Smith was officially in “good standing,” as far as paying off his fines goes, I find this no less disturbing. I mean, is it even possible to be that bad of a driver? And really, how can you keep getting your license back after that many suspensions?

NBA player tased following nightclub incident

Stop me if you’ve ever heard the words “athlete” and “nightclub” in the same sentence, usually along with “trouble.” Yeah, I thought so. The latest addition to the always growing fraternity of professional athletes causing scenes at nightclubs is Dermarr Johnson, a six-year NBA veteran currently playing for the Denver Nugets.

Johnson was charged with resisting arrest and interfering with police. Apparently, Johnson was such a disturbance, that police had to use a taser. Yes, a taser. From what Johnson’s lawyer says, Johnson was breaking up a fight between two women in the club. The two women were charged with disturbing the peace.

Is it just me, or are all of these stories basically the same thing? Professional athletes put themselves in these situations all the time, and very rarely does it end on a happy note. Now, I’m not passing any judgement here at all, because I don’t know the specifics of this case, but if Johnson looked anything like he did in the picture above, of course he was going to be arrested for being involved.

Virtually all of these cases involve young African American men. And even if Johnson didn’t do anything, as his lawyer claims, he was still a victim of racial profiling. Police traditionally have not cut professional athletes much slack, and that could very well be the case of Johnson. More than likely, however, he’ll get off with a minimal charge. The courts can be corrupted a lot easier than the police can.

Sports cream cited as reason of death for high school track star

I try to keep things as light-hearted as possible here at Hat Trick, but one of today’s headlines on Sports Illustrated’s website (linked from CNN.com) really caught my attention. Arielle Newman, a budding young star in track and field at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died abruptly in her sleep on April 3rd.

The cause of death? High levels of methyl salicylate, a substance commonly found in sports creams used to soothe sore legs after running or exercising. From the article:

The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.” She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.

This death is not only tragic beyond words, but is also frightening to think of sports in a larger context. High school sports are rapidly catching up to both collegiate and professional sports in the usage of steroids and other performancing-enhancing substances. And while sports creams don’t qualify as a performance-enhancing substance, it is still a foreign substance that is being absorbed - in Newman’s case to a lethal amount - into these still-developing young bodies.

Unfortunately, I feel that Newman’s case will not be enough to drive parents and athletes to call for change. Virtually every year there are stories of high school athletes dropping dead on the practice field, or killing themselves because of depression caused by excessive steroid usage. But it all seems to fall on deaf ears. And with that, we continue to lose bright young athletes, and more importantly, bright young people.

(Thank you to reader Caity for correcting the date.)

Hat Trick’s first book of the month

One of my goals this summer is to read more. More books, more magazines, more everything. So keeping that in mind, I’ve decided to add a new feature to this blog. I (so originally) call it the “book of the month.” Ideally, I will select a book for this distinguished honor every month, and by the time I select another book the following month, I will have the previous month’s selection finished. And of course, I will offer my review free of charge right here in this blog. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to stick to this schedule during the summer. The school year will be another venture. But hey, at least I’m trying.

This month’s selection, and the first ever Hat Trick “book of the month,” is “The Last Best League” by Jim Collins. I’ve heard from many people in the sports writing business that this is a work of genius, so I’m excited to finally read it. In the book, Collins follows the Chatham A’s - one of 10 teams in the famous Cape Cod Baseball League - for an entire season, chroniciling the ups and downs of the players as they strive to reach the Major Leagues.

For anyone that’s interested I suggest you go out and pick up a copy today. Otherwise, be on the look out for Hat Trick’s review some time in early July.

When Cortland loses, Ithaca wins

One of the many season-ending events that I missed in my month or so of inactivity was the Division III men’s lacrosse National Championship game between Salisbury University and SUNY-Cortland. Salisbury was victorious by a score of 15-9, securing its seventh National Championship in school history.

Being a Bomber at heart, any time the Cortland Red Dragons lose, I feel like it’s a small victory for the Blue and Gold. So much for objective reporting. But seriously, Cortland defeated Salisbury in last year’s title game, so they got what they deserved. It makes it even sweeter that Cortland jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, before squandering the lead and ultimately, the game. But now I guess I’m just being mean.

Hats off to Salisbury for not only collecting their fourth title in the last five years, but for beating up on Cortland in the process.

From (an extra foot) down town

With the NBA Finals set to tip off Thursday night, I find myself in a basketball kind-of-mood today. Case in point: I went to the gym and launched jumpshots for a solid hour. While I felt like I was dying at the end, I also felt accomplished, as it was my first physical activity in quite some time. Hey, I’m in college.

My favorite sport was always, and still is, basketball. I played all throughout middle and high school. I was never the fastest guy on the floor, nor could I jump very high at all. But man oh man, could I shoot (a snapshot of myself dominating The Ithacan’s new editor-in-chief in a game of knockout). Surprisingly enough, my shot still remains intact. But as I bombed away shots from the three-point line today, I began thinking about the NCAA’s latest change to the dimensions of the college basketball court.

About two weeks ago, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a proposal by the Men’s Basketball Rules Committee to move the three-point line back a full foot (from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches). This will go into effect the 2008-2009 season (the year after next year).

Being a long-range specialist myself, I can speculate (with good reason) that this will really affect a lot of three-point shooters at all levels of collegiate basketball. Players will have played throughout high school (which will remain at 19 feet, 9 inches), and will then have to account for an extra foot of distance. And while a foot doesn’t sound like much, it is more than enough to throw a shot off. I predict a sharp decline in three-point field goal percentage two years from now. Maybe to account for the extra foot, the NCAA could widen the basket by 6 to 12 inches. Yeah, I could live with that.

As a sports writer AND hockey fan, this deeply troubles me

I’ll admit that I still haven’t gotten over my beloved Buffalo Sabres being knocked out of the NHL playoffs about two weeks ago. I hate the Ottawa Senators. In fact, I don’t know if there’s a professional sports team that I dislike more, except maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I digress.

I came across an article on ESPN.com that detailed the overt lack of newspaper coverage of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals by large U.S. markets. All rivalries aside, I loyally follow the Stanley Cup Playoffs each and every year, and I stand by my assessment that it is indeed the greatest tournament in all of sports.

However, I’m not stupid, nor am I out of touch with the interests of the American sports population. Professional hockey just doesn’t have a huge following in America. And having a small-market American team (Anaheim) face off against a Canadien team (Ottawa) isn’t exactly a dream matchup for the NHL in terms of marketing and television rating. You can bet that Commissioner Gary Bettman and the rest of the high-ranking executives wanted a Buffalo-Detroit final. Sorry fellas, no dice.

But really, it’s amazing to me that this series is getting so little attention. The sports sections of newspaper, especially in large sports markets, have always traditionally covered any and all professional sports events. This would obviously include the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB and NASCAR, among golf, tennis and other professional sporting events. But we have now reached a time where that just isn’t the case.

The NHL has done all it can to repair its damaged image from the 2004-05 lockout, and has created a much more entertaining brand of hockey. It’s just depressing that no one can read about it, and even more depressing that no one seems to care that it’s being ignored in the first place.

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