Speeding Up Baseball: It’s a Move in the Right Direction
By Rick Wolff One of the major criticisms about our national pastime is that it’s just too slow. Go out to any Little League game and see how quickly the kids in the outfield become despondent as they wait endlessly for some sort of action to take place. No wonder so many kids end up … Read more
Why Statutes Criminalizing Assaults on Sports Officials Are a Bad Idea
By Doug Abrams This is my first weekly column on Rick Wolff’s blog. Each column will discuss a youth sports topic or recent news item because children benefit when parents and coaches, the adults most influential in their athletic lives, exchange ideas with one another verbally or in writing. I look forward to comments and … Read more
What Baseball Bat Should You Use in 2011 in Little League, High School or College?
By Steve Kallas Much has changed in the landscape of baseball bats for the 2011 season. If you are buying one of these bats, be very careful, especially if the bat is a BESR (Ball Exit Speed Ratio) bat. Rules have changed for this year and will change for the 2012 year as well. After … Read more
Young Athletes and Sudden Cardiac Death: Will EKG Pre-Screening Help?
By Rick Wolff After the tragic deaths of Wes Leonard, the 16-year-old HS basketball player from Michigan who collapsed and died just minutes after hitting a game-winning shot and that of 16-year-old Robert Garza of Texas who died 5 minutes into a travel team basketball game, the nation has focused on whether the time has … Read more
Can Top D-I Football Programs Win Without Criminals on Their Roster?
As you could tell from my interview with Jeff Benedict of Sports Illustrated this past Sunday, I was thoroughly impressed with the research he did on the number of “student-athletes” in the top 25 college football programs in the country. In short, he found that almost every ranked team had football players who had serious criminal … Read more
Easton’s New Protective Helmet — How Dare They!
This is just outrageous! As many of you recall, a young HS pitcher named Gunnar Sandberg from California got drilled in the head last year by a baseball off an aluminum bat. Sandberg was seriously injured, but thankfully he’s recovering and back to playing ball this year. That’s the good news. Now, here comes Easton … Read more
HS Coaches v. Travel Team Coaches: Who do you listen to?
Well, when it comes to top HS athletes, the bottom line is that travel team coaches (and private instructors) are now pretty much running the show. And for many sports parents, that might seem like a harsh reality to accept. But with the exception of HS football (and even that is changing), these days, top … Read more
"The Sports Edge"
Doug Abrams
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
