Brady's 517 Yard Opener

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/sports/football/nfl-football-roundup-patriots-dolphins.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

This article was published in the New York Times Tuesday morning and it was written by the associated press. The article was about Tom Brady and his very impressive start to the 2011 football season. The Patriots beat their division rivals the Miami Dolphins 38-24 in what was the first of two Monday Night Football games on ESPN. The Patriots gained 622 yards of total offense which was the most in franchise history. Wes Welker did set a Patriots record with a 99 yard touchdown reception which is the longest play in Patriots history. But the star of last nights game was the legendary Tom Brady. The three time Super Bowl winner was 32 or 48 passing and became the eleventh player in NFL history to throw for at least 500 yards in a game.

This article also covered injuries that took place around the league during week 1 of the season. The St. Louis Rams took a big hit to their offense losing their starting quarterback (Sam Bradford) and starting running back (Stephen Jackson) for at least one week. The San Diego Chargers lost their Pro Bowl kicker Nate Kaeding for the season after he torn his ACL on the opening kickoff of the season. And both the Panthers and Chiefs lose stubs in their defensive unit. 

Computers as Sports Reporters?

"Wisconsin looks to be in control of the game as it leads 34-3 at the end of the second quarter.

Wisconsin expanded its lead to 27-0 when Montee Ball ran for a one-yard touchdown to finish a four-play, 65-yard drive. The key play on the drive was a 63-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Ball.

UNLV closed the gap to 27-3 when Nolan Kohorst finished off the 12-play, 64-yard drive with a 37-yard field goal..."

This news brief from the Wisconsin- U.N.L.V. game is nothing more than just another running game story that sports reporters dread having to do- right?

Wrong.

This article was actually written by a computer and the recaps were automatically published within 60 seconds of the end of each quarter.

Narrative Science, based out of Evanson, IL, is responsible for this new phenomenon in reporting. With the motto "We turn data into stories," this company creates programming that proves artificial science is quickly moving into human territory. The company uses this technology not only for sports-related stories, but for a number of other subjects, including finance and the housing market. Essentially, any article that is based on statistics and data can be written by a computer.

“The quality of the narrative produced was quite good, as if written by a human, if not an accomplished wordsmith," said Oren Etzioni, a computer scientist at the University of Washington.

Despite its novelty, this new technology poses a number of ethical questions. Journalism, like many other fields, is struggling during this recession. Hundreds of people across the country are getting laid off as newspapers rapidly close their doors. The use of this computer system may only add to the layoffs, removing the need to hire reporters to write running game stories. Have we gone too far by continuing to replace humans with machines? Moreover, is it "true" journalism when it is written by a computer?

On the other hand, this system may prove to be a good thing for the sports journalism world. No reporter wants to be responsible for running game stories; they are stressful and don't allow any room for creativity. It is possible that by allowing a computer to write the technical stories, time will be freed for reporters to concentrate their efforts on more quality stories instead.

Maybe this technology won't catch on at all. Who knows? Only time will tell; this is just one more example that proves the journalism field is in technological turmoil. I, for one, am eager to see what will develop in the future.

Click here for the full NY Times article.

The Rebirth of American Tennis

-- American Donald Young leads US surprise at Open. Picture from Fox Sports.

A couple of months ago, I tweeted a bold, but honestly statement. “American tennis is dead.” Well think about it, for the past couple of years in the men’s competition, foreign names clogged up the winner’s bracket, while American players took a back seat. No American male has won a Grand Slam title since Andy Roddick’s remarkable finish in the U.S. Open in 2003. For a while on the women’s side, future Hall of Famer Serena Williams was still dominating the WTA—then she got hurt. Holy moose crap! Are you serious? The nation that produced tennis royalty such as John Mcenroe, Arthur Ashe, Andre Agassi, Chris Evert, Billy Jean King and so much more had been reduced to nothing. Venus, the older Williams sister was suffering with injuries and age, and the top ranked American male at the time, Roddick lost his way. Furthermore there was barely news of any youngin’s in the making (See Ryan Harrison and Melanie Oudin.)

I was all about to fall into the common thinking that Americans had given up on “boring” tennis to play more “exciting,” money grabbing sports like football, baseball, and basketball. But then something happened during this year’s U.S. Open that made the heartbeat of American tennis beat faster than it has in a while. Maybe it’s because they’re at home, or maybe it’s because they’re feeling the constant criticisms in the media, but for whatever reason, American tennis players came alive again.

Starting with Donald Young—an American player from Chicago— who many had given up on after calling him a prodigy in his early days. He came back as a wild card in the U.S. Open and won three games elevating himself to the round of 16 in the Open, while defeating top ranked professional #14 Stanlislas Wawrinka. It would have been something if he could have defeated #4 Andy Murray of the United Kingdom, but maybe that would be asking too much for the #85 ranked player in the world at the moment.

Besides Young, Americans were all over the Open. Although no American male reached the Semis, they made a great showing. #28 John Isner, and veteran #21 Andy Roddick made the Quarters, and #8 Mardy Fish had a great tournament before his lost in a thriller to #11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16. Then there is Serena Williams. She came back fierce, fast, flexible and completely healthy. The former #1 glided through the Open, making younger women from around the world look like rookies, until she lost in the finals after a breakdown to Australian Samantha Stosur.

With all the excitement it seems American tennis is buzzing in the media again. Maybe next year in the Australian Open I'll tweet “American tennis is alive and kicking.”

--La Guerre

Sources: Article by NYDN Filip Bondy

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-09-05/sports/30136960_1_andy-roddick-john-isner-novak-djokovic

Information from SI.com and ESPN.com

Is Super Nova really the rookie of the year?

Yankees rookie pitcher Ivan Nova has 15 wins. FIFTEEN!! If that’s not ridiculous enough to believe, then the fact that the Yankees have not lost a game with Nova on the mound since June 3^rd must be impossible. Personally, I love to see him on the mound as a Yankee fan, because he creates some optimistic thoughts about young starting pitching that the bombers haven’t seen probably since the days of Andy Pettitte— he definitely has caused a stir. As a matter of fact, many reports say that he is the clear front runner for this years’ American league rookie of the year award. But is he really worth the honor of being thee best rookie of the AL.

He pitches with an aggressive swagger while blending a humble tone, which creates the perfect baseball character. Personality aside, he has a mix of pitches that makes him deadly if he uses them efficiently. It’s no secret that Nova is a groundball pitcher. However, after his call up from the minors in mid-season, Nova returned with a sharper slider, and coupled that with a mid -90s fastball and a curveball with a deceiving drop. His accuracy still needs some work, but the fact that his game dramatically increased and can’t be disputed. His stat line currently reads 15-4 (78.9%), 3.94 era, 1.34 whip— and that makes him the Yankees’ real number two pitcher. Other important stats are 87 strikeouts (definitely a groundball guy) and 50 walks. At age 24, this is definitely a guy the Yankees should keep and develop, but back to the question at hand, is he the rookie of the year?

Well his competition includes the Mark Teixeira-like Mark Trumbo on the Angels, the electrifying Eric Hosmer on the Royals, Michael Pineda of the Mariners, and Jeremy Hellickson of Tampa Bay.

I’m going to rule out Trumbo, because while homers (26) are pretty, low batting averages (.254) are hideous and they usually don’t produce award winners. Then I’ll cut Hosmer, because he slightly fell off the RoY radar while the pitchers got more looks, but his .287 batting average, and 16 homers in nearly 500 at bats makes him the most complete player, and definitely a future star. And then there were two.

Honestly Pineada, and Hellickson have better numbers than Nova. They could be better pitchers on worst teams. The Mariners and the Rays most likely are not making the post season this year. However, Pineada (9-9) collected a ridiculous 163 strikeouts to go along with his 3.74 era, and 1.09 whip, which makes him a fantastic pitcher a possible future number one. Also, Hellickson (12-10) has the lowest era of the three (2.90), 107 strikeouts and a 1.13 whip. The usually argument is, if these pitchers were on the Yankees, the results would be more similar—an argument that reflects the recent Zack Grenkie (16-8) and Felix Hernandez (13-12) Cy Young wins. But as the old saying goes “coulda, woulda, shoulda, but ya didn’t.” Who knows how those pitchers would have performed on the top stage. Look at former Yankee Javier Vasquez, who could be a great pitcher—just not on the Yankees. Hold up, the Yankees are still dealing with this kind of breakdown, now with Allan James Burnett. The 18-game winning season he had with a fourth ranked Blue Jays team in 2008, makes you wonder why he has never won more than 13 games for the “run producing” Yankees.

Neither Hellickson, nor Pineada, could rattle Nova’s exciting 15-4 record. One more win will tie the rookie with Yankees legend Ron Guidry’s rookie season, and if hits 17 he will tie the rookie seasons of CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander’s—Verlander by the way won the rookie of the year award that season. An unthinkable 18 wins would put Nova on another level since no AL rookie has done that since 1976.

In my opinion the new Yankee spectacle deserves the award as much as the other two or three guys. He handles the major league pressure just right and he rose from being sent down, to being relied on. At the end of the day the most important thing in a baseball game, or in any game, is to win, and Nova has done just that.

--La Guerre

Sources:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/836433-ivan-nova-front-runner-for-al-rookie-of-the-year

baseball-reference.com

Should Coaches Ban Athletes from Twitter?

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/15416882/coaches-twitter-ban-isnt-stunting-players-its-protecting-them

This article is from about a month ago, but it is a blossoming debate in the college sports. Should coaches ban athletes from Twitter?

Gregg Doyel is a well-respected columnist, but I disagree with him on this.

When a coach bans players from Twitter, it is akin to giving up. Instead of educating these athletes about the possible dangers of managing social media, they ban it all together, limiting the athletes' ability to speak his mind.

College is supposed to turn young men into seasoned men who are ready for the real world. Some of these guys will go on to play professionally. Will someone be there to ban Twitter then? Media coverage will only grow as these guys get older. Instead of banning it all together, these programs need to educate athletes on how to use it effectively.

Some players have boosted their reputation through their Twitter account. North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall is praised for not only not screwing it up, but portraying himself as a mature college athlete online. Check out his witty jab at the NCAA from last week.

If coaches are recruiting guys who need to be babied, should they be recruited at all? Coaches who ban Twitter are admitting that they're recruiting players, not mature young men. But, if that's how they want to run it, that is their call.

5'4" Walk-on Gets Scholarship

The best thing about sports is there's always a chance to do the impossible. When everyone thinks you can't, you work hard and you can.

5'4" Eric Valentin earned a D-1 Scholarship from The University of Wisconsin- Green Bay Men's Basketball team through hard work and dedication even before he was awarded the scholarship.

The walk-on transferred from Dayton State Community College during the summer of his junior year. As a junior, Eric tried out for the team and made it, playing 5 games during the entire season. Though he was only a walk-on, Eric took practice as though he was a starter and helped each of his teammates get better. Through hard work both on and off the court, (Eric worked 10 hour shifts almost everyday during the summer to pay to go to school and play basketball), Head Coach, Brian Wardle, awarded Eric with the scholarship during a conditioning session in the fall calling him one of the hardest working people on the team.

After being presented with the scholarship, Valentin is asked to tell his teammates what it is and he responds, "A scholarship. Hard work pays off."

This is definitely one of the type of sports stories I enjoy hearing/reading just because it really brings the truth out of the quote, "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard." Eric Valentin definitely is at a height disadvantage but isn't letting that stop his drive.


To read more on this, Click the Link: Flying with the Phoenix: Valentin's Surprise Ride

Strasburg Returns with Spark

Last night in Washington, D.C., Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg made his much anticipated return from the D. L. Strasburg was placed on the disabled list late last season, after having Tommy John surgery on his electric right arm, following an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament. The right handed phenom, who was the number one overall draft pick out of San Diego State University three seasons ago, picked up seemingly right where he left off. Last night, Strasburg went 5 innings, only allowing 2 hits, while allowing no runs, no walks, and striking out 4. Strasburg is anticipated to make five more starts this season, which will all surely be watched closely. Further information can be read here: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=At9lWWl3lNS7BahRGtwo3RY5nYcB?slug=lc-carpenter_strasburg_return_nationals_dodgers_090611