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It’s the beginning of July and the hottest part of the year is just around the corner – as if last week wasn’t hot enough. And you know what that means, right?
Football? Really? In July? Surely not, but it looks like the football preview magazine business is capitalizing on the dog days of summer in the sports world. Arkansas’ statewide football preview publications are hitting the newsstands, generating water cooler and message board fodder for the next two months before the season actually even begins.
I remember the days of the old “Dave Campbell’s Arkansas Football” magazine that had one of those cheesy posed action shots of one of the Razorbacks’ top players for the year to come. Then after Dave Campbell left, the Hooten brothers out of Little Rock came onto the scene 17 years ago and had the market cornered.
15 years later, two additional magazines entered the ring as ArkansasSports360.com and Vype put out their first issues. Add to that the amount of internet message board material out there (just be careful what you believe) and you should have plenty of reading between now and September 4, the first Friday night for high school football in Arkansas.
And I’m sure it will be the 11th straight week of hot temperatures.
What I choose to pay attention to during the summer is baseball. Whether it’s little league, college or professional, I just like watching baseball. It’s America’s past-time and I’ve passed a lot of time watching the sport over the years.
I have favorite teams. I had favorite players when I was growing up and I have favorite players now. I collected baseball cards when I was little and I grew up in the summers watching the Braves, Cubs, Mets and Cardinals because the cable company carried TBS, WGN, WWOR from across the country and local stations carried the Cardinals. During those games I’d have my glove and a ball and imitate spectacular plays using living room furniture as the bases.
I just enjoyed the game – and I still do. But one thing I don’t enjoy is the immediate reaction to success. When I was growing up and naive, I just figured that Pete Rose got that many hits because he was just that good of a hitter, Rickey Henderson stole that many bases because he was that fast, and Ozzie Smith got to all of those grounders because he was just that quick.
Now we are led to wonder if our favorite hitter hits the ball that far because he’s taking something illegal or if the consistent base-hitter is getting help from an opponent because they’re tipping pitches.
Players can’t be lauded for their success without an immediate reaction of guilty until proven innocent from fans and media. This week, Albert Pujols became the first player to hit at least 30 home runs in his first nine seasons in the Major Leagues. He’s been consistent since he entered the league, his weight has only increased by 20 pounds since his rookie year in 2001, and from all accounts he’s been an exemplary citizen in St. Louis off the field.
But even with all of that, a radio show earlier this week asked the question, “Do you think Albert Pujols is on steroids?” Nothing has come out to suggest that Pujols has taken performance-enhancing drugs at all, but the first reaction when someone succeeds is to assume that they have done something wrong.
I can only hope that I was right that Pete Rose was that good of a hitter, that Rickey Henderson was that fast on his own, and Ozzie Smith had the range of a cheetah on the body of a cat. And I can also only hope that we can return to watching baseball with an innocence of a nine-year old, because man, it was fun to watch through those eyes.
Chris Babb is the director of external alumni affairs at Ouachita Baptist University. E-mail him at babbc@obu.edu.
It’s the beginning of July and the hottest part of the year is just around the corner – as if last week wasn’t hot enough. And you know what that means, right?
Football? Really? In July? Surely not, but it looks like the football preview magazine business is capitalizing on the dog days of summer in the sports world. Arkansas’ statewide football preview publications are hitting the newsstands, generating water cooler and message board fodder for the next two months before the season actually even begins.
I remember the days of the old “Dave Campbell’s Arkansas Football” magazine that had one of those cheesy posed action shots of one of the Razorbacks’ top players for the year to come. Then after Dave Campbell left, the Hooten brothers out of Little Rock came onto the scene 17 years ago and had the market cornered.
15 years later, two additional magazines entered the ring as ArkansasSports360.com and Vype put out their first issues. Add to that the amount of internet message board material out there (just be careful what you believe) and you should have plenty of reading between now and September 4, the first Friday night for high school football in Arkansas.
And I’m sure it will be the 11th straight week of hot temperatures.
What I choose to pay attention to during the summer is baseball. Whether it’s little league, college or professional, I just like watching baseball. It’s America’s past-time and I’ve passed a lot of time watching the sport over the years.
I have favorite teams. I had favorite players when I was growing up and I have favorite players now. I collected baseball cards when I was little and I grew up in the summers watching the Braves, Cubs, Mets and Cardinals because the cable company carried TBS, WGN, WWOR from across the country and local stations carried the Cardinals. During those games I’d have my glove and a ball and imitate spectacular plays using living room furniture as the bases.
I just enjoyed the game – and I still do. But one thing I don’t enjoy is the immediate reaction to success. When I was growing up and naive, I just figured that Pete Rose got that many hits because he was just that good of a hitter, Rickey Henderson stole that many bases because he was that fast, and Ozzie Smith got to all of those grounders because he was just that quick.
Now we are led to wonder if our favorite hitter hits the ball that far because he’s taking something illegal or if the consistent base-hitter is getting help from an opponent because they’re tipping pitches.
Players can’t be lauded for their success without an immediate reaction of guilty until proven innocent from fans and media. This week, Albert Pujols became the first player to hit at least 30 home runs in his first nine seasons in the Major Leagues. He’s been consistent since he entered the league, his weight has only increased by 20 pounds since his rookie year in 2001, and from all accounts he’s been an exemplary citizen in St. Louis off the field.
But even with all of that, a radio show earlier this week asked the question, “Do you think Albert Pujols is on steroids?” Nothing has come out to suggest that Pujols has taken performance-enhancing drugs at all, but the first reaction when someone succeeds is to assume that they have done something wrong.
I can only hope that I was right that Pete Rose was that good of a hitter, that Rickey Henderson was that fast on his own, and Ozzie Smith had the range of a cheetah on the body of a cat. And I can also only hope that we can return to watching baseball with an innocence of a nine-year old, because man, it was fun to watch through those eyes.
Chris Babb is the director of external alumni affairs at Ouachita Baptist University. E-mail him at babbc@obu.edu.
