MLB Ump's

[Big Dave2]

Bowling a sport--- come on. I can hang out at the alley and have drinks- smokes and still bowl "nearly" just as good, if not better, if I were to stay sober. Can't do that in running a marathon, triathlon, swimming or wrestling. The best individual sports are Track, wrestling and swimming. No one to blame but yourself, relays and team scoring aside. Bowling a sport,, what a joke. a slight deviation from the main post,, but it bothers me when some call certain recreations -- a sport, or worse-- athletes. PLease.

[mr_jman]

I'm not trying to say it is or isn't but there are professional bowlers who can bowl 300 games or high 280's or 290's consistently. Its broadast on ESPN just as billiards is... ANYBODY can sit at an alley and bowl a 100 or 150 game but you have to be pretty darn good to consistenly bowl in the high 200's! Some don't think golf is a true sport either, but ANYONE can go hit a ball around the course, but only a few people truely get great at it and can consistently shoot under 72 on an 18 hole course. Argument can be made for any recreational sport. Anyone CAN play it but there are people who do it for a living and are VERY good at it.

My only point was that it is considered an individual "sport"

[pikestabber]

In golf, you have a caddy, so we have to rule that one out. How about billiards, darts, competitive drinking, competitive eating, swimming, lawn darts, thumb-wrestling, badminton, tennis, racquetball, ping-pong, horseshoes, javelin throw, long distance running, short distance running, hurdles, pole vault, arm wrestling, fake wrestling, real wrestling, boxing, UFC fighting, kickboxing, slap-boxing, drunken boxing, rodeo riding, rodeo clowning, long jump, high jump, high dive, gymnastics, discus, shot put, shuffleboard, bocci, weightlifting, bicycling, chess, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, fencing, squash and chess? I am sure there are many more, but there are TONS of individual sports!

To say you can be as good as a pro, even in bowling, is ridiculous if you cannot back it up with real stats. Years of practice to make one the best at any given activity is admirable. We could argue the finer points of what constitutes a sport until we are blue in the face, but I have respect for anyone that elevates to the top of whatever it is they do. Do I consider Norm Duke to be as athletic as Lebron James? No, but I respect his bowling ability (not easy to be a household name with how limited the media is in bowling). Joe Blows all across this nation can bowl well, so why aren't they all professionals making tons of cash? Norm made millions by practicing harder than probably anyone out there, and that is worthy of praise in my book. Granted, even I can hit a strike now and then, or make three pointers on occasion, but does that mean I should enter a contest with Ray Allen?

[ozzie]

If the perfect game is so significant, who can tell me without using google, anything about the game that Addie Joss pitched in 1908? Who was the right fielder in that game? What player made an excellent play to keep the perfect game alive?

I can't tell you any information from that game or team but I sure as heck bet that the right fielder remembered to the day he died (if dead) that he was on a team and on the field when his pitcher threw a perfect game!!

Like I said before the pitcher gets the credit but every player on the field for that game will remember being a part of history!!!

[ozzie]

I guess with your thought process Big Dave if it were up to you there would not be an MVP award or any individual awards awarded to players at the end of the season.......Joe Mauer would have just had a good season but who cares what he did anyways since his team didn't win the World Series and we shouldn't look at individuals as individuals since that would be selfish and narsissistic (sp). With that thought then why do we look at or even keep individual stats at all?

[Big Dave2]

I guess with your thought process Big Dave if it were up to you there would not be an MVP award or any individual awards awarded to players at the end of the season.......Joe Mauer would have just had a good season but who cares what he did anyways since his team didn't win the World Series and we shouldn't look at individuals as individuals since that would be selfish and narsissistic (sp). With that thought then why do we look at or even keep individual stats at all?

I didn't say any of that. All I said is that in this case there was no harm done because the team won. In any team sport one players accomplishments should never overshadow the teams accomplishments.

A big reason that a no-hitter is such a memorable event is because it is ALWAYS accomponied by a WIN. Would you be happy with yourself and want to make a big deal of hitting for the cycle if your team still lost? If you were the manager of a big league team and you are down by 1 run in the bottom of the 9th with 0 outs and a runner on first and the batter due up to the plate has a multi-game hitting streak going that is close to breaking the all time record but is 0-3 in this game, would you ask him to bunt for the good of the team and wreck his streak or would you let him swing away to try and preserve his personal record?

[Big Dave2]

I can't tell you any information from that game or team but I sure as heck bet that the right fielder remembered to the day he died (if dead) that he was on a team and on the field when his pitcher threw a perfect game!!

Like I said before the pitcher gets the credit but every player on the field for that game will remember being a part of history!!!

That game was pretty historic as well.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Do you remember the name of the center fielder for the White Sox who made the terrific catch over the fence on the 26th out to preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect game last year? No fair googling it.

But we all remember that Buehrle threw it. I'm not sayin'...I'm Just Sayin'!

[ozzie]

I didn't remember that Buerhle threw a perfect game to tell you the truth!!! And next year I won't remember who threw perfect games this year but I am sure that every player that was part of the game will remember for the rest of their lives......It is listed as an individual performance but anyone that knows anything about baseball knows that the pitcher doesn't do it by himself and he needs the other 8 guys on the field to also play perfect to accomplish the perfect game.

[Harmonica Bear]

[quote=Big Dave2I

A big reason that a no-hitter is such a memorable event is because it is ALWAYS accomponied by a WIN.

[Big Dave2]

This is not true, you can throw a no hitter and still lose. Not so with a perfect game.

Just a clarification.

Sorry, I meant to say "perfect game" not "no-hitter"

[mnwild]

Do you remember the name of the center fielder for the White Sox who made the terrific catch over the fence on the 26th out to preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect game last year? No fair googling it.

But we all remember that Buehrle threw it. I'm not sayin'...I'm Just Sayin'!

Windy- I was watching that game and I know his last name was Wise but dont know 1st name. The announcers for the Sox were going nuts when he made that catch. Ozzy put him out there for a def sub. Again BASEBALL HISTORY....

[mr_jman]

without looking it up my guess is Ricky Wise.....