Cuba 10 - USA 2

Well Quincy, it just shows ta go ya, that when the opportunities are opened up to more than a very closed pool of people, its pretty easy to see that there’s no one group or country that’s really any more able than another. I think this Olympic has shown that more than any before it.

Heck, I laughed out loud at the absurdity of other countries even trying to compare themselves to us when the 1st 2 medal races in BMX were run. After all, BMX started in SoCal, less than 40 years ago. Well, I wasn’t laughing at the end of either the men’s or women’s races.

The whole thing boils down to it being considerably easier for a baseball player to advance when he’s competing with maybe 10,000 other players, than if his competition is 10 times greater than that.

Considering that we probably have as many talented enough players to dominate the game as these nations have population, it is absurd that we are not waltzing away with gold.

Team sports , unlike individual events, are the arena where not only talent is exhibited, but also tactics and intelligence. The best example would be the 1980 USA hockey team.

We have shown that we are the lesser in talent, tactics and intelligence as it pertains to the American national pasttime.

quote:

Originally posted by Quincy:
Considering that we probably have as many talented enough players to dominate the game as these nations have population, it is absurd that we are not waltzing away with gold.

Team sports , unlike individual events, are the arena where not only talent is exhibited, but also tactics and intelligence. The best example would be the 1980 USA hockey team.

We have shown that we are the lesser in talent, tactics and intelligence as it pertains to the American national pasttime.

The thing no one can get around is, only 9 players can be in the field at any one time, and only one can be batting, so it doesn’t really matter how many talented enough players we have, its how well those that are playing execute in comparison to the other team.

On the other hand, is it at all possible that all of these great talent evaluators we’ve come to believe are so infallible, plus all the coaches we’ve been led to believe are so wise, just aren’t a good as they’ve been made out to be?

I saw a brief report somewhere that an American player had suffered a "gruesome injury" earlier, but I have never seen who it was or what happened. Can anyone provide the details?

Might be Jayson Nix.

He attempted a bunt but fouled the ball into his eye.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080818&conten...b&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp...b&t=p_pbp&pid=434624

JMO, but who were our MILB professionals competing against? The best of those countries players?
I am not sure if the USA players represented the best of our best baseball players in the US, most of them are busy right now with their MLB teams.

Now if our basketball team doesn't walk away with teh gold I would be disappointed.

In regard to kbat's comment on Olympic spirit, howzabout Cuba's "in your face" behavior in the semis vs. USA. When Cuba's Bell jacked that 3-run homer, the lead runner waved his finger in the USA 3rd baseman's face as he rounded the bases, and Bell stood watching (read gloating) at home plate until the umpire urged him to make his way down the baseline. Disgusting display. Completely unsportsmanlike. "Non-professional" is one thing, but "unprofessional" is another. I'm rooting for Korea tomorrow.

According to one the USA player's Dad (an attorney in Philadephia) Lefebvre, ought to be taken out back to the shed. Lefebvre was controversial when he played, controversial when he managed in the USA, and now he remains controversial after he directed his Chinese pitcher to go head hunting against Matt LaPorta, a promising MLB propect. As far as many around here are concerned, Lefebvre, you are NOT welcomed in the USA.

Quincy;

We have played the Australian, China, Japan and Korea National High School teams for 25 years.

My son and I have trained with the China team, produced clinics in Japan, China and Australia.

Our American Team alumni includes the following.
We only won in 1983 and 1984.
Rob Ritchie, Tigers 1983
Brad Brink, Phillies 1983
Alex Sanchez, Blue Jays 1983-84
Matt Williams, Giants 1983
Greg Jefferies, Phillies 1984
John Wetteland, Rangers 1984
Paul McCellan, Giants 1984
Brian Keyser, White Sox 1984
Fernando Vina, Brewers 1987
Greg Pirkl, Mariners 1987 Mike Kelly, Mets 1987
Marty Cordova, Blue Jays 1987
Donnie Osborne, Cardinals 1987
James Mouton, Padres 1987
Jim Edmonds, Cardinals 1987
Tim Laker, Pirates 1987
Ed Giovanola, Padres 1987
Erik Plankenberg, Devil Rays 1987
Tyler Houston, Indians 1988
Steve Whitaker, Giants 1988
Derek Wallace, Mets 1988
Jim Converse, Royals 1988
Todd Steverson, Padres 1988
David McCarthy, Red Sox 1988
Bo Dodson, Red Sox 1988
Chris Prichett, Phillies 1988
Mike Lieberthal, Phillies 1989
Dimitri Young, Tigers 1989-90
Kurt Miller, Cubs 1989
Micah Franklin, Cubs 1989
Nick Johnson, Nationals 1989
Ryan McGuire, Mets 1989-90
Adam Melhouse. A’s 1990
Antonne Williamson, Brewers 1990
Tim Kubinski, A’s 1990
Jacob Cruz, Rockies 1990
Benji Gill, Angels 1990
Dante Powell, Cardinals 1991
Jason Kendall, A’s 1991
Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers 1991
Geoff Jenkins, Brewers 1991
Derrek Lee, Cubs 1992
Torii Hunter, Twins 1992
Mark Redman, Pirates 1992
Mickey Callaway, Angels 1992
Buddy Carlyle, Padres 1992
Jeff D’Amico, A’s 1992
David Lamb, Mets 1992
Chad Hermansen, Pirates 1994
Randy Knoor, Phillies 1994
Eric Valent, Mets 1994
Ryan Mills, Twins 1994
Steve Colyer, Dodgers 1994
Dave Coggin, Phillies 1994
Nick Johnson, Nationals 1994
Mike Rose, Dodgers 1994
Eric Chavez, A’s 1994
Jason Marquis, Cubs 1995
Joey Dillon, Marlins 1996
Jayson Werth, Dodgers 1996
Matt Wise, Brewers 1996
Jason Young, Rockies 1996
Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 1996
Nick Bierbrodt, Diamondbacks 1996
Aaron Miles, Cards 1996
Bud Smith, Cards 1996
Nick Garcia, Mets 1996
Steve Colyer, Dodgers 1996
Cesar Crespo, Padres 1996
Gerald Laird, Rangers 1997
Aaron Hill, Blue Jays 1998
James Shields, Devil Rays 1999
Shane Costa, Royals 1999
Connor Jackson, Diamondbacks 1999
Sergio Santos, Blue Jays 1999
David Espinosa, Reds 1999
Corey Smith, Indians 1999
Sam Fuld, Cubs 1999
Jason Kubal, Twins 1999
Andre Ethier, Dodgers 1999
Abe Alvarez, Red Sox 1999
Adrian Gonzalez, Rangers 1999
Carlos Quenton, Diamondbacks 1999
Jereme Bondeman, Tigers 1999
Delmon Young, Tampa Bay 1999-2003
Adam La Roche, Pirates 1996-97-98
Bobby Jenks, White Sox 1999
Andy La Roche, Dodgers 1997-98
Jason Vargas, Marlins 2000
Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay 2000
Mike Jones, Brewers 2000
Mike Pelfrey, Mets 2000
Daric Barton, A’s 2002

Questions: How to prepare our USA players for International competition?

First it begins with the Coaches and the mind set of the players [pros or amateur]

In 1996, Tommy Lasorda spoke to our team after 3 losses to Japan and Korea. His words cannot be
related. However, our players played with courage and loss to Japan in final inning 2-1.

We will again travel to Australia in December and play the "best" players. The Australians will execute on defense and offense.

Bob Williams
Goodwill Series Inc.

http://web.usabaseball.com/teams/index.jsp?team=940

Roster

As a added footnote:

In 1988 when we played the National Teams of Korea and Japan. During the Korea/American game at a 40,000 seat stadium on Osaka, the Korean outfielder made an error. He was immediately taken from the game.

Later the catcher had a passed ball. He was taken from the game.
I asked the group leader, Mr Kim "how many catchers do you have on your team"?

"He said all 18 players can catch"! Our players in high school need to be prepared in defense and fundamentals.

Later at SSU as a hitting coach, I applied this system to hitters who did not move runners from 2b to 3b with less than 2 outs.
"It worked"!

Bob
<rwilliams@goodwillseries.org>

quote:

First it begins with the Coaches and the mind set of the players [pros or amateur]

You hit the nail right on the head, Bob.

In my meanderings, I see players who are complacent and coaches who choose teams with no regard to depth or execution of the fundamentals.