In life and in sports, there are often an “UNSPOKEN MESSAGE” to us. Maybe it’s directly to the player, to the fan base, to the league, or to the team. Let’s take a look at some of the more recent “UNSPOKEN MESSAGES” across the sports world.
….Cardinals signing of SS Brandon Crawford sent a UNSPOKEN MESSAGE. It appears, to me, from the “move” that the Cardinals have their doubts that rookie Masyn Winn can perform at the high level that they had anticipated earlier in his development. Or that Tommy Edman’s injury is progressing slower than expected and won’t be able to play, much less play every day. Why else bring in a 37 year old player who batted .194 with 81 strikeouts in 283 AB’s(that’s 29% of the time). Crawford surely isn’t the long term answer (is he even a short term answer?) so the Cards must be thinking that he’d added veteran stability. Baloney! Remember, this was a last-place team in 2023, why DO we want/need a 37 year SS way beyond his prime if we REALLY think that Winn &/or Edman can play every day? Won’t this lead to them “looking over their shoulder” if they have nonproductive back-back games? Shouldn’t we let them play every day (for better or worse) and let their play make the decision about if they are/are not everyday players. The 37 year old sub crowding out their playing time and development seems like a wasted space to me. This isn’t a championship level team…we don’t need his “experience”. We need our younger players to get better!!
…the Blues year doesn’t have a great deal to “crow about” but the biggest surprise to me is the power play. It’s ranked #22 (there are 32 teams) with about a 10% scoring rate on the power play! UGH! From my view, the defensemen don’t seem to possess the offensive skills (shots on goal, passing, keeping puck in offensive end) to elevate the Blues power play. Btw….the Blues have NEVER had the same quality of defensive players, or the same team, once they lost Alex Pietrangelo in free agency to Las Vegas. He was, and still is, an elite defender who defends superbly and still has offensive skills to supplement the front liners. Further, he WAS the leader of the 2019 team…the team that won the Stanley Cup!! In that playoff run of 26 games, he scored 19 points (3 goals (including the winning goal in game 7) to lead the Blues to the Cup! Ironically, his play in 2019 led the Blues to beating Bruce Cassidy (coach of Bruins at the time). Last year he led Vegas WITH coach Bruce Cassidy to the Title!! Small world 😊
….By far the BIGGEST UNSPOKEN MESSAGE in collegiate sports right now is Caitlin Clark! Of course, while she’s been good for several years, it’s only now when she’ breaking the all-time scoring record that we read about her in some places(but rarely, page 1 top story of the Sports section. Clark, who plays @ Univ Iowa, has become the highest scoring NCAA woman in basketball scoring. She has scored 3,617 points. She scores from all over the court. She buries 3’s, drives to basket, penetrates & pulls up for mid-range jumpers. She isn’t a tall, post player but a perimeter player who is averaging 5.3 three-point baskets/game this year! Her 3pt% this year is 38.8%. It was 38.9% last year, 33.2 as a Soph and 40.6% as a Freshman! She is already the ALL-Time Women’s Scoring Leader. She is just 51 points behind the all-time Men’s Scorer-Pete Maravich! Now, Maravich played in an era prior to 3-point baskets so that has made the chase easier for Clark. In addition, Pete wasn’t ever known for his slick passing skills or passing skills of any sort 😊 Clark scores AND shares the ball. She is averaging 8.5 assists/game this season. She has averaged at least 8 ast/game in each of the last 2 years! If she holds her 8.5 ast/gm for the rest of the year, she’ll post a career mark of 1054 Assists which puts her in the TOP 5 ALL-TIME(in the USA) in assists!! Even more confusion, before 1972 Women’s Basketball wasn’t under the NCAA regulations. Women’s basketball was under the governance of AIAW. When Lynette Woodward played at Univ of Kansas, women’s sports were governed by the AIAW! Woodard scored 3,649 career points but the NCAA does NOT officially recognize AIAW records!! Clark should pass by Woodard to once-for-all solidify who was/is the all-time Scoring Leader of Collegiate Women’s Basketball. I had the chance to watch her play on the tube recently….she REALLY is AMAZING!! Playing @ U of Iowa has Clark playing opponents of the highest level. Watch her if you have the chance and you’ll get the message!
….Already, the UNSPOKEN MESSAGE around the LA Dodgers camp after just 1 exhibition game is Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani, who had just eight days of practice since last September, made his presence known instantly. He blasted a towering HR against the CWS in an exhibition game in his 1st AB. It was measured 102mph off the bat and landed 377 ft from home plate. It was his 1st game w/o much, actually very little BP. Sure the Dodgers will CA$H in with USA fans but….they’re the UNSPOKEN MESSAGE is that they see an expansion of MLB (especially the Dodgers) coverage across the world (especially Japan). There were an estimated 40 million fans in Japan, MLB officials said, getting up at 5 a.m. to watch Ohtani’s first plate appearance in a Dodgers uniform. Ohtani’s Play could be the springboard to greater MLB coverage around the world! The UNSPOKEN MESSAGE with Ohtani on a winning team is to spread MLB coverage and build an audience. That could, probably will, lead to franchises in Europe, S.America, Mexico, etc sometime in the future (probably in the late 2030’s)
…Staying with College Sports…the UNSPOKEN MESSAGE to recruits is that you’lll play such-such professional sport when you graduate. Now some athletes…maybe many…think that they are professional level players and won’t need a degree. A few of them are right! But…very few!! The actual statistics tell you a different story…in ALL sports combined—6% of High School athletes play NCAA sports. A scant 2% of those college players move onto professional sports! The sport that sends the most NCAA players to the Professional level is Baseball—9%! No other sport sends more than 2% of their college players to the professional sports level!
….Sometimes, the UNSPOKEN MESSAGE that we hear about St Louis U basketball is that we aren’t big enough to be a national leader. Hogwash…. Creighton is almost in identical demographics as SLU. Both are a Catholic mid-sized school, no football, SLU fields 18 teams, Creighton 14 teams. But, somehow, the Billikens just can’t seem to find a way to get ranked in Mens Basketball top teams. True, SLU is a legitimate Soccer powerhouse but basketball has been up & down (mostly mediocre) for many years. Last year’s 23-12 record raised hopes despite not being invited to NCAA or NIT. Apparently, the record of wins over mediocre teams wasn’t enough to convince them to invite the Billikens to a post-season tilt. This year’s team has been a major disappointment. When one scans the history of Billiken basketball, which Coach was the last one to lead the Bills to the 3rd round of the NCAA Tournament? It was Jim Crews in the 13-14 season. The ONLY Coach to lead them to the Sweet 16 was Eddie Hickey in the 56-57 season—WOW! I don’t think that we’ve had poor/weak coaches all these decades or even now, I think that the UNSPOKEN MESSAGE is that the Alumni, through NIL, need to support the Bills in a larger way!! THAT’S the way that the game is played these days. Right now, the direction of the program isn’t too encouraging.
….Your UNSPOKEN MESSAGES when written to me are FABULOUS! Comparing it to the above stats, I usually get around the same 2% of responses as college players moving the pros. Come on…it isn’t hard…there are not “cuts”, or minor league responses, LOVE to hear from you on any part of this Buzz. Bob
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