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This Is Your Brain On White Sox

By Roger Wallenstein

We’ve been forewarned. There are no guarantees. Prepare for loss upon loss. However, somewhere out there on the far horizon, like, say, 2019, there is reason for optimism. Simply witness what occurred on the other side of town.
So goes the preparation for fans of a ballclub in the midst of a rebuilding plan. Just be patient. Don’t panic. Please do not become upset, and, above all else, keep the faith.
But this is not pleasant nor painless. Not when our White Sox are no-hit Sunday until Melky Cabrera’s one-out single in the ninth inning en route to an embarrassing 10-0 loss to the Rockies in the thin air of Denver. Not when the Rox thump the Sox 12-4 on Friday, thrashing the eminently hittable Derek Holland in the first two innings as Colorado assumed command at 6-1.
If you tuned in late last Wednesday, the Sox already were behind Oakland 6-0 after four innings as journeyman Mike Pelfrey continued to serve up cookies. The Sox lost that one 7-4.
This season’s edition of the White Sox carries a “never quit” tag, but the bottom line is that they’ve come up short far more often because of a lack of talent and young players who are still developing.
Heading into this week’s All-Star Game break, Ricky Renteria’s outfit occupies last place in the Central Division of the American League with a 38-49 record.

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Posted on July 10, 2017

Walking And Leading Off

By Roger Wallenstein

As much as anything else, baseball is a game of rituals, and the White Sox practiced one on two occasions last week.
I’m talking about the Art of the Walk-Off.

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Posted on July 3, 2017

Few Players Screened For Concussions In Last World Cup

By Lisa Rapaport/Reuters

After more than four out of every five head collisions during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, soccer players didn’t get recommended concussion checks on the sidelines, an analysis of game videos suggests.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind at this level of play,” said lead author Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto.
Guidelines adopted by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) require players showing any potential signs of concussion after a head collision to be immediately withdrawn from play and assessed by sideline healthcare personnel, researchers note in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
But when they examined video footage of all 64 matches in the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil, researchers only saw medical professionals examine players for concussions in 12 instances accounting for just 15 percent of the head collisions seen on the field.

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Posted on June 28, 2017

Todd Frazier Should Lead Off. Seriously.

By Roger Wallenstein

This will be mostly about numbers. If you’re looking for solace and comfort after the weekend sweep by the A’s, whose road record was 9-25 prior to arriving in town, you won’t find it here. The warm, fuzzy words about Mark Buehrle, whose number 56 was retired on Saturday, can be appreciated elsewhere.
No, this will be more about the methods employed last Tuesday when the Sox knocked out 16 hits, including eight for extra bases, in a 9-7 loss to the Twins in Minneapolis. Rick Renteria’s outfit also collected four walks while Twins’ starter Ervin Santana, who entered the game with a 2.56 ERA, contributed an error, giving the Sox 21 baserunners.
Even though Sox pitching wasn’t exactly stellar, you’d think that a team that is 10th in batting with a .261 mark could plate more than seven runs while stranding 14 potential tallies.
But this is the ballclub we’re stuck with. Hawk Harrelson says a bunch of silly stuff, but, “Don’t tell me what you hit, tell me when you hit it,” is something worth investigating with this season’s edition of Chicago’s American League ballclub.

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Posted on June 26, 2017

On Joe Louis, Race And How Society Treats Its Sports Heroes

By Jon Hughes/The Conversation

Joe Louis became the second black boxer to win the world heavyweight title when he defeated James Braddock in eight rounds in Chicago on June 22, 1937. That was 80 years ago. Louis held the title for 11 years – the longest of any heavyweight – through an era of crisis and war, and in the face of ingrained racial prejudice.
Like many sporting heroes, Louis not only displayed extraordinary physical prowess, but came to embody the behavior and ethical characteristics seen as desirable by mainstream society. He was also a powerful figure for African Americans to identify with. Studying sports heroes in their context can offer insights into a nation, culture or society at the time – but the comparison with today’s sports stars also reveals surprising continuities between the past and present.
file-20170619-22079-1btro9y.JPGA statue of world heavyweight champion Joe Louis stands in his hometown of LaFayette, Alabama/SaveRivers, CC BY-SA

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Posted on June 22, 2017

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