The Bugs Bunny Change-Up And A Retired Great
January 13, 2011
Pitchers, Increase Pitching Velocity Now!
January 18, 2011
Yesterday I headed over to a friend’s house to watch our mighty (tongue in cheek) Seattle Seahawks battle the Chicago Bears in the cold and snow. None of us had expected the 7-9 Seahawks to make the playoffs in the first place, but after the major upset against New Orleans the previous weekend, we began to hope and care… a little bit.
Silly us. I’m sure many of you didn’t sit down for that stellar matchup, but it was a butt-kicking. 21-0 Bears at half time. Being the amazing couch offensive coordinators that we are, my friend and I could help but become exceedingly frustrated at the Hawks continuously running the ball up the middle into Urlacher and his thugs.
IT WASN’T WORKING!
Quick, short, middle of the field passes were working, but it was apparent that the coaches on the field weren’t seeing the same thing. Finally, late in the game the adjustment away from the run was made and the Hawks added some points to the board, a bit too late however.
So how does this relate to baseball? Easy. If you know that something isn’t working with your baseball swingor your pitching mechanics, you got to take the time to diagnose the problem and fix it. More of the same training, practice, and workouts will only produce the same results unless you can figure out where the problem lies.
We were taking some ground balls in a gym yesterday with some high school athletes. A third baseman kept throwing the ball wide of first base. He’d slam his glove to the floor in frustration but yet didn’t bother to ask me if I could tell what was wrong. Finally, after conveying glove throwing tantrums don’t sit well with me, I showed him how to direct his momentum towards 1B better. Problem solved.
My point is that it’s so easy to get into a routine with baseball, that you must stop and evaluate your routine daily. If you’re a coach, plan out your practices and what skill your boys will learn. No more, “hey, let’s just take some swings” type practices. If you’re a parent of a young athlete, sit down and learn some hitting and pitching mechanics so you can help your kid a little in the back yard. If you’re an athlete, make a list of three things you need to fix this off season and find some resource or some coach to assist in fixing your game.
Oh well, the Hawks season has come to an end. Guess it’s time to look forward to the Mariners. Maybe their front office will read this article… I can only hope.
