Most Valuable Post

In the past couple days, I've been going through the ESPN boards and seeing a lot of angry people.  ...Okay, that's not really all that surprising. But the MVP race has been a controversial one this year, with multiple good candidates in both leagues. Pretty much every year, someone is going to get "robbed", if you will. So in light of today's vote, let's go through both leagues.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

 The spread of first place votes was pretty impressive here, but the plurality went the direction of Verlander. Hard to argue against his dominant season, especially given his Cy Young award. But let's look at the numbers again.

24-5, 2.40 ERA, 251 IP, 250 K, 57 BB, 115.9 P/GS (34), .192 BAA, 0.92 WHIP, 4 CG, 2 SO, No-Hitter

Impressive. Almost a strikeout per inning, which, given how much of a workhorse he was, plus throwing well over 100 pitches every time he went out, is astounding. Yes, he only played in 34 games, but each of those 34 games was something to behold. He had that astounding mark following Detroit losses. You'd be surprised how much momentum the team racked up after he won a start or how he'd prevent a long skid with a great outing.

Let's compare to Jacoby Ellsbury, the guy many feel deserved the AL MVP.

.321/.376/.552, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 32 SB, 46 2B, 119 R

An excellent all-around year. He did this in 732 plate appearances, most in the majors. Justin Verlander faced a total of 969 batters, and threw the most pitches out of everyone in baseball this year. The whole "Verlander shouldn't have won because he only played every 5th day, while Ellsbury played everyday" argument is ludicrous. Verlander was involved in more situations going just by plate appearances. For the sake of argument, let's add in fielding chances to see how many plays total were affected. Ellsbury had 394 chances (Putouts, assists, errors), putting him at 1126 plays he was involved in this year. Verlander was involved in another 50 chances which puts him at 1019. Here, yes, Ellsbury was involved in more plays, but over 158 games. Verlander had about 100 fewer plays to be involved in, in just 34 games. Don't tell me pitchers shouldn't win because they don't have as many opportunities to affect the outcome.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

This one seems to be causing just as much of an uproar. I can easily understand the arguments against Braun, one especially being that Prince Fielder finished third, just behind Matt Kemp. I figured during the season that the two of them would take votes away from each other and neither one would get it, but the voters still felt strongly about a guy I fear every time he steps to the plate. For argument, let's talk numbers.

Braun: .332/.397/.597, 33 HR, 111 RBI, 33 SB, 38 2B, 109 R
Kemp: .324/.399/.586, 39 HR, 126 RBI, 40 SB, 33 2B, 115 R


It's close, but overall the numbers go towards Kemp, right? Kemp deservedly won the Hank Aaron Award, handed out to the best offensive player. The MVP is based largely on stats, but there's more to it than that.


Let's go back to 2005. It's a year I hate because the White Sox won the World Series, but still a fun year because Derrek Lee went bonkers. Yet he finished 3rd in the NL MVP voting behind Albert Pujols and Andruw Jones. Let's look at their numbers.

 Lee (CHC): .335/.418/.662, 46 HR, 107 RBI, 15 SB, 50 2B, 120 R
Pujols (STL):  .330/.430/.609, 41 HR, 117 RBI, 16 SB, 38 2B, 129 R
Jones (ATL): .263/.347/.575, 51 HR, 128 RBI, 5 SB, 24 2B, 95 R

As far as all-around years go, Lee's 2005 campaign was fantastic not just because of the numbers, but he also had so many huge home runs that year that helped the Cubs win ball games. Andruw Jones had an obscene 51 homers, but other than RBI's, not as good an all-around year. Pujols definitely had the better year than Lee and deserved the MVP. But one of the other reasons? St. Louis made the playoffs. Like Lee, here in 2011, Braun had a number of huge hits to help Milwaukee win games.


I think that's one thing people forget. It's called the Most Valuable Player award, not the Most Outstanding Player award. If you have a great year that leads your team to the playoffs, you deserve it. I can see cases where someone has a monster year on a bad team, but can win MVP if no one else really approaches the numbers. But look at Verlander and Braun. They both led their respective teams to the playoffs, and the numbers were close. I think that's enough of an argument to give them the awards. But don't disrespect the years Ellsbury and Kemp had. They both had excellent years, and had they won, I wouldn't really argue with the decision. But there's logic behind the way the voters voted this year. Congratulate the winners, and come back next year with hopes for your team and your favorite player's MVP chances.

(Like I will with Starlin Castro, who by some miracle cracked the voting with a 10th place vote.)

Game Notes: Trine University @ North Central College (11/19/11)

FINAL SCORE
Trine 57, NCC 49

Summary
Turnovers were down, but not by much. This Cardinals team looks to be pretty good on the glass and not too bad on defense, but they need a little work offensively. I can't tell you how many times Tye Thompson, the official scorer, complained about telegraphing passes. When you're doing that and not swinging the ball to the open player, you're in trouble. They stayed fairly close early, then in the second half Trine pulled away enough that a late NCC rally wasn't enough.


Key Stats

• NCC: 18-54 FG, 5-26 3PT, 23 TO. Too many bad passes trying to make something happen early on, and when they could get a shot off, they weren't falling. In the first half alone, NCC was 8-28 from the field and a shocking 1-11 from 3. Amazingly they only trailed by 7 at the break. With time winding down, the Cardinals started to hit a few threes to make the score look closer than the game probably was.
• Emily Murphy (NCC): 6-14 FG, 14 pts, 7 reb. She looked pretty good, especially early in the game. She was able to get the ball inside and get some good looks. The Cardinals spent too much time passing around the perimeter, but at the same time, she needs to keep working to get in position to receive an entry pass. Nonetheless, a good game, and helped her get named to the All-Tournament Team.
• Danielle Senf (TU): 7 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast. I was a little surprised by these numbers when I first saw them, but thinking about it, she had a great floor game finding the open girl, and getting in close for rebounds. After the game I presented team trophies for the tournament, and Coach Roof talked with Trine's coach for all of 5 seconds about the tournament MVP, deciding on Senf after her 22-5 Friday and solid championship game performance.

Final Thoughts
I was glad to see the Cardinals show signs of life late in the game, even though it was too little, too late. They need to work on their offense in practice and try moving the ball around better. Crisper passing will lead to better ball movement, which will cut down on turnovers, and give you a better chance to win. A better shooting night would also help, but there's not much you can do there. NCC plays Monmouth on Wednesday, and isn't home again until December 6th. 

Game Notes: Blackburn College @ North Central College (11/18/11)

FINAL SCORE
NCC 71, Blackburn 58

Summary
The Cardinals got a early lead they'd never relinquish thanks to good defense and solid rebounding. The scoring tonight was very balanced, and when you shoot 50 percent as a team, you're usually in good shape. Three point shooting got better in the second half, and they did a good job limiting the damage done by 6'2" Andrea Kleinsorge.

Key Stats

• NCC & Blackburn: 63 combined turnovers. One thing I've noticed is that women's basketball seems to have more turnovers than men's games, but this was ridiculous. The Beavers had 35 (leading to 33 NCC points). A lot of bad passes, traveling calls, etc. were big, but North Central made the most of the opportunities.
• Jenny Swanson (NCC): 5-8 FG, 3-6 3PT, 14 pts. Jenny hit 3 threes in the second half to extend the Cardinals' lead. She's my player of the game, though an argument could easily be made for Sophie Newson, who had a 12-5.
• Rashonda Willis (BC): 6-18 FG, 1-6 3PT, 8-8 FT, 21 pts. She was the lead scorer on the night, and drove to the basket a lot in the 2nd half. She should have done this throughout, but most of the team's 3's were contested (poor decision making). A good outing overall.

Final Thoughts
 North Central had some jitters tonight. The Cardinals turned it over 28 times themselves, committing some travels (again, happens a lot), but there were a lot of bad decisions on offense. Too many times passes weren't crisp and/or the Cardinals waited for Blackburn's trap defense to collapse on the ball handler. They forced bad passes that were picked off on several occasions. The Cardinals need to move the ball better. This was something I saw much of last year, but it's early, and they can certainly pick up the pace as the season goes on. They play tomorrow at 5:00 against Trine University, and I will have another report tomorrow night.

Re-entering the world of Public Address

Being 6'4" meant that I had the body for basketball. If I'd been able to use it, that would have been fantastic. Sadly my coordination didn't keep up with my growth and I spent 2 years on the end of the bench in high school before missing the cut on varsity at Aurora Christian. I was upset at the time, but in the end I think it worked out.

My junior year I had begun running the scoreboard at basketball games, and told people during my time there that I was probably the only person who really knew how to run the board. One night I decided to pick up the microphone to do PA for the game. Most fun I'd had at a game to that point. More importantly, the team and the fans loved it. A broadcaster was born that night, my friends.

6 years later I've landed a great "full-time" gig as the PA announcer for North Central women's basketball. I'd filled in a couple times last year, loved it, and I'm glad to have the gig to myself.

 Say you're interested in wanting to get behind the mic. It's a different animal from radio announcing, but still can be made easy and fun if you do your 2 main jobs as a public address person.

1. BE INFORMATIVE

I have this one listed first because it's the most important. If you're going to be describing the action, you need to know what's going on. Understand the rules of the game you're announcing. Make sure when you do talk, it adds to the experience. So as a major part of this, you need to BE PREPARED as well.


Before each game I work, I look through the rosters of both teams. Usually with the home team, I know how to pronounce their names, but the first game or 2 you should check to be sure. The road team always requires asking. Some names are easy enough (e.g. Sarah Jones), but you might get something a little trickier. One I would bet a fair number of announcers missed was NCC's Jackie Errico (err-ee-koh). Obviously being an NCC guy I knew the name, but road announcers might not. It pays to check with the visiting coach to make sure you have everyone's name right. And for that matter, numbers too. Sometimes people wear different numbers from the roster.

2. GIVE YOUR TEAM HOME FIELD/COURT/ICE ADVANTAGE

This one is more up for debate. When looking up opinions on some of the best NBA announcers, I came across this quote from Lawrence Tanter of the Lakers.

"My feeling was, years ago, that people paid money to come and see the Lakers, not to hear some clown on the PA. I use enthusiasm when the appropriate time comes, but I’m not a cheerleader and I don’t want to be."

I believe there is some truth to this statement. I believe Bill Simmons once said something to the effect of "If you need an announcer to tell you to stand up and cheer for your team to help force a key defensive stop, you don't deserve an NBA team." The announcer shouldn't have to tell fans to stand. Rather, he should work within the system of his job to get crowd noise going. I always try to put a little emotion into every home basket, but ramp it up for important situations such as:

• Home player hits a three ("THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" is my favorite thing to do when announcing a game. I picked it up from an announcer at a tournament when I was in 7th and 8th grade, it's perfect.)
• Home player gets fouled and makes the shot for a 3 point play (A huge swing. Need to help boost the momentum.)
• Away team calls a time out in an attempt to stop a run (The home team is on fire. Usually the crowd will go nuts as the timeout is called. Milk the crowd noise while you can.)

And last, but not least, lineup intros (my other favorite part). I loved watching MJ and the Bulls growing up, but my favorite part of a Saturday afternoon was sitting down to watch NBA on NBC from the United Center, and seeing the Bulls get a 10 point edge before the game even started. Ray Clay did it best, and I can only hope to be half as good as he was. I even used Sirius one year for ACS' lineups. It is the greatest intro song in all of sports, and the Bulls of the 90's did it best.

So unfortunately, while I probably won't have access to Sirius this weekend, if you're free Friday or Saturday, come by North Central College and catch some great basketball games... and maybe stick around to hear me project into a microphone.

What's Worse, The Controversy or the Coverage?

I'll be honest, I've never been a huge college football fan. But I'm aware of who Joe Paterno is, and how he's been a fixture in college football for decades, and how huge a deal it is that his tenure ended tonight.

Since I don't have a vested interest in the story, I will say this. It's sad that his tenure has to end this way, but given the circumstances, it had to be done. These kids that suffered under Sandusky will never be the same, and you can't help but feel bad for them. At the same time, you know that there needs to be changes due to this. As such, I can not only understand but agree with the decision to let Paterno go.

That being said, a lot of the reactions around the country are pretty bad. I can't blame the gathering of students throughout the Penn State campus, but they need to realize the context of what's happening at the same time. There's more to this than football. Kids' lives have been negatively impacted by what Sandusky did, and by the leniency from Penn State.
 ______________________________________________________________________

The sports world has changed drastically since JoePa started at PSU in 1950. Back then, you have newspapers that reported on goings-on daily, but TV and radio were just scratching the surface. We were a ways off from the 24-7 SportsCenter coverage, and now with Twitter, we can see comments coming from everywhere. What interested me most was some of what I saw on Twitter from a couple friends from my WONC days:

@jzipser: "These reporters at the PSU presser are an embarrassment. It's too bad some @NewhouseSU students aren't there."
 "These #PennState reporters are unbelievable,  this is becoming embarrassing... coming from a journalism student #perspective" (retweet from @brennansomers)
"Are these 'actual' reporters asking questions?!? Holy cow...feels like a bad SNL skit. Kids were abused folks. Ruined. U sound like fools" (retweet from @MichelleDBeadle)

@Shep670: "'Concerns over protests', 'Was there any further evidence'...GTF outta here..."
"'Are you aware kids are rioting right now??'  What my response would be:  http://t.co/mw69gluh"
"Happy Valley makes Rick Perry look intelligent tonight.  #PennSt"

I didn't see the press conference by the Board of Trustees live, but after seeing tweets, I wasn't sure I wanted to. I did go back to see it when ESPN reaired it. The initial reaction to the announcement was pathetic, as were many of the questions asked (as you can tell by these tweets).

If you are looking to go into journalism as a major, whether it be for print, online, or broadcast like I did, probably the most important thing to remember is to BE OBJECTIVE. It's fine to have your preconceived notions or opinions on certain people or topics, but when you enter the room where the press conference is being held, you leave your biases at the door. You ask important questions that will help explain the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story, and clarify anything murky. You don't go in with complaints at the announcements, and you don't ask a stupid question like "What would the harm be in having Joe coach on Saturday?" It's a sad day in Happy Valley, but in parts of the journalism world, it's an ever more somber day.

The Power of a Rivalry

Why do we watch sports? For the thrill? Vicarious living? A distraction for a few hours from stress? Or just because we love the competition? I think in a way, all are right. People have their different reasons for watching. They love to cheer for their team and see them win. And often, cheer against the biggest rival.

So what makes rivalries so important and so loved? History and tradition are a big one. I know it's not heated, but one of my favorite rivalries is the Packers-Bears rivalry that's been going on for almost a century. So much history between the two teams. I hate the Bears, but I respect them as a division opponent Green Bay sees twice a year and a game where each team brings out the best in each other. (Unfortunately, this usually leads to this happening, but the tradeoff is I get glorious plays like this one.)

I love the moments most. They seem to mean more coming against a big rival. Patrick Kane doing Patrick Kane things seemed much bigger coming against Vancouver, and it pissed me off when they won in 7 last year. (Ruined a "SUCK IT LUONGO!" Facebook status.) It pained me in 2009 when Mark DeRosa was traded from Cleveland to St. Louis. I was at his first game as a Cardinal, and it pained me when they cheered him loudly. I was okay with an 0-4 day with a web gem in a loss though.

But being a fan in a rivalry is fun too. I love trash talking with fans of the Bears or the White Sox when something happens against them. But I also have to be prepared to face flak when the Packers or Cubs stumble. It's the nature of the beast, and you have to be prepared to take it if you dish it out. But it's all in good fun, which is where sports belongs in the first place.

And so this afternoon I will be wearing my "Beat Wheaton!" T-shirt from last year to Rockford. The big game for my alma mater in North Central College is today against Wheaton College. Every year they battle for the Little Brass Bell. It's been a long-running rivalry, a friendly one, and it permeates to the fans. While I respect the school, I hate the teams, and it pains me to see the greatest high school quarterback in state history wearing enemy colors. (Seriously, look at these numbers. Are you kidding me?!) I saw 2 1/2 of the 4 Brass Bell games during my time at NCC, and other than blowing the game my freshman year, then won 3 straight to close out my time there. I want to make it 4 in a row. So from Rockford, I will be cheering hard. Beat Wheaton!