The Raleigh Reds Team

Archive for July, 2008

Al Woods asked:




Every time you turn on the T.V., pick up the newspaper, or read the sports news on ESPN, you hear about some athletes cheating using steroids or some other drug. These days you can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys anymore.

How and why has sports gotten this way and why are players doing this? I think the answer is money when we are talking about the pro athletes. Think about this: the better you are as a pro the bigger your contract will be. The longer you can play in the pros the more big money you’re going to make. The players do it because they don’t think they will get caught but how many times have we all seen that most of these players in fact do get caught. These pro athletes who feel they need to cheat can’t hide their wrongdoings, the truth always comes out. To me, it hurts sports overall and sets a real bad example for the kids who look up to these pro athletes.

There is always some kind of sport on T.V. all the time and kids have their favorite players. It’s bad when a pro athlete gets caught cheating especially if it is one of your favorite players. You feel bad and sad in some ways because you look to this player for inspiration of some kind and sad because it hurts when that player lets you down.

Cheating is telling kids that if you’re not that good just cheat to get better and you can someday make it to the pros. The young kids will say, “The pros do it, why not me?”
What happened to hard work to be the best and developing your talent and skills to make it to the highest level that you can? It has now dropped down to the high school level. There are high school athletes who use steroids. Their reason, of course, is to get bigger, faster, and better and to land that all-important scholarship to a big university and make it to the pros where they can get paid and use more drugs. I hate it when I hear stories of drug use all the time and now the high school kids are doing it and that’s crazy! These are high school student athletes who are 16 and 17 year olds who are made to feel that, by taking steroids, in some way will make them into a super athlete!

Why is there so much pressure on high school kids anyway? The reason there is pressure on high school kids is because winning games is about scholarships, money, and fame, attention from the bloggers and from the message boards, from radio, newspapers, from T.V. Think about it; no one is talking about the players who are sitting on the bench.

There are things that go on every day in young people’s lives that we will never understand. Pressure, in the minds of some high school student athletes, must be at times overwhelming. You hear stories of high school coaches breaking rules all the time from having grades changed or fixed to recruiting players to their schools. My question is why? Why do some high school coaches feel the need to cheat? Aren’t they supposed to be the leaders out there? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all high school coaches cheat but the ones that do make it look bad for all the other coaches who do right. Winning is the reason for cheating in the small minds of high school coaches who do cheat.

Yes, everyone loves a winner. Your name is in the paper all the time, you’re talked about in ways that make you greater in people’s minds, and everyone wants to be with a winner. Winning can bring bigger paychecks and better coaching jobs. But in the weak minds of some of these coaches who feel the need to break the rules they often don’t see the big picture and, like most cheaters, they feel that they will never get caught.

The coaches and student athletes who do play by the rules keep doing so because in the end, the cheaters will get caught and winners who don’t cheat great things will always find them.

The downside of cheating is that the punishment can be very hard. Just look at someone like Pete Rose a great baseball player who bet on baseball games. His cheating is why he’s out of baseball and will never get back in. Pete Rose has paid a heavy price for all of his wrongdoings and no matter what he says or does he will never get back in baseball.

Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire are great baseball players who hit big home runs but used steroids just to hit those home runs. They cheated and the fans who once loved them now hate them. These once great baseball players looked good breaking all of those records but look at the shame they have brought onto themselves. Every day in the media the talk is about Barry Bonds and steroids– was it worth it to use drugs, to get over in baseball, to cheat? The once great homerun record now means nothing. It’s just a number now that has no value. Most people could care less about that baseball record now like they once did when Hank Aaron broke it back in 1974.

There’s talk about Reggie Bush the football player who plays for the New Orleans Saints and cheating and taking big money and houses and cars while being at USC. If found out to be true then USC would have to forfeit their national championship and Reggie Bush would have to give back his Heisman Trophy. Was it worth all of that Reggie?

The list of cheaters goes on and on for great athletes but when caught the penalty is harsh and their names are dragged through the mud like a dead horse.

At the high school level of steroids use, the price has been known to be deadly. There are stories out there of young men dying because of this stuff. What about the professional athletes who used steroids for a long period of time? What’s going to happen to them when they’re in their late 40’s and into their 50’s? I’m sure they will develop some kind of health problems. When you think about it, it is drugs that they are putting into their bodies.

In the end, cheaters never win but winners always do.

? 2007 Al Woods

Kenny Buford asked:




Crucial Catching Skills

In baseball, the catcher is one of the hardest working players on the field. Also the catcher’s position on the field is unique, meaning that catchers require a separate set of drills that allow them to develop the skills that are exclusive to their position. Use any or all of the following baseball catcher drills to sharpen your catcher’s abilities and focus, which in turn will aid your team’s overall defensive position.

The first of the baseball catcher drills teaches catchers how to block pitches that bounce in the dirt in front of them. For this drill you will need two plastic cones set up on either side of the catcher, who should be equipped with full gear. The coach or assistant stands about 30 feet away from the catcher.

The coach begins throwing pitches towards the catcher, varying between pitches that bounce in the dirt and regular pitches to help the catcher work on their ability to read the pitches that come their way. Each time a pitch passes through the goal without being stopped by the catcher, it counts as a point. After 10 throws, count the number of points.

Repeat the drill twice more to see if catcher’s scores improve. The purpose of the score is so that catchers can track their progress over a series of weeks.

Two for Flinching

If your catcher flinches as the batter swings at the oncoming pitch, try this two-part drill that helps tame the catcher’s reaction to the ball. For the first part of the drill, have your catcher in full gear stand about 5 feet away from the coach. The catch interlocks their hands behind their back as the coach throws balls towards the catcher, aiming predominantly for their mask.

After catchers have mastered the first part of the drill, then have them try the second part, in which the catcher in full gear assumes their usual position on the field, behind the batter’s box. The coach stands about 15 feet away, and another coach or assistant assumes the batter’s stance with a bat and helmet.

The coach throws pitches towards the catcher, aiming again for the catcher’s mask. Meanwhile the other coach swings the bat trying their best not to hit the pitch. Catchers are to catch the pitches without flinching.

Hit the Dirt

The next of the baseball catcher drills teaches catchers to follow the trajectory of the pitch to predict where it will end up. For this drill, have the catcher in full gear assume their position behind the batter’s box. This drill also requires a full infield including pitcher. All other players are base runners that vary their positioning on the coach’s instructions.

Have the pitcher throw a series of pitches at the catcher making sure to include at least one pitch that bounces in the dirt per five throws. When the pitch hits the dirt, the runners are to read the situation and react accordingly. For example, with a runner on first only, they are encouraged to run since this is usually an easy steal, even if the catcher successfully blocks the errant pitch.

However, with runners on first and second, the steals increase in difficulty, so your runners will need to decide how aggressively they’d like to act in their base stealing actions. This drill will help your catch at their blocking skills when pitches hit the dirt as well as give them a chance to work on their long throws to second and third base that can be crucial in a game-play situation.