Ways to make the games harder for the top athletes

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 03 August 2010 17:31

Golf is hard enough to play under the best conditions. But golfers in the U.S. Open play in conditions that are so difficult they are scary. Hard, fast greens and difficult rough are a given. No tournament in golf sets up a course with so little margin for error.

Golf fans are a little masochistic. Admit it—who doesn’t enjoy watching the world’s best players struggle like a weekend hack?

This year’s winner, Graeme McDowell, won with a final-round score of 3-over-par 74, the highest final round for the U.S. Open in 25 years.

It was entertaining, but it didn’t necessarily make for great golf.

The best athletes in the world often make their sport look easy. But I’ll bet we could come up with some changes that would challenge...

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Manipulating luck biggest challenge for most coaches

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:58

What role does luck play in sports? Coaches and athletes try to remove luck from the equation as much as possible.

Luck has been described as shorthand for random process.

Is the outcome of a coin flip luck? Not in a strict technical sense, because it is dependent on its original position, the rate of spin imparted, the height of the toss, etc. But the outcome cannot be controlled, and even if the coin lands heads-up 10 times in a row, there’s still a 50/50 chance the coin will land tails the next time it’s flipped.

In almost every sport there are many processes similar to a coin flip.

For example, consider a punt that lands on the 5-yard line. It could roll to a stop on the 2-yard line, bounce back to the 10-yard line or roll...

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Umpire should have defended blown call?

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 29 June 2010 17:15

A blown call by umpire Jim Joyce took away what should have been a perfect game by Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. While most people applauded the way Joyce took the blame and the good sportsmanship by Galarraga, my agent, I.M. Slick, was thoroughly disgusted. Our discussion on this topic follows.

Joe: Why are you so unhappy that Joyce admitted his mistake? Nearly everyone is applauding him for how he apologized.

Slick: But not everyone! I am booing his apology!

Joe: Why? What did you want him to do or say? He saw the replay and knew he missed a call that cost Galarraga a perfect game.

Slick: True, but he didn't have to be quite so blunt or honest. Instead of accepting guilt, he should have done what most politicians...

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Firing of KC’s Hillman a sad ending for good guy

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 15 June 2010 17:15

Why should I care if another Kansas City Royals manager gets fired? It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

Perhaps the Kansas City Royals, realizing they aren’t going to finish first this year, made sure they would at least finish first in something — firing the manager.

I don’t know if Trey Hillman is a good manager or a mediocre manager. Given the slow start this season, maybe it was inevitable. All I know is even though I don’t know Hillman, I’ll confess to feeling a little sad when hearing that he became the first managerial sacrificial lamb in 2010, less than two months into the season.

It’s no secret that it’s easier to fire the manager than 25 ballplayers. When things go badly, the manager is the...

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