Rangers "Claw" Their Way to the World Series

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, I don’t just LIKE this week’s biggest sports news, I LOVE it!

For the first time in franchise history, the Texas Rangers head to the MLB World Series in hopes of defeating the San Francisco Giants. The first game of the series is set for this Wednesday, Oct. 27.

Therefore, I thought this would be an excellent time to review, or even for some of you introduce, the newest additions to the Rangers team.

No, I’m not talking about new players; I’m talking about hand gestures. If you have kept up with the Rangers this year, you have probably noticed the different hand gestures the players are now doing from the bases and the dugout.  First, there is “The Claw”.  This is somewhat of an air high-five with fingers curled that the players do when someone has made a great offensive play.  Second, there is “The Antlers”. This is when the players place their hands above their heads with fingers spread out to look like antlers. It is gestured when a player makes a great play involving speed.

What started as an inside joke among teammates during spring training has grown into the team’s signature. Throughout Ranger games you can see the players on base in constant communication with their dugout through the use of these hand gestures.  It appears great for team unity and allows the players to have some fun out on the baseball diamond. The gestures are used to congratulate players on their effort.

“It’s just something we do that builds some camaraderie,” said third basemen Michael Young.

Best of all, the fans are fully involved! Not only will they execute the same hand gestures, but they are also sporting the latest in Ranger apparel. Not long after the gestures caught on, T-shirts were made with “The Claw” signal on the front and “The Antlers” on the back. The Rangers’ clubhouse manager, Richard “Hoggy” Prince, had the idea to make the T-shirts; since then, they have sold like crazy.  Also, foam claws and antlers are available for fans to wear.  There is even now the “Claw Cam” and “Deer Cam” at The Rangers Ballpark to catch the fans in action supporting their team. 

See what players such as Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz have to say about the Rangers’ newest game traditions!

Having grown up in Dallas, I was able to attend a handful of Rangers games with my family.  I have many memories of being at the game with a hot dog in one hand and a delicious Big Kahuna ice cream cookie sandwich in the other. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend any of the World Series games, so if you are lucky enough to go please throw up a claw or antlers for me! 

Hardheaded

Ask any football fan what they thought about this past weekend’s games and you’ll get an earful about all the helmet-to-helmet hits that occurred.  While the brutality and aggressiveness of football players is understood and accepted to be just part of the game, critics are beginning to ask when more will be done to protect the league’s players from serious injury.  Injury has always been a risk to the game of football and the players know this, but after this weekend it appears that illegal helmet-to-helmet hits are becoming far too common and that the players delivering them may need harsher punishments if ever expected to back off.

The first blow that got viewers’ attention was delivered in the Eagles versus Falcons game that knocked both DeSean Jackson and Dunta Robinson out of the game.  Later, Steelers linebacker James Harrison sent Browns receiver Josh Cribbs to the sidelines with a concussion.  The worst of them all, however, for it appeared the most intentional, was when Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather launched himself helmet-first at Ravens Todd Heap.

Now, not all of the hits administered this weekend were illegal and some were even unavoidable, but I would have to argue that in Meriweather’s case it appeared to be a completely unnecessary cheap shot.

The NFL needs to deal with these types of cheap shots better if they want to protect its players.  While I believe that no player is out there with the sole intention to seriously injure an opposing player, an increasing number of players’ hits are in violation of the spirit of the game.  Something has to be done to change the mentality of some of these repeated hard-hitting players and to make them think the next time they want to lead a tackle with their head.

As I’ve previously stated, head/neck injuries in football aren’t new; it’s just that viewers are finally seeing them occur far too often and are sick of watching their favorite players getting hurt and sidelined for longer periods of time (much of this due to the newer, harder plastic helmets).  But now that everyone is good and pissed off about the illegal hits, how do we stop it from happening?

Rodney Harrison, a former NFL player, had the reputation of a hard-hitter back in his playing days.  Now he works as an ESPN analyst and when asked to address this issue, he said that no matter how many fines he got when he played, he kept hitting players as hard as he could even when they had no chance or time to protect themselves.  Harrison says, from experience, that the only way to get players to stop the unnecessary hard hits and to make them think first before leading with their helmet is to start handing out suspensions.  Only when players have to sit out of games, letting down their teammates, will the point get across.

The rate of NFL concussions was at 61 percent back in 1996, with an alarming 30 percent of those players having had three or more concussions in their career, according to a NFL Players Association poll.  Now, I couldn’t find a more recent statistic, but just guessing, I’d say this number has increased (even if it stayed the same that is an alarmingly high number).

So are viewers whining too much and trying to change the aggressive nature of football or have there been enough serious head/neck injuries now that the NFL should start taking more action to protect their players? 

More importantly, how long can the NFL wait to make this decision before more and more players are sidelined?

Athletes and Agents: Who's Really Getting Played?

Here’s a recent sports news story I both LIKE and DISLIKE.  I like it because a brave man steps forward to shed light on a serious sports violation, but dislike it because he reveals the commonality of the violation among college athletics.

While browsing the sports section of CNN.com, I was struck by one of its online polls.  It read, “Who should be held most responsible for college players accepting extra benefits?” The answer choices given were agents, coaches, players and schools.  I quickly gave my reply–agents (48 percent of CNN.com viewers agreed with me).  I figure, these men and women have licenses; this is their job! They should know the rules, abide by them and help keep young, vulnerable college players out of trouble.  However, my opinion would quickly come to change. 

Purposefully positioned next to the poll was a special report that would feature in the October issue of Sports Illustrated entitled “Confessions of an Agent.” This intrigued me.  The teaser said that Josh Luchs, a former NFL agent, “paid thousands of dollars to dozens of college football players”-a violation of NCAA rules that would deem an athlete ineligible-and is now “coming clean on sports’ dirtiest business.”  I expected some sad story about an agent who got busted giving out benefits and is trying to throw the blame on someone else. Instead, I read about a man who spent his life striving to be the best in his business, who learned from his mistakes (instead of just denying them), and who merely wants to now inform people just how the agent business really works.

His story was eye opening.  Turns out, the practice of college players receiving benefits from agents is very widespread and near impossible to stop, but even more alarming is that in many circumstances it’s the athletes initiating the illegal exchanges.  In the beginning of Luchs’ career as an agent, he was manipulated into paying an athlete hoping it would ensure this player as a future client of his.  This athlete didn’t sign with him.  He learned from this mistake, but as the years went on he and his first partner headed their recruiting by offering extra benefits.  Luchs admits to all of this and says if he could go back he wouldn’t have changed a thing.  To Luchs this was just how business was done, and to even further encourage the practice he considered these athletes his friends who he was just trying to help out with expenses.   

Luchs tells stories of the many times he gave money to athletes and even names them all! In some cases, you see that it’s not the agent taking advantage of the athlete as many might assume, but the athlete taking advantage of an agent and their desire to sign them.  Later in his career Luchs partnered with different men who did not reel in athletes with cash, but there was always some other type of leveraging.

Ultimately, Luchs story has made me rethink my thoughts on agent/athlete relationships.  As a University of Texas student-athlete, believe me when I say that university compliance teams hammer into the heads of student-athletes all the information and NCAA rules needed to keep us eligible multiple times a year. Athletes who do accept extra benefits are aware of the, but maybe seem to think it is still okay because it is so common and just “how business is done.”  This is becoming a bad trend because more and more in the news we see athletes getting busted for such actions.  Don’t they know how good they have it? Why can’t those top athletes wait a few more years to make it big in the pros and then see the money pour in?  What will be interesting to see is if following the publication of Luchs’ story there becomes tighter surveillance of agent/athlete relationships.

So what does everyone think about Luchs dirty secrets? How common do you such agent/athlete violations are?

To read the full story about Luchs and his confessions, which I highly recommend, click here.