I’m a baseball fan, and a Chicago Cubs fan. I’ve been a fan since I was in first grade. I explained my feelings about the Cubs in my (very-first) silent scream.

Though I’m a Cubs fan, I’ve lived in Minnesota for more than twenty years. The local Minnesota Twins have grown on me. My favorite Twins have been Jim Thome and Torii Hunter.

Torii Hunter

Yesterday I read an inspirational essay entitled, “Torii Hunter is a Father First, Ballplayer Second” by Steve Kornacki.

In the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) most teams who face a three games to one deficit in a best of seven game series lose. In fact, according to NHL.com faced with such odds only 8.7% of teams recover.

That’s right 91.3% of all teams facing that kind of pressure fade and fall. Yesterday, my favorite team, the Chicago Blackhawks, beat the odds. After having fallen behind the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 they overcame the odds, their fears and the critiques of their fans and the media.

Against the Odds

Years ago some friends and I rented snowshoes and drove into A-Basin (Arapahoe Basin) in Colorado. When we arrived we strapped on our snowshoes.

Though we were all about the same size with the same size snowshoe, no one seemed to have any trouble, except me. For some reason I kept dropping through the snow-pack. I kept getting stuck.

The worst was when I had one leg plunged deep into the snow all the way to my groin and the other flat on the surface. While trying to extricate my left leg my right leg plunged through the snow nearly reaching the depth of the other. I howled something impolite as I realized that I was now going to dig myself out of the snow while wearing my snowshoes.

The Fielding Bible Volume III is a fascinating book of the subtleties of playing defense in Major League Baseball.

I had read their first volume and I was excited to read their third. I was not disappointed.

John Dewan and Ben Jedlovec have unveiled another wonderful guide for baseball stat-geeks.

Dewan and Jedlovec included new studies on crucial aspects of fielding, including defensive positioning, the Ted Williams shift, bunts, double plays, outfielder arms and catcher defense.

Their statistical analysis – building on the work began by stat-godfather Bill James – has significantly increased our understanding of the benefits of a good defensive player and the consequences of playing a poor defensive player.

All-Stars For All Time is subtitled “a sabermetric ranking of the major league best, 1876–2007.” I found the book to be balanced, position-specific, adjusted, and, as a former catcher, I loved the depth of the analysis.

Balanced
“Baseball’s All-Time All-Star team was determined by a comparison of each player’s offensive and defensive contributions as measured by his most important statistics.”

Position-Specific
“Each position had to be evaluated separately since each position had unique responsibilities that required its own measurements. For instance, catchers had to be evaluated for their ability to throw out potential base stealers, while pitchers were evaluated for their success in the art of pitching. Other position players were measured primarily for their success at producing runs on offense and for preventing runs on defense.”

A few months ago I read Men of Sunday: How Faith Guides the Players, Coaches, and Wives of the NFL by Curtis Eichelberger.

I loved the book. This Super Bowl Sunday let me add a quote from to add to your day:

“I close the book with a chapter on leadership, and who better to focus on than Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis?

The former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player built his own leadership style around the tenets of Christianity and God’s teachings. Here, we learn that leadership starts with serving others, not giving commands.

As most mysilentscream readers know, I love baseball and books about baseball.  If you read my review of Men of Sunday by Curtis Eichelberger, you know I love football too.

Published in 1997 The Dark Side of the Game: My Life in the NFL by Tim Green is a quick read, and a friendly introduction to a sometimes dark and always violent game.

Author Tim Green was an unusual NFL player:  
– He read prolifically
– He went to law school in his spare time

Dark Side of the Game is a series of seventy or so blog-like mini-essays (2-4 pages) covering many topics that interested me.

“Things change.”

“Things change. Change isn’t easy, but it’s necessary.”

Mark Anderson is speaking at TreeHouse’s Women of Hope event today. 

Last night in a room-full of interested listeners Mark Anderson captivated us with humor, heart-ache and wisdom.  In Mark’s inspiring story entitled “Defeat to Victory” he shared some strategies that have enabled him to overcome tremendous obstacles and achieve high levels of performance in his life.

Mark and his family faced many challenges growing up. Fortunately, as he said, “things change.”

When I was a teen I had a conversation with my dad about my future career choices.

Since I was a little boy I was known as “Scotty the Scientist”, so clearly a career in the sciences made sense for me. So it was a surprise to my dad when I mentioned that I thought about becoming a police officer.

That dream was more based on my fantasies about being a hero than understanding the what the job would entail.

Right Up Your Alley - What You Do Reveals Who You Are Becoming 

Curtis Eichelberger’s new book Men of Sunday reviewed here recounts the story of Trent Dilfer, his son, and his family’s heart-aching, heart-breaking, and inspiring saga. You might want to read part 1 and part 2 and part 3 first.

The Lesson

It’s been nine years since Trevin’s death. He’d be nearly fifteen now and probably following in his daddy’s footsteps playing football in the Stanford area. Instead, Trent and Cass are following Maddie, who has become quite a volleyball player and is being scouted by Division 1 programs.