#FreeRamsTickets for Sportsmanship Blog subscribers

The St. Louis Rams take on the Green Bay Packers this Saturday, August 17 at the Edward Jones Dome. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and I have a set of three free tickets. Yes, I said FREE! All you have to be is a subscriber to the Sportsmanship Blog. How do you know if you're a subscriber? Sportsmanship Blog subscribers get every blog post delivered directly to their email inbox. If you don't, then you are not a subscriber.

If you do get the Sportsmanship Blog emailed to you, then sit back and relax. You don't have to do anything. Your name is already in the drawing. If you are not a subscriber click here or click on the Subscribe to Sportsmanship by Email icon in the right-hand border of this blog's homepage. Follow the instructions and you're in.

A winner will be announced this Wednesday on this blog at 3 p.m. Go Rams and good luck to everyone!

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Redefining Strength from Boston to St. Louis: Part I

There was an amazing segment on ESPN recently about a program called Inner City Weightlifting out of Boston. The organization uses the sport of weightlifting to take at-risk youth off the streets and help them build the physical, mental and emotional strength to overcome violence, gangs and negative street culture.

The story of Inner City Weightlifting is very personal for me. I don't know anyone associated with Inner City Weightlifting or Boston for that matter. No, this is personal because the Inner City story has already taken place and continues to do so right here in St. Louis. Before I get to that, please watch an enjoy the ESPN story on Inner City Weightlifting (email subscribers click here).

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Have you joined #TeamBigSol?

St. Louis Sports Commission Associates Trivia Night is two weeks from tomorrow, Saturday, August 24 at The Heights in Richmond Heights. Doors open at 6 p.m. Trivia starts at 7 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Sportsmanship Scholarship - which awards $5,000 annually to a graduating St. Louis area high school senior who has exhibited outstanding sportsmanship on the field of play.

Throughout the month of August, we will feature each of our four 2013 Sportsmanship Scholarship winners on our Facebook page. Our $5,000 winner, Brianne Ebenroth of St. Dominic was profiled first. This week belongs to Sherman Calhoun, an outstanding young man from CBC. Sherman was awarded a $1,000 Sportsmanship Scholarship and will attend Lincoln University in the fall. 

Click on the following link and Join #TeamBigSol on Trivia Night. If we want more good sports in the college ranks, we need to field a team of our own players.

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Why do we try to erase sports stars when they do the wrong thing?

Alex Rodriguez Field is no more. Well, the field, in Appleton, Wisconsin where A-Rod played his only minor league season in 1994 is still there. It just won't bear his name anymore. The field was converted to a youth baseball facility and named after the now embattled Yankees slugger in 2003. Earlier this week, the youth organization that operates the field opted to remove Rodriguez's name after his suspension from MLB was handed down.

The Missouri legislature voted to name a stretch of I-70 in St. Louis after former Cardinals home run king Mark McGwire in 1999. In 2010, five years after McGwire's infamous " I'm not here to talk about the past" testimony before Congress, the Missouri legislature voted to remove McGwire's name from the highway.

The University of Florida recently removed every photo of Aaron Hernandez from its campus along with the engraved brick honoring him as a 2009 All-American. And who can forget about Joe Paterno? He had the most wins by a Division I football coach before the recent child sex abuse scandal shattered Happy Valley.

This is not an advocacy piece for A-Rod, Joe Pa, Big Mac or Hernandez. Institutions can do what they want with the honors they bestow. The issue I have with the sports world is that we try to erase these figures by erasing their accomplishments, and by proxy, we hope to erase the wrong they allegedly did.

Let's step away from sports and into real-life for a moment. Adolf Hitler has not been erased from history. You can still find him in history books, museums and educational institutions the world over. Mussolini, Stalin, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz and tons of other bad people are not gone from history. We don't celebrate the wrong they did. We learn from what they did so hopefully we as a society don't repeat what they did.

Not so in sports...has anyone seen or heard from Rafael Palmeiro since the 2005 hearing? We should be learning. The stove is hot and these are the guys with the burned hands to prove it. As a matter of fact, the erasure attempts make our kids glorify them even more. Instead of talking about what A-Rod took for over a decade and its potentially negative effects, we zero in on his every at-bat to see if he's the same player he was before he got caught.

Lessons can be learned from fallen sports stars. We have to talk about the past. If not, we are doomed to repeat it. More to the point, our kids are doomed to repeat it. Erasure doesn't make anything go away.

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Teen pleads guilty in killing of soccer referee

The teenager charged with killing soccer referee Ricardo Portillo plead guilty to homicide by assault in a Utah juvenile court on Monday. Authorities say the 17-year-old punched Portillo in the head after the 46-year-old father of three called a foul on him. The teen will likely serve a three-year sentence and be released. For more on this story, please read the previous post here.

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Breaking: MLB suspends A-Rod, 12 others in PED scandal

Major League Baseball suspended New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez through the end of the 2014 season under the terms of the league's Joint Drug Agreement for alleged involvement with the South Florida clinic, Biogenesis. This equates to 211 regular season games. Rodriguez is expected to appeal his suspension and will be allowed to play during the appeal process.

Twelve other players accepted their suspensions and will immediately begin serving bans of 50 games each. They are:

Nelson Cruz (Texas Rangers)
Everth Cabrera (San Diego Padres)
Jhonny Peralta (Detroit Tigers)
Antonio Bastardo (Philadelphia Phillies)
Francisco Cervelli (New York Yankees)
Jordany Valdespin (Mets - minors)
Jesus Montero (Mariners - minors)
Cesar Puello (Mets - minors)
Sergio Escalona (Astros - minors)
Fernando Martinez (Yankees - minors)
Fautino De Los Santos (Free Agent)
Jordan Norberto (Free Agent)

For further details, please watch the ESPN story below (Email subscribers click here).

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A's minor leaguer strikes out on one pitch

The Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros) took on the Midland Rock Hounds (Oakland A's) in Double-A baseball action on Friday night. Rock Hounds third baseman Vinnie Carticala struck out on one pitch. Wait, that's not possible. How can you strike out on one pitch? Did the pitcher have that good of a fastball? No, what happened in this incident is what often happens in sports. People step out of their roles and nonsense ensues. Watch the video of the at-bat below (email subscribers click here).



Yes, you saw what you saw. The at-bat was over in less than 30 seconds. Is what the umpire did even allowed in baseball? Unfortunately, it is. The umpire invoked Rule 6.02 (c) which reads:

If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter's box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out.

Comment: The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter's box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 6.02 (c) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 6.02 (c).

Catricala struck out and was thrown out of the game in less than 30 seconds. Usually, I'm a staunch defender of officials, but baseball often has issues with its umpires wanting to be the stars of the games. The theatrics with strike counts and out calls are mildly entertaining. However, no one wants to see an umpire throw his weight around because he doesn't like a player taking exception to a bloated interpretation of the strike zone.

It wasn't as if Catricala started a full-blown argument with the umpire. He said something, then stepped out of the batter's box, readjusted his gloves and prepared to step back in. Catricala didn't even realize that the umpire had called a second strike on him. Before another five seconds had passed, a third strike was called and the umpire ejected Catricala as soon as he turned around.

Calling a professional baseball game was not enough for this umpire. He was determined to become a part of the show. Every national highlight show had this guy featured as the umpire who used one of baseball's little-known rules. Awesome! It would also be good for him to take a second look at the rule regarding the Strike Zone. It's the area over the plate from a batter's letters to his knees. Just making a friendly suggestion.

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