Cal Ripken and a rec field for pickup sports

Old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore - former home of the Colts and Orioles - was leveled years ago. Now on the site are a senior housing complex, a neighborhood playground, a YMCA and - as of yesterday - a special kids' rec field. A large chunk of the funding for the new field was supplied by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, named for the longtime Orioles coach and manager (and father of a Hall of Famer, Cal Jr.).

I've had several talks with John Hoey, president and CEO of the Y of Central Maryland, about his plans. We've talked about alternatives to highly organized youth sports, ways to encourage pickup games and other kids' play - for lack of a better term - lightly supervised by adults. John has good ideas. This field behind this Y could serve as a test tube.

Cold, windy weather for the ribbon-cutting yesterday. I was glad to be there.

 

A violent death fails to stop a lacrosse season

The apparent murder of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love is what people where I live are talking about because Yeardley was from Baltimore. My heart goes out to the victim's family, the accused's family, Yeardley's roommate who discovered her dead.

I surfed over to the US Lacrosse Web site for the lacrosse news angle. Sure enough, there was one. Reportedly, both the UVA men's and women's lacrosse teams plan to continue playing despite losing teammates (one in jail, one to be buried soon). The men's team is No. 1 in the country. The women also are headed for the NCAA Tournament beginning May 15. I question whether they should and wonder how they could go on with their seasons. In these circumstances, how does a kid think about lacrosse?

Virginia's athletic director, Craig Littlepage, is one of steadiest hands in college sports. This would be a good time to show it by overruling the players, the coaches and the lacrosse boosters.

How a pinstripe changed cross-country history

This story just posted to the New York Times Web site, and [this just in] appeared in the newspaper December 13.

I got interested in this after reading in the Baltimore Sun about a weird ending to a high school cross-country meet here in Maryland. The runner who'd finished fourth (out of 120 in the meet) was disqualified 15 minutes or so after the race. In turn, his team, which had been the apparent winner, dropped to third place.

The trangression of the runner, a nice young man named John Riemer? The compression shorts he had worn under his running pants were adorned with a thin white pinstripe. (Click on the image for a better view of the nonconforming shorts. John is wearing number 23). That violated a new and somewhat obscure high school rule that prohibits undershorts with "contrasting" stitching. I spent a morning at Hereford High School interviewing John and the Hereford cross-country coach, Jason Bowman.

It turns out that wardrobe malfunctions of this type crop up a few times each year.

Rough day for Michael Phelps and his mom

Now how would you like to be Debbie Phelps?

Everybody is talking about your son's latest indiscretions. Pictures of his alleged bad behavior are plastered all over the Internet. Corporate sponsors are wondering who they paid all those millions to. Swim officials are in a panic.

Rough day.

Debbie's son, of course, is Michael Phelps, who has won more Olympic gold medals than anyone in history. In case you missed it, over the weekend, photos surfaced of Phelps supposedly at a party in South Carolina last November smoking what apparently is marijuana from a glass bong.

Phelps was supposed to be in Tampa for the Super Bowl. He canceled his plans. His sports marketing firm - the one that has landed him a reported millions in endorsements - put out a statement in Phelps's name. "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from ome, For this I am sorry, I promise my fans and the public - it will not happen again."

Whether there will be more "youthful" mistakes, I couldn't predict - and either apparently can Michael. In 2004, at age 19, he made pretty much the same statement after he'd been pulled over for running a stop sign and charged with driving while intoxicated. I don't remember his exact words at the time; they were something like: "If you're worried about this happening again, don't."

The Phelps family got through that one, and no doubt will weather this storm too - Michael with his mom at his side. Debbie, a principal at a middle school, is a force of nature. She's a vivacious, outgoing lady. She lives in Baltimore. I live in Baltimore. Her son and daughters trained for years at Meadowbrook Swim Club. I am a member of the club. (Now Michael is a part-owner).

I've interviewed Debbie and asked about her concerns with the parents of young swimmers now coming up in the sport. She had some memorable things to say. Mostly, that adults need to back off and allow their kids to swim for fun, not turn them into stroke machines. "“Parents just need to chill. Realize that it doesn’t help to set expectations, especially unrealistic ones," she told me.

I searched my notebook from that interview this morning looking for another quote that hadn't made it into earlier articles but seemed to apply very nicely to the news about Michael today.

Debbie had told me: "Love [your kids] for who they are, whether they swim the fastest [butter]fly or finish eighth in their heat."

If she's like most parents, this morning Debbie is feeling a mix of emotions, many of which are making her see red. She's probably disappointed, sad, angry, regretful and maybe a little disbelieving all at the same time.

But in the end, I have a feeling she'll take her own advice. She'll love her kid.

The wisdom of Kelsey Twist and Wayne Gretzky

Former athletes - especially those who've played at the highest level - often are the best advocates for a saner, kid-centric approach to youth sports. When Wayne Gretzky advises parents to back off, let their children play for fun - as he did recently - adults tend to listen. Other pro athletes I have spoken with over the years - golfer Billy Andrade, baseball players Tommy John, Jim Poole, among them - have been equally outspoken.

Kelsey Twist played varsity lacrosse at Stanford, graduating a few years ago as one of the top players in school history. Now she teaches and coaches at a private school in Baltimore.

This op-ed written by Twist for the Baltimore Sun is an eloquent and disturbing statement of what has changed about youth sports - and the price of that change for young players.

Kelsey writes:

"While coaching, I often stop to consider my high school career at Roland Park Country School. I mostly remember face paint, spirit parades to Bryn Mawr, and tossing the ball around after practice until we couldn't see it any longer.

I do not remember stress fractures, personal trainers, lacrosse tournaments during basketball season, hiring a recruiting specialist to help me get into college, or paying outrageous dues to play on a club team.

I am left to ask: What happened to high school sports in the six years I've been gone? When did being a high school athlete become a job instead of a pastime?"

And Twist is writing about what, until recently, had been a regional and, in some respects, minor sport - lacrosse. Multiply by 10 and you are approaching the pressure on top high school basketball and football athletes.