DANGEROUS CONFESSIONS OF A SPORTS FAN
Guest Commentary
Courtesy Bill Ellis
Syndicated Columnist
Since age 10, I have been a baseball fan. My cousin, Jim Ellis, would play catch with me.
I could throw a baseball back and forth
by the hour. I began to ask Jim about
baseball as though he was a major
league coach. He also volunteered a
lot of information.
He convinced me at an early age that
the two most important teams ever
were the New York Yankees and the
Brooklyn Dodgers.
When I was in the fifth and sixth grades, I missed a half-day of school each year. I crawled into the back of C. B. Hutton’s panel truck and, with several men, made the 35 mile trip from the head of Cabin Creek to Charleston, West Virginia, to watch exhibition baseball games featuring the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and the New York Giants.
It's in my blood. In the ninth grade at Leewood Junior High, C. J. Filbin, Melvin Dyke and I were the only players to letter in four different sports. I was captain of the basketball team. I learned many valuable lessons under coaches Bill Armstrong, Ray Basham, Jim Sibert and Ernie Rangazas.
I encourage boys and girls to be involved in various sports. I ask parents and coaches to remember that the games are for the good of the children and not to pad their own biographical outlines with victories. It is much more important that kids play, learn and enjoy the game than it is for an over-zealous coach to brag about how many games his team has won.
Here comes the dangerous part. We will not agree on our preferences so let’s have fun with our differences. First, I like it best when the Yankees win the World Series. It’s good for baseball and gives everybody a team they like to beat. The Yankees do, however, fill stadiums wherever they play.
I enjoy seeing ARod, Giambi, Bonds, Oritz (when not playing the Yankees), A. Jones, C. Jones, Griffey, Pujols and Berkman hit home runs. Any kind of hit for Jeter, Damon, Abreu, Williams, Posada, Cano and other Yankees pleases me. For pitchers, I like Clemens, Pettitte, Smoltz, Mussina, Wang, Johnson, Maddux, Schilling and Mariano Rivera. For managers, I choose Joe Torre, Cox, Leyland, Baker, Ruso, Garner, Alou and Giardi.
In pro basketball, I root for the Lakers, the Heat and Jason Williams. I like Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. College basketball and football have me pulling for Duke, Marshall, University of Charleston, Anderson University (I want them to win every game in every sport), West Virginia University, Texas Tech, Florida State and Illinois. I admire Steve Alford and his Iowa basketball teams.
Notre Dame and USC also get my football attention. Chad Pennington and Randy Moss are my favorite NFL players.
During the 40 years I lived in Anderson, Indiana, and Decatur, Illinois, I learned about the Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, Colts and Bears. I have enjoyed vintage sports writers like Bob Fallstrom, J. Thomas McNamara, Jim Bailey, A. L. Hardman, Dick Hudson, Danny Wells and Ernie Salvatore.
Fans often ask for the impossible. For example, I want both Marshall and WVU to have undefeated football seasons. That cannot be. Two days after I wrote this column they opened the season by playing each other. One won, the other lost.
Sports fans should not expect the impossible from young kids and coaches. For most of the players it is just an enjoyable game. Very few will ever become professional players or coaches. Remember the value of the games and the life-long lessons that can be learned.
My next column will not be about sports and you can count on that. It’s just a game.
© 2006 Wm. C. Ellis
All Rights Reserved
