Advantage

As one who grew up in New York, I've learned to treasure whatever sun I get. Especially when I started playing baseball at the ripe old age of 17, it's not always easy to get a normal schedule going. But I've got the slimmest of chances of becoming a really serious baseball player. Serious = ones who are draft worthy- or even ones who wouldn't embarrass themselves at a Major League tryout.

I'll give myself one paragraph and then go back to what the blog is about. I'd dedicate 8 hours a day to baseball, but the only problem is, I don't have the facilities, nor the partners. The former is the biggest problem. I try to do what I can, but I get lazy when it comes to working out over the summer, as the gym is much much much farther away from me than when I'm at school. I take plenty of dry swings at home, and right now I'm looking to purchase a net, to hit balls into. Wait, enough of being lazy. No excuses. I'm going to buy it now. Done. Check out what I just bought. Probably can't use baseballs with this, but wiffeballs will be fine. My point is, it takes a lot of heart and dedication to truly excel at a sport. Obviously, for some, excel means to be one of the best in the world (any ML player). All I'm saying is that as big a baseball fanatic I may be, it's very hard for me to put in the work necessary to truly excel.

One disadvantage I always think I have, is the late start I got playing the game. I always wonder if or how I'd be better if I grew up with a baseball in my crib. Its a disadvantage I try to eliminate by getting as much experience as possible. Playing HS ball, summer ball, spring ball (for lack of better name - it's when I played in Israel), college ball, fall ball, the whole deal. I'm sure you get the point. Its not something I'll ever think I can make up for because I can't erase the fact that I missed out on 10 years of baseball.

Another disadvantage I have, and this is very common so don't take this post as a cry for sympathy, is playing in the north. Many wonder why the NCAA came up with certain dates programs must shut down until, or cannot begin practice. This is to level the playing field, so all colleges have an equal shot. All teams would now have similar practice hours and number of games. Here is an article that gives some statistics about the difference between northern and southern college ball. Let me put down a couple that stuck out at me:

• No cold-weather program won since 1966, unless you count Wichita State, which won in 1989.
• The Big Ten has 18 CWS (College World Series) appearances all time.

Not too much of a surprise, to be honest. I read an article about this, and the author estimated that if you play down south your whole life, you'd get thousands of more at bats than the northern baseball player by the time you finish college. That's a lot! Do you know how much you learn, how much better you get with a thousand at bats?

I don't really have any soothing way to neutralize the matter and end this post. I guess the NCAA is trying to help out, but I doubt it can really eliminate the full advantage. Bottom line- life is unfair - which makes everything "fair". You want more at bats? Get good and get a scholarship to Rice. Settle for Miami if you have to.