September baseball is nearing its end, and the hunt for orange October is upon us. This means I will be drinking a lot more than usual, and once again blabbering away about my beloved SF Giants. As you know, I love them. Basketball is my sport, but the SF Giants is my team.
I was watching a game recently where Brandon Crawford made a hit that was a turning point in the game. It was followed by Kruk and Kuip commentary about how Barry Bonds guest coached the team every now and then, and gave Crawford tips that seemed to be effective. As a left handed batter, Crawford ideally wants to keep his shoulder close at bat. However, he tends to open it up towards first base when he’s struggling. Bonds pointed this out and offered tips that he applied during that game I was watching.
Baseball tips and techniques are nothing new, nor are they particularly exciting. But for some reason, hearing that Bonds/Crawford story struck a chord in me. I’ve been obsessed with technique since going to the driving range for the first time and reading Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings, so forgive me for sounding cheesy, but I thought the Bonds/Crawford story was beautiful. Almost poetic. I’ve always found it fascinating that a simple finger position or flick of your wrist, could command a baseball to be thrown a specific way.
All in all, it’s little things like this that make me LOVE sports so much. I’m even growing to appreciate baseball more and more. I’d just love it even more if we made it to October.
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