[新聞] Now Batty for the Yankees...

看板A-Rod作者Ariyari (插曲)時間19年前 (2006/07/31 04:38)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

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出處:The New Tork Times http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/weekinreview/30weber.html Swing and a Mess Now Batty for the Yankees... By BRUCE WEBER Published: July 30, 2006 NINETY percent of this game is half mental,” Yogi Berra is alleged to have observed about baseball, and whether or not he actually said it (“I never really said everything I said,” is another well-reported Yogi-ism), the intrusion of the mind into the matter of playing ball comes regularly into relief on the field. Indeed, the recent history of the game is full of psychodramas, cases of successful pitchers (Rick Ankiel, Mark Wohlers) who, apparently without physical cause, suddenly lost the ability to throw the ball over the plate; accomplished infielders (Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch) who mysteriously ceased to throw accurately to first base; even catchers (Dale Murphy, Mackey Sasser) who developed a block against performing the simplest of tasks: returning the ball to the pitcher. And though baseball doesn’t have a monopoly on psychic short-circuiting in the crucible of high-level sports competition — Mr. Zidane, can you tell us what was going through your head when you planted it in your opponent’s chest? — the game invites it in a way most do not. Golf shares with baseball a deliberate pace and a linear path of events, in which responsibility for the flow of action passes through one player at a time. Both sports thus create space and opportunity for things like self-doubt and distraction. Still, baseball’s roster of psychic hiccupers is clearly the longest in sports, and now we have the recent, hard-to-explain struggles of the Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who once again has baseball fans turning to shrinks for an explanation. A-Rod, as he is known, is routinely described as thin-skinned, image-conscious, sensitive. He thinks too much. He puts too much pressure on himself — to live up to his reputation, to justify his gargantuan salary. He has long been the focus of debate as a player with extraordinary skills and statistical achievements ranking with the game’s greats, but with a penchant for a lack of heroism in heroic circumstances. Before the current crisis, A-Rod endured months of booing, especially when he failed to deliver a hit with a man on base or with the Yankees a run behind. But then over the course of a week, he made five throwing errors, three in one game, something he’d never done, and in one game he struck out four times, once with the bases loaded. It was a spectacular convulsion of failure for a man who three seasons ago was widely praised as the finest all-around player in the game and last year was the American League’s M.V.P. And it has made pretty much everyone who watches baseball gape with doltish horror. The sports talk shows relentlessly parsed Rodriguez’s personality. What the heck is wrong with the guy? It must be in his mind, right? One television analyst (baseball analyst, that is), said Rodriguez was already a lost cause in New York, that it would be better both for him and the Yankees if he were traded to another city, where his delicate psyche could repair itself in an atmosphere unpoisoned by the home fans’ disappointment. The former mayor of New York Rudolph W. Giuliani was moved to give an interview, counseling New Yorkers not to boo A-Rod because, he said, positive reinforcement is clearly what the man needs, and besides, it’s in the best interest of the Yankees. Through it all, the lack of sympathy has been remarkable. People aren’t exactly angry at the guy, but they seem to feel his troubles serve him right — certainly not the general reaction to those in the throes of a breakdown. His critics fixate on his failures: it was rare you heard that the same week he made the five errors, he also became the youngest man in the history of baseball to reach 450 home runs. Besides, hitting is more of a reactive enterprise than throwing; when a pitch is thrown you’ve got only a fraction of a second to swing the bat, and that’s not enough time for a mental lapse. (Another bit of Berra wisdom: “You can’t hit and think at the same time.”) The point is that A-Rod’s problems are not so easy to explain away with a definable diagnosis, as a mental tic that leaves him helpless, a condition you can look at and say, Huh, poor guy, it must be tough to live with something like that. Rather, he seems to be someone with a life, an attitude, a personality, demands, responsibilities, priorities and uncertainties, operating in an arena where success is far from a certainty. Someone, well, normal. He turned 31 on Thursday; maybe it’s a midlife crisis. In any case, unlike, say, Knoblauch, whose fits of poor throwing seemed alien, like an exotic disease he somehow unluckily caught, A-Rod is anything but strange. Maybe we’ re so caught up in his angst because we have met the All-Star and he is us. Bruce Weber, a former Times reporter,is a recent graduate of the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring. -- ╭═══╮╔═══╮╔═══╗╔═╗╔╗╭═══╮╔═══╮╔═══╗ ║ ═ ║║ ═ ║╚═╗╔╝║ ╰╯║║ ═ ║║ ═ ║╚═╗╔╝ ║ ╔╗║║ ╔╮╯╔═╝╚╗╰═╮╭╯║ ╔╗║║ ╔╮╯╔═╝╚╗ ╚═╝╚╝╚═╝╚╝╚═══╝ ☆ ╚═╝╚╝╚═╝╚╝╚═══╝ -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.72.80.99