by Julian Spivey The obvious choice for Sports Hero this week is the NCAA Men’s College Basketball back-to-back champion University of Connecticut Huskies coached by Dan Hurley and the NCAA Women’s College Basketball champion University of South Carolina Gamecocks, which Dawn Staley coached to a perfect season. But I wanted to get a little bit more specific with the honor this week and that is why I’ve chosen Staley herself at this week’s Sports Hero. When it comes to both playing basketball and coaching basketball nobody has done a better job at it in women’s basketball than Staley. Staley had a hall-of-fame career as a player, both in college and the WNBA. At the University of Virginia, she was a two-time Naismith College Player of the Year (1991 & 1992). She helped lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics on a team that included Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Rebecca Lobo. She was drafted into the WNBA by Charlotte Sting in 1999 (after playing in the American Basketball League from 1996-1998). She would be a WNBA All-Star from 2001-2006 and was a member of both the 10th and 15th anniversary WNBA Teams. She also won two more Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2000 and 2004. The wildest thing about Staley’s career is her coaching career began in 2000 at Temple University, despite the fact she would still play another half-decade-plus in the WNBA. Staley would coach the Temple Owls from 2000-2008, leading the team to six NCAA tournament appearances in her eight seasons with the team (while being a WNBA All-Star for much of that term). In 2008, Staley was hired by the University of South Carolina, for which she has had a 440-106 record and won three NCAA championships. She’s already clinched a spot one day in the hall of fame as a coach. You could even make the argument she’s already one of the five greatest women’s basketball coaches of all time. Not only has Staley been a dominant force for women’s basketball both on the court and on the sideline she also just seems to say everything right, even when faced with tough questions. For instance, in the last week, she praised Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark for her impact on the women’s game, especially when it comes to television ratings and interest, while also perfectly answering a tough, ambush question from an Outkick the Coverage “reporter” on transgender women in women’s sports to which she adequately answered: “I’m of the opinion that if you’re a woman you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.” So, while in the middle of trying to coach her team to a perfect season, she was also willing to answer the tough questions, unlike many others in her same position. Staley is a shining example of what a leader should look like. Major League Baseball is going through an epidemic of arm issues right now with its pitchers. Within 48 hours last week three of the game’s most exciting young pitchers Spencer Strider (Atlanta Braves), Shane Bieber (Cleveland Guardians) and Eury Perez (Miami Marlins) went down with elbow issues. Bieber and Perez are going to miss the remainder of the season, which at the time of their injuries was barely a week old, to undergo Tommy John Surgery. Strider is getting a second opinion but it seems highly likely he's headed toward TJ Surgery, as well. Other pitchers right now either lost to the season or for large portions of it due to elbow issues include the game’s biggest name Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers), who’s thankfully still able to bat as the team’s designated hitter, former Cy Young winners Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees), Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins), Jacob deGrom (Texas Rangers) and Robbie Ray (San Francisco Giants). The problem with all of the arm injuries in the game is that it’s hard to pinpoint one major issue for them, though many possibilities abound. One issue that the Major League Baseball Players Association has thrown out is the creation of the pitch clock, which helped cut nearly 30 minutes off the average game time during the 2023 season and was tinkered with again before this season. Now, I’m no scientist and less time between pitches could be part of the problem, but seriously MLBPA it’s certainly not the biggest issue here. So for taking the opportunity to continue your war with baseball over a change to the game that has done wonders for the television product, you’re my sports zero of the week. The issue with more and more arm injuries to pitchers goes further back than just last year when the game implemented the pitch clock. The biggest issues seem to be with pitchers throwing harder and harder these days and trying to focus more on spin rate. Another issue is likely how the game has changed and baseball has become an almost year-round game for promising young players hoping to capture college scholarships or make a career out of baseball. The rash of injuries to pitchers in baseball is the biggest issue facing the game right now and for the MLBPA to suggest such a minor possibility for the reasoning isn’t taking the subject seriously enough.
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