Happy Cerebral Palsy Day!

Being that today is National Cerebral Palsy day...37 years old (I've had CP for 36 years, 7 months, and today)! Yet I'm still awesome, and making history! Take that universe!

The Olympic Games

So being that the 2020 AD (CE) summer Olympic Games are actually taking place this summer of 2021 AD (CE) because of COVID. I felt it important to drop some Olympic knowledge on everyone being I’m such the sports fan and history whiz.

Our modern Western societies on the continents of Europe, North America, and South America are derived from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Carthage, and ancient Rome.

Out of all of these there is none more revered than ancient Greece. Every city functioned like its own nation. There wasn’t a unified Greece. Every city state had its own laws, culture, and unique way of doing things. While there were many city states (at least 1,000), Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia were the 3 most important. Sparta created the foundations of Western military culture. They literally ate, slept, and breathed martial arts, military strategy, and unadulterated ass kicking 24/7. Every day of the year. Their laws would not permit them to do anything else once so ever. Athens had an army just like Sparta did, except Athens was way more of a naval power. Spartan society thought fighting on land was more manly than the sea. But the main thing that separated Sparta, and Athens was the fact that Athenians had way more freedom than Spartans. So therefore, Athens is the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, science, etc.. All the great teachers of the ancient world were from a city within Greece, and/or traveled to Athens.

Now the only time that the various cities would not quarrel amongst themselves was when they traveled to the city of Olympia, which is named after the Olympian ancient Greek gods that reside on Mount Olympus. Why did they travel to Olympia every 4 years between 776 BC (BCE) and 393 AD (CE)? To help those non-historical people, we are in 2021 AD (CE). The original ancient Greek Olympics.

The ancient Greek Olympics were very different from our modern Olympics. All the events were open to any male of any social class over 5 days. Women could not compete, but the loophole was any rider who won a chariot race was not awarded victory, but the owner of the chariot was. And women could own a stable of horse chariots in ancient Greece. They competed naked. False start in a track and field race caused the men to be subject to capital punishment. These 2 are my own personal favorites being a martial arts historian. The Spartans were not allowed to compete in the Pankration events because they had no impulse control. They were brought up in a strictly kill, or be killed world. Pankration is the unarmed mixed martial art of the ancient Greek city states. It’s a combination of Boxing, and Freestyle Wrestling. My other favorite fact is that when the ancient Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC (BCE), the Olympics were so revered by the Greeks that they could not form the closest thing to a coalition to protect their land because all the soldiers were preparing for the Olympics. That’s the classic example everybody thinks of when discussing the history of the Olympics. And finally, there were no point systems, or medals. The victor of each event received an olive wreath.

The modern Olympics the way we think of them did not begin until 1896 AD (CE). The summer takes place every 4 years, while winter is every 2 years. They still continue to try to be a vehicle to bring peace amongst the sociopolitical squabbles of all 196 to 250 unified nations on this Earth, depending on your definition of a country. And before I forget, let me end with this important tidbit for everybody to take under consideration… From 1896 AD (CE) to the 1970s AD (CE) only amateur athletes could compete. It wasn’t until the 1980s AD (CE) that professional athletes began to compete.

In this day and age of technology, where you can program which events you want to watch, instead of having to watch whatever is live.

Here’s what I’ll be watching over the next 17 days:

Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Fencing
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Shooting
Soccer
Tae Kwon Do
Track and Field
Wrestling

The only Winter Olympic sport I watch:

Ice Hockey

2020 Sports and COVID?

So as a sports fan, with the way 2020’s going on, I have to ask myself a few questions.

1) If COVID is as bad as everyone says it is, then why are they playing games in the 1st place, if you care so much about player safety?

2) Since football coaching is 1 of my many possible “careers”, and I know a who’s who of KC North Metro coaches whose high school seasons have been canceled. As well as having every college conference start at different times within the duration of the season, how can you gauge a true national champion in college when teams aren’t even playing the same amount of games?

3) These are all honest questions that I’ve asked myself over the year. I knew I wasn’t being a hypochondriac about COVID when a high school buddy of mine who is a coach for a Major League Baseball franchise contracted it. I myself had an unofficial meeting with an NFL franchise axed because of it, so something is definitely going on.

World Series 2015 Reaction

I thought 2014 was pretty memorable, and historic. But 2015, topped that by miles.

From my favorite player, Alex Gordon’s super human foul ball catch, more epic comebacks, our Swiss Army knife Ben Zobrist, and lastly Michael Jackson dance moves on the mound from Yordano Ventura, when he uses that big sweeping curveball to make hitters look foolish.

Unlike last year, this year was all about unfinished business. They were on top of the baseball world from beginning to end and out to prove they were no fluke.

And then once we hit the playoffs, the Royals toyed with the Astros. After the eighth-inning of ALDS Game 4, IT WAS ON! I would never mock anybody, but I wondered if the Royals were like, let’s spot them some runs so they can feel good about themselves. Haha. Or maybe it was the karma the Texas Governor brought upon them when he prematurely posted on social media about an Astros series victory. Then Kendrys Morales' homer sealed the deal on our way to advancing to the ALCS in the next game.

That brings us to the glorious World Series Game 5. The Mets left Matt Harvey in for one inning too long! Finally! After years of suffering as a Kansas City sports fan from the Chiefs, and Royals.

Kansas City is title town USA.

Brad Freeman’s All-Time Lifetime Baseball Team

My all-time baseball team during my lifetime.

Starting Lineup:

LF: Rickey Henderson (Oakland Athletics)

CF: Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners) *favorite non-KC Royal position player

RF: Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres)

3B: George Brett (Kansas City Royals) *favorite KC Royal position player

SS: Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles)

2B: Roberto Alomar (Toronto Blue Jays/Baltimore Orioles/Cleveland Indians)

1B/DH: Frank Thomas (Chicago White Sox)

C: Ivan Rodriguez (Texas Rangers)

Batting Order:

1. Rickey Henderson

2. Cal Ripken Jr.

3. Ken Griffey Jr.

4. Tony Gwynn

5. Frank Thomas

6. Albert Pujols

7. George Brett

8. Ivan Rodriguez

9. Roberto Alomar

Bench:

OF: Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners)
OF: Carlos Beltran (Kansas City Royals/Houston Astros)
1B/DH: Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals)
C: Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants)
OF/IF/DH: Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay Rays/Kansas City Royals) *26^th man during double headers

Starting Pitching Rotation:

1. Randy Johnson (Seattle Mariners/Arizona Diamondbacks) *favorite left-handed starter

2. Roger Clemens (Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees) *favorite right-handed starter

3. Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox)

4. Greg Maddux (Atlanta Braves) *favorite member of the 90s Atlanta Braves rotation

5. Curt Schilling (Philadelphia Phillies/Arizona Diamondbacks/Boston Red Sox)

Bullpen:

Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros/Texas Rangers) *can be a 6th starter/long reliever

Jesse Orosco (New York Mets/Baltimore Orioles)

John Franco (New York Mets)

Billy Wagner (Houston Astros)

John Wetteland (Texas Rangers/New York Yankees)

Dennis Eckersley (Oakland Athletics) *Set up man

Mariano Rivera (New York Yankees) *Closer

I’d feel this post would be incomplete if I didn’t give honorable mention to being able to watch the last 2 dual sport athletes that last played. They played both professional football and baseball. Deion Sanders with the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds in baseball, and Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys in football. As well as Bo Jackson with the Kansas City Royals in baseball, then, Los Angeles Raiders in football.

Unfortunately, kids specialize by elementary school for health and financial reasons. Making the 2-sport athlete an astonishing feat, that may be unattainable ever again, and a relic of the past.

2015 KC Royals Projected World Series Depth Chart

Oh… How this moment feels like déjà vu! This particular moment in time is the culmination of a 9-year turnaround. It began with bringing in Dayton Moore as our new GM from the Atlanta Braves and his player personnel staff in 2006. Then hiring Ned Yost from the Atlanta Braves as a consultant in 2009, and then making him Manager in 2010. The significance of these 2 hires? The Atlanta Braves have been consistently good since the nineties. All those front office people who went to the Braves in the late eighties, grew up by putting the Royals of the seventies and eighties together. So, in baseball terms I guess things have come full circle. Now, with that being said, this current crop of Royals came together in 2012, and they started playing together in 2013, which led to the climax of 2014, as I’ve mentioned before. This is the greatest event in the last 10 years of KC Royals baseball. Let’s make it one to remember fellas.

As always, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.

… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.
 

Here is my projected 2015 KC Royals World Series Roster:

Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Alex Rios
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Ben Zobrist
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez

Batting Order:
1. Alcides Escobar
2. Ben Zobrist
3. Lorenzo Cain
4. Eric Hosmer
5. Kendrys Morales
6. Mike Moustakas
7. Salvador Perez
8. Alex Gordon
9. Alex Rios

Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Paulo Orlando
1B/DH: Kendrys Morales
IF: Christian Colon
C: Drew Butera
IF: Raul Mondesi

Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. Edinson Volquez
2. Johnny Cueto
3. Yordano Ventura *favorite current KC Royal pitcher
4. Danny Duffy
5. Chris Young

Bullpen:
Kris Medlen
Luke Hochevar
Franklin Morales
Kelvin Herrera
Ryan Madson *Set up man
Wade Davis *Closer

2015 KC Royals Projected Opening Day Depth Chart

Since the Royals always have a propensity to make it interesting the last 2 years, I’m going to hope that they were not absolutely destroyed as a team, and became a one hit wonder after Baumgardner came in to save the day. Let’s hope that the bad taste left in their mouths from last October fuels them to get back to the World Series and win it all this time. They were 90 feet away from immortality. We didn’t get beat by the San Francisco Giants. We got beat by one singular individual. Let’s finish what we started Royals, and take your rightful place in baseball history!

As always, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.

 
… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.
 
Here is my projected 2015 KC Royals Opening Day Roster:

Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Alex Rios
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Omar Infante
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez

Batting Order:
1. Alcides Escobar
2. Mike Moustakas
3. Lorenzo Cain
4. Eric Hosmer
5. Kendrys Morales
6. Alex Gordon
7. Salvador Perez
8. Alex Rios
9. Omar Infante
 
Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Paulo Orlando
1B/DH: Kendrys Morales
C: Erik Kratz
IF: Christian Colon

Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. Yordano Ventura *favorite current KC Royal pitcher
2. Danny Duffy
3. Edinson Volquez
4. Jason Vargas
5. Jeremy Guthrie

Bullpen:
Chris Young
Jason Frasor

Franklin Morales
Kelvin Herrera
Ryan Madson *Set up man
Wade Davis *Closer

World Series 2014 Reaction

Growing up in the nineties and 2000s, the Royals would lose 100 games every year out of 162 in the regular season. These were not like the great teams of the seventies and eighties led by George Brett. Oh sure we had good players, but we were basically everybody’s AAAA team. Players would get good, and then want to leave for bigger markets. But finally we started getting good around 2013, and everybody on the current roster came up around 2012.

The epic nature of the wildcard game against our former team, the Athletics (moved from KC to Oakland in 1968. Then the Royals became an expansion franchise in 1969), was alone enough to write legends about. Especially after we wallowed in mediocrity for so many years.

Then the historian in me thought to himself, this has got to be our year, when Alex Gordon was on 3^rd base, with Salvador Perez up at bat in Game 7. All we needed was 90 more feet. It’s the scenario you dream up playing pickup baseball games with your friends in the backyard. Until Joe Buck’s new man crush Madison Bumgardner came in to save the day.

The San Francisco Giants may have won the World Series. Which they seem to do every other year under current management. But I personally think we put the baseball world on notice that the Royals don’t suck anymore.

I know it’s totally cliché in sports, when players and coaches say there’s always next year, but I really do feel like next year will definitely be our year. Sometimes, you learn more from defeat, then you do from victory.

2014 KC Royals Projected World Series Depth Chart

Well, after the marathon that is a baseball season, the Kansas City Royals have finally become no longer the punchline to bad jokes. To say I’m excited is an understatement! I’m going to try and temper my excitement as to not wear myself out by whenever the series ends. 

Once again, for the casual to non-baseball fan, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.
 
… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.
 
I really hope we don’t just go to the World Series and fall flat on our faces. I hope we make it a great series for the Giants. I want it to be 1 of those World Series that people talk about for ages.
 
Here is my projected 2014 KC Royals World Series Roster:
 
Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Norichika Aoki
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Omar Infante
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez
 
2014 World Series Batting Order:
1. Alcides Escobar
2. Norichika Aoki
3. Lorenzo Cain
4. Eric Hosmer
5. Billy Butler
6. Alex Gordon
7. Salvador Perez
8. Mike Moustakas
9. Omar Infante
 
Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Terrance Gore
1B/DH: Billy Butler
C: Erik Kratz
OF: Josh Willingham
IF: Jayson Nix
 
Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. James Shields
2. Yordano Ventura
3. Danny Duffy
4. Jason Vargas
5. Jeremy Guthrie
 
Bullpen:
Tim Collins
Brandon Finnegan
Jason Frasor
Kelvin Herrera
Wade Davis *Set up man
Greg Holland *Closer

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

Today is the day set aside to commemorate the life and legacy of professional baseball superstar Jackie Robinson. The United States had been playing baseball as a general sport since 1846. Before April 15, 1947, baseball had been segregated between whites and brown, or black skinned players of African descent, as well as Hispanic/Spanish/Latino descent since about the year 1867. Then in 1876, there was a gentlemen’s agreement between the owners that the players of color would not be permitted into baseball. Sure, there were great baseball players such as Fleet Walker of Toledo, who was the 1^st African-American player to play in a professional league baseball game in 1884. But because of prejudicial preconceived notions, they weren’t given the proper opportunity to showcase their talent. Because they were facing more, and more discrimination and segregation, the Negro Leagues were founded in 1920 by Rube Foster, and those leagues were in operation off and on up until 1960. That brings me to Branch Rickey. He was the general manager of the then, Brooklyn Dodgers (moved to LA in 1958), who was looking to break the color barrier that had been in place for 80 years. Enter the aforementioned Jackie Robinson, who had been playing for the Kansas City Monarchs, who were 1 of the winningest teams in the Negro Leagues. They were the equivalent of the New York Yankees in our more modern Major League Baseball (MLB) terms. Branch Rickey had kept it a secret as long as he possibly could. He knew there was an untapped reservoir of talent that was being kept down by the rest of society’s ignorance. Back then, even though it seems very foreign to us, it was very radical for the time when Jackie Robinson took his defensive spot at 1^st base. Shortly after Jackie, Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians became the 1^st player of African descent in the American League, making the Dodgers the 1^st team in the National League to integrate, and baseball as a whole officially within the confines of how we think of baseball, which has been played since 1903. In 2004, the MLB decided to make a day honoring Jackie Robinson on April 15. Since 2009, all the players, coaches, and umpires wear the number 42 to honor Mr. Robinson. And the number 42 consequently has been retired from all of baseball since 1997.

Brad Freeman's All-Time Baseball Legends Team

My all-time baseball legends team:

LF Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox)

CF Willie Mays (New York/San Francisco Giants)

RF Hank Aaron (Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves)

3B Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia Phillies)

SS Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles)

2B Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs)

1B Lou Gehrig (New York Yankees)

C Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds)

P Babe Ruth (Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees) *94 wins before all the homers

DH Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds)

Try facing that lineup. What do you think baseball oriented friends?

2014 KC Royals Projected Opening Day Depth Chart

Even though I’m more football oriented, I thought I’d try to give my general baseball observation of my hometown Royals this year.

 

In the seventies and eighties, the Royals were a model franchise. They represented how you build a young team from the ground up. And then around 1994, we were cellar dwellers. Ever since then, the Royals have been uneventful.

With all that being said, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.

 

… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.

 

I really like our young team this year. And even though we didn’t have a winning season in 2013, you could see us start to win some games. So, I hope we are at least really competitive this year.

 

Here is my projected 2014 KC Royals Opening Day Roster:

Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Norichika Aoki
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Omar Infante
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez 

Batting Order:
1. Norichika Aoki

2. Omar Infante
3. Eric Hosmer
4. Billy Butler
5. Alex Gordon
6. Salvador Perez
7. Mike Moustakas
8. Lorenzo Cain
9. Alcides Escobar
 
Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Justin Maxwell
1B/DH: Billy Butler
C: Erik Kratz
IF: Danny Valencia
 
Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. James Shields
2. Jason Vargas
3. Jeremy Guthrie
4. Bruce Chen
5. Yordano Ventura
 
Bullpen:
Tim Collins
Luke Hochevar
Louis Coleman
Aaron Crow
Kelvin Herrera
Wade Davis *Set up man
Greg Holland *Closer