12 SPORTS
FRIDAY, MARC H 4, 2011 — THE MANEATER
SPORTS
ON THE MIKE
Comprehensive coverage of Missouri athletics, by students, for students
Reach Sports Editor Zach Mink at [email protected].
BASEBALL
Mike
Vorel
The NFL combine:
A gift and a curse
Run faster. Jump higher. Leap further.
Once a year, NFL hopefuls lace up their
PF Flyers and look to impress pro scouts,
coaches and the legendary hair of Mel Kiper.
That time has arrived. The NFL combine, held in Indianapolis, is a chance for
future draftees to display their athleticism,
and hope to see their draft stock soar as
scouts and media personnel clamor over
their “tremendous upside.” We stare intently
at stopwatches, overanalyzing the difference
between a 4.39 40-yard dash and a 4.40.
Players are fawned over or completely dismissed, all because of how many repetitions
they can bench press, or how high they can
jump. It’s savage, it’s inhumane, and yet, it’s a
standard part of the drafting process.
What always struck me about the combine
was that the NFL is the only major American
sport to put on such a public display. Did
major league baseball scouts ask Stephen
Strasburg to do curls before they drafted him
No. 1? Of course not, they just drooled over
his game film. Did NBA coaches need to see
Larry Bird’s time sprinting from one basket
to the other to know that he was a tremendously instinctive, talented player? I doubt
it. The NFL is simply a different breed. Much
more attention is paid to pure athleticism; if
players aren’t deemed the strongest, fastest
and most agile at their position, many scouts
and coaches assume they won’t succeed. At
the combine, a player’s skill on the football
field doesn’t even come into the picture.
Players are put under a spotlight, for coaches
and scouts to dissect and gawk at. Yet, for a
player to make the jump to the next level,
they must not only attend the combine, they
must excel.
Of course, we’ve seen over time that a
player’s physical attributes doesn’t define
them; you can be as fast and strong as you
want, and still have no idea how to play
football (example: Brian Bosworth). Look
at Emmitt Smith. He is one of the greatest
running backs of all time, and holds the NFL
record for rushing yards. Yet, he wasn’t the
strongest or fastest at his position. He didn’t
have breakaway speed like Barry Sanders,
and couldn’t swat away potential tacklers like
they were mosquitoes, a la Bo Jackson. What
he did have was superb instincts and vision,
attributes that carried him to the Hall of
Fame. And to the chagrin of NFL scouts and
coaches, instincts and vision can’t be judged
at the combine.
In the same vane, here’s a cautionary tale.
In 2008, Ohio State DE Vernon Gholston
was drafted 6th overall by the New York
Jets. He had been erratic during his college
career, but dominated at the combine, raising his stock significantly. After running a
4.67 second 40-yard dash and bench pressing 225-pounds an inhumane 37 times, he
couldn’t miss, right? Wrong. Gholston was
cut this week after three seasons of poor
technique and zero total sacks. In 45 games,
he accumulated a mere 42 tackles, zero
forced fumbles and zero interceptions. In
pop culture terms, Gholston may have been
a worse flop than “Gigli,” if that’s possible.
The lesson is: take the combine with a
grain of salt. Yes, it can be helpful. Athleticism
is a huge part of the game, and the combine
can help expose poor conditioning and work
ethic. But still, brute strength isn’t everything. Players can excel with less, or fail with
more. Coaches and scouts need to take a
deep breath and put down the stopwatch. In
the end, talent is all that matters.
Analysis: Tiger baseball set for
home opener against Flames
MIKE VOREL
Staff Writer
For the Missouri baseball
team, there’s no place like home.
After a disappointing 2-5
start to the season, the Tigers
will be playing their first home
game 6 p.m. Firday, hosting the
University of Illinois- Chicago.
They will try to continue the
home success they enjoyed in
2010, when the team finished a
stellar 18-9 at Taylor Stadium.
To do that, though, they
will need sophomore outfielder
Blake Brown to continue his
sizzling start to the 2011 season.
Brown leads the Tigers with a
.444 batting average, and also
holds team highs in hits (8),
RBIs (5), and stolen bases (4).
Quite simply, he’s done it all for
the Tigers thus far, and continues to make the most of his
increased playing time in his
sophomore season.
Even with Brown’s hot bat,
the Tigers haven’t been able to
overcome large deficits in the
first two weekends of the season. Missouri has given up an
average of 8.7 runs per game,
a number that will need to
go down if the Tigers want to
make a significant run in the
Big 12. They will be leaning
heavily on starters Jeff Scardino,
Rob Zastryzny and Matt Stites
to keep the Tigers’ bats within
striking distance.
Scardino, a senior, will bring
much-needed experience to a
young pitching staff. The Tulsa
native gave up only one earned
run while striking out six in
eight innings last Saturday, propelling Missouri to a 4-2 win
over Charlotte. Scardino, as well
as coach Tim Jamieson, will be
hoping for a similar effort this
MANEATER FILE PHOTO
Missouri junior pitcher Ryan Clubb takes the mound during the 2010 season’s home opener
against Western Illinois on March 10, 2010, at Taylor Stadium. The Tigers will be playing their
first home game of the season against University of Illinios-Chicago at 6 p.m. Friday.
weekend against UIC.
Alongside Scardino in
the Tigers’ rotation is Rob
Zastryzny, a highly touted freshman who has not disappointed
thus far. The 6-foot-3-inch lefty
was named a second-team AllAmerican in his senior season at
Calallen High School in Corpus
Christi, Texas, after compiling a
17-1 record with 198 strikeouts
and a microscopic 0.20 ERA.
That success has carried into
his first two college starts, as
Zastryzny has thrown a teamhigh 10.2 IP and amassed a 3.38
ERA. Jamieson can only expect
Zastryzny to continue improving as he gains experience
throughout the 2011 season.
But where Zastryzny lacks in
experience, senior reliever Phil
McCormick more than makes
up for it. McCormick pitched
in 36 games for the Tigers last
season, setting a school record
for appearances. That trend
seems to have carried into 2011,
as McCormick has appeared
in five of Missouri’s first seven
games this season. Moreover,
not only has he been consistent, he’s also been effective.
In last weekend’s series against
Charlotte the southpaw pitched
a total of six innings, giving up
only one unearned run while
striking out six. If he continues at this pace, McCormick
might be in line to set his season
appearances record once again.
Missouri will need all of
these players to be clicking this
weekend against University of
Illinois-Chicago as well as in
the looming Big 12 schedule.
Jamieson, now in his 17th season as coach, is four wins away
from the vaunted 550-win plateau.
Jamieson comes into Friday
with a 546-387-2 career record,
the second most wins in school
history (behind Gene McArtor).
With a 4-game series scheduled
for this weekend, there’s a slim
chance that Jamieson could
reach that milestone by Sunday
night. However, if Blake Brown
continues to hit, the starting
staff fulfills its potential and Phil
McCormick eats up innings,
that goal may be within reach.
WRESTLING
Missouri prepares for Big 12 Championship
STEVE CASSIDY
Staff Writer
The No. 12 Missouri Tigers
wrestling squad heads to Ames,
Iowa this weekend to take on
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State,
Nebraska and Iowa State in the
Big 12 Championship at Hilton
Coliseum.
The Big 12 Championship is
always loaded with storylines,
and this year is no different.
The top 50 wrestlers in the Big
12 conference will battle for the 33
qualifying NCAA Championship
spots allotted to the conference.
Ten of the 50 wrestlers are representing Missouri, and six of those
10 are newcomers to the Big 12
Championship.
Freshman Alan Waters,
redshirt freshman Zach Toal
and junior Dom Bradley lead
the pack of talented Missouri
wrestlers.
Toal, having already qualified
for the NCAA Championships,
has his biggest pressure out of
the way, but will still compete in
the tournament. At 165 pounds,
Toal will square off with some of
the best wrestlers in the country,
a few of them coming from his
own conference.
“The 165 weight class is absolutely stacked,” Missouri coach
Brian Smith said.
Toal has a couple of tough
challenges ahead of him in the
Big 12 Championship. He has
to work through Dallas Bailey
of Oklahoma State, who he has
already beaten twice, and tournament favorite and defending national champion Jordan
Burroughs of Nebraska. Toal lost
his first match of the season to
Burroughs at home by technical
fall.
“Jordan makes a lot of people
not wrestle well,” Brian Smith
said. “The 165 pound weight
class is one of the best in the
country, and he is at the top of it.”
Missouri faces a lot of
tough competition in the
four other teams at the Big 12
Championship. No. 3 Oklahoma
State might be the toughest of the
bunch.
“Dallas (Bailey) has only lost
to quality opponents this year,”
Oklahoma State coach John
Smith said. “Zach is one of those
quality opponents, but Dallas
competes. He has good demeanor on the mat and can help our
team out a lot.”
Oklahoma State is the favorite
to win the tournament this year,
as they did last year.
“I like the atmosphere in our
program right now,” John Smith
said. “I give a lot of credit to our
two seniors, Clayton Foster and
Neil Erisman, they were great
leaders for us. I think for that
reason you’ll see us at our best on
Saturday.”
For Nebraska, another tough
competitor, this will be its last
Big 12 Championship because
they are moving to the Big Ten
Conference next season.
“We’re living in the moment
right now,” Nebraska coach Mark
Manning said. “We’re focused on
what’s right in front of us, and
that’s the Big 12 Championship.
We want to leave the conference
on a high note.”
Having the top-ranked wrestler, at one of the most difficult
weight classes in the country,
provides a high level of comfort
for the Cornhuskers.
“I’m sure we will face these
Big 12 teams again in the future,
so our departure isn’t really that
big of a deal,” Manning said.
The host of the tournament,
Iowa State coach Kevin Jackson
said the departure would affect
the conference.
“I’m happy that we will continue as a four team conference,”
Jackson said. “The decision to
add teams is a bit higher than me
at this point, but I’d like to add
teams in the future.”
The tournament begins at 10
a.m. Saturday.