Mike Marshall, MLB's Rick Barry?

Possibly. We're all familiar with NBA great Rick Barry's repeated offers to teach his under-handed free-throw shooting technique to atrocious brickers like Shaquille O'Neal, and they've all been shot down, partially because Barry doesn't exactly have the most personable of reputations (yet the man shot 90% at the line with that odd technique for his career). Now, Jeff Passan has stumbled upon his baseball equivalent.

Mike Marshall is a former Cy Young winner as a Dodger reliever, having done so with an unusual delivery, developed from his own study of exercise physiology. This is what the motion looks like:

With a wrist weight ranging from 15 to 30 pounds tethered to their pitching arm, they swing their pitching arm straight down like a pendulum, lift it over their ear and follow through with a hard pronation, turning the wrist outward with the thumb pointing down.

Marshall is convinced these actions can help save baseball from one of its great scourges. The rest of the motion is simple. No leg kick. No rotating the hips back toward second base. Facing the hitter, the pitcher steps with his glove-side foot and rotates his other leg with such fury his back almost ends up parallel to home plate.

One of Marshall's students, for lack of a better description, said "we kind of throw like a girl."

Sounds familiar. That's the same critique given to Barry's under-handed technique, and the video provided with the article gives me the sense that half of that motion is like a softball pitcher's, only with overhand motion. But the stubbornness that people saw in Barry's ways are also there in Marshall, despite his profession of results, most of his students are indie league players, some who were cut from major league organizations:

Any suggestion that Marshall adapt his program – mix his motion with the traditional motion to make the transition easier, or cut out the terminology to focus on the end rather than the means, or perhaps collaborate with others in the growing field of biomechanics – is met with a stern no.

"I called him a few years ago and said, 'Tell me about your stuff,' " said Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the biomedical engineer who works alongside top baseball surgeon Dr. James Andrews at the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute. "He said no. I said, 'Can I tell you?' And he said he didn't want to hear what any other researcher is doing, that he never read or listened to anything because he didn't want to be accused of stealing. The concept of a researcher who's speaking up but won't listen is a big turn-off."

Noble, but futile, in a sense. However, one of his success stories is Dodgers reliever Rudy Seanez, and if he's still pitching at his advanced age, then why isn't a GM at least giving Marshall an ear?

Major league sports are by nature conservative, slow to adapt changes in gameplay -- look at the reluctance of most NFL coaches to even apporach the idea of using the option or any other method of offense common in the college ranks. This despite the theory that if you have an option being run to compensate for less athletically talented players, serious pro talent would make the option look revolutionary.

Barry's below the waist method, which looks like you're throwing a giant skee-ball, was so successful that he never shot less than 86% in his seasons in the NBA and the ABA. It wasn't graceful looking, and doesn't claim to tackle anything in basketball as serious as arm injuries in baseball, but it was outside the norm enough and looked so, well, unmanly, that no one, not even his own ball-playing sons, would go for it.

Major league pitching mechanics are just as sacrosanct, but with yet another pitcher in Toronto's B.J. Ryan headed under the knife for Tommy John surgery, front office folk might want to look into any method they can to protect multi-million dollar investments.

Outside Pitch [Yahoo Sports]
Dr. Mike Marshall's Pitching Coach Services [DrMikeMarshall.com]
Rick Barry Bio [NBA.com]
Rick Barry Statistics [Basketball-Reference.com]

(Photo: Getty Images)

A Double Standard on Privacy?

I've got more thoughts on yesterday's NYT piece about George Mitchell asking for the medical records of players like Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, which he won't get.

Ever since baseball's steroid problem came to the forefront, there have been a number of sportswriters and such advocating that MLB players, if they are innocent, voluntarily turn over their medical records, etc. to prove it to the general public. Skip Bayless was the latest to advocate this on yesterday's edition of First Take (weird typing that instead of Cold Pizza, isn't it?), and that line of thought deserves an answer. Say what you will about the MLBPA and its obtuseness to the steroid problem; they stand up for the best interests of their members, and the best interest involves keeping certain things private, even when the demands of public opinion dictate otherwise.

No matter your political leanings, the trend over the past few decades has resulted in a lessening of privacy: cell phone companies can sell your phone records; the federal government can monitor those same records for its own ends. Whether you actually are subject to random drug tests at your job or not, the odds are likely that you sign a piece of paper when you're hired that you will subject yourself to them. There are very few ensconced things in law that are truly private. Attorney-client privilege and doctor-patient are a couple of them, and even some aspects of your medical records don't necessarily fall under HIPAA, which is the law intended to keep your medical records private unless released with your consent. Insurance companies already assess your medical information to determine what you pay in coverage, or if you are covered.

Are we comfortable asking athletes to cough up their medical records in order to prove a case against them? We shouldn't be, if only for purely selfish reasons -- if a precedent is established of superstars, the creme de la creme of athletics, being forced by public opinion to open their medical histories to investigators to convict them after they have been convicted in the court of public opinion, then we should take the advice: "Physician, heal thyself." What we ask of the most public in society will eventually be asked of us by our own employers.

Elbows Aren't Supposed to Shift Like That.

This was part of the MSU victory over Marquette, which I thought would be Game of the Day, but the Spartans dominated. However, Idong Ibok got a Brian Butch-style elbow injury during it. Please only watch if you have not eaten or are ready to scream in horror at the shot of his elbow out of the socket while he is on the floor.



Video originally found by MJD at the Fanhouse.

another entry for the "Bizarre Injuries" file.

John Daly is probably the most entertaining figure in golf outside of Tiger Woods, and for entirely different reasons than Tiger. A drinker and chain-smoker, Daly has long been the sort of People's Champ on the Tour, despite his flameout in wins after starting his career on a hot streak. He is also the Tour's hard-luck fellow, a guy for whom bad things just seem to happen (like huge gambling debts.)

Today, he hit the 12th hole of the Honda Classic, and someone just happened to have a camera:

The clicking could be heard almost at the same instant [Daly] started his backswing. He stopped and reportedly glared at the woman before trying to swing again, but immediately complained of pain and walked off to seek treatment in the tour's medical trailer.

He declined to comment afterward.

"All he said to us was, 'I'm done,' " [playing partner Joe] Ogilvie said. "It wasn't good."

Far be it for pudgy me to tell a full keg like Daly that the girth on him probably isn't good when you need to stop a backswing, but I can't help but think that had something to do with the injuries to his ribs and shoulder (also, if you see pictures of his swing, he generates a lot of power with a long wind-up). This is the kind of dumb golf injury that happens in books -- which is fitting that it happened to Daly; he is a Dan Jenkins character writ large.

(Fascinating aside from his Wikipedia page: "A John Daly is also a kind of drink. It is an Arnold Palmer (Lemonade and Iced tea) with whiskey and a splash of ginger ale. This drink was patented by Matt Schroeder." Sounds good, actually.)

recruiting's getting dirtier than I thought.

Arizona men's hoops head coach Lute Olson, in the middle of a fairly sub-par season of basketball, had to deny rumors that he had Parkinson's at his weekly press conference. Apparently the rumors began on radio when people started seeing the coach's hands shake.

He was concerned about what the rumor would do in the heated competition for high school talent.

"This is the kind of thing you get from people you are recruiting against," Olson said. "If the rumor is going around here, it's certainly going to be passed around."

Well, good for Lute -- that team needs him badly, and Arizona basketball isn't Arizona basketball without him. However, recruiting is cutthroat enough -- I can only imagine how bad it could be if schools started using the health of coaches to try and lure recruits away from football and basketball programs. Examples:

1) FSU and Penn State lose kids in football because kids realize Bobby Bowden and Joe Pa are actually senile by this point.
2) Charlie Weis and Phil Fulmer's weight is used against them -- "You don't want to head to a school where the head coach may be due for a heart attack or has high blood pressure, do you?" (Some might argue that Ron Zook dealt some cash under the table to Illinois recruits -- he'd probably be first to try the underhanded illness technique and remind recruits of his biceps.)

Any other examples you can think of?

the Heat's worst nightmare.

This was so incredibly painful to watch when it happened, because I saw the replay while watching at work, and it was one of those moments when you felt the pain through the screen. The extent of Dwyane Wade's separated shoulder isn't known yet, but Miami felt his absence, losing to the Rockets by 10 in Pat Riley's first game back on the sideline. If it is serious, then the Heat may make the playoffs, but they will lose in the first round.

In other notable NBA games, Manu Ginobili was a bad man, ripping off 24 straight points (40 total) against the lowly Hawks in a Spurs win. This is the sick thing about Ginobili -- he can have ungodly games like this, then maybe not show up, then put in the double figures (anywhere from high teens to mid-twenties) that the team needs from him to win. He's just another weapon -- a nice one to have, but this is why San Antonio is there every year, even if they're one of the less exhilarating teams to watch.

Mr. Hard Luck himself.

Kerry Wood can't catch a break. Well, yeah, he can.

The injury prone Cub will delay his throwing off the mound due to slipping and falling on his chest and stomach after getting out of the hot tub, possibly the most bizarre way to hurt yourself since Rockies SS Clint Barmes broke his collar bone lugging some deer meat.

Kerry, if you're gonna slip and fall, at least blame it on something that seems either dangerous or at least less silly. Jeff Kent took the wrong tack by trying to claim his wrist injury a few years back was from washing his truck instead of from motorcycle riding (mostly to avoid a contract clause about it, I believe.) Do the opposite. Establish that it was something fun, important -- maybe you were hitting the ATV, hunting, out shooting, whatever -- but falling out of a hot tub? All Cubs fans will sigh, "Here we go again" anyway; why not at least give a good excuse?

I look forward to the first report of this injury in any sport: "Groin pull -- too much sexing."

consider yourselves on notice.

This should probably be the attitude of the NFL and the NFLPA, as Jesse Jackson has got himself involved in the issue between retired players and the NFL over disability benefits, as the issue continues to gain a good head of steam with Mercury Morris' recent profile in the Washington Post, former Patriot Ted Johnson's accusations blaming Coach Hobo for his mental health issues, and Mike Ditka blasting the league in Super Bowl coverage on the matter.

If the Rev gets in deep, expect plenty of examples of his School of Meaningless but Rhymed Oratory in the discussion, but also, expect the NFL and the Players' Union to make some serious changes if this is the case. Regardless of what you think of Jackson (the truth lies somewhere in the massive murk between civil rights leader and shameless huckster), but he got U.S. hostages back from Yugoslavia in the 90s -- and it's hard to say no to someone who did that, never mind his organizing power and soapbox. (Although, as the Right Reverend Chris Rock once cracked about Jesse's hostage saving trip, "I bet Jesse said, 'You really want to piss off those fuckers? Give the hostages TO ME!")

a needle will turn you into a slut.

The very conservative governor of Texas has issued an executive order requiring sixth grade girls in the state to get vaccinated for the human papillomavirus, with its obvious and scientifically proven links to cervical cancer.

Of course, Gov. Rick Perry's religious conservative base is not having any of it, claiming the order doesn't allow enough room for parents to object or have a say in their children's medical treatment, adopting not only the "sexual license" arguments but taking the anti-corporate one when it suits them -- Merck's funding of such orders and bills in state legislatures is well known; Perry's former chief of staff is now a Merck lobbyist.

The cognitive dissonance required to wrap heads around this is stunning -- while I don't like the idea of Merck forcing the vaccine down people's throats, the fact that this vaccine could prevent cervical cancer likely outweighs concerns about Merck's profits or ramrodding through state houses and legislatures. Eventually, you have to wonder whether the people opposing this are more comfortable with the potential of dying due to a preventable disease rather than the thought of premarital sex.