A Man of Merit

On Friday September 7, 2012, Aries Merritt of the United States broke the world record in the 110 meter high hurdles at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels. The previous world record, established by Cuba's Dayron Robles four years ago, stood at 12.87 seconds, until Merritt absolutely hauled ass to cross the finish line in a blistering 12.80 seconds. .07 seconds in a short race like the 110 meter high hurdles is quite significant, not even mentioning that he ran the fastest time in the event... ever.




Merritt, also fresh off an Olympic gold in the same event, ended the outdoor season on the highest of highs by clinching the world record. Unfortunately, this tremendous achievement demonstrates the United States lack of respect for the sport, especially outside of the Olympics. Sportscenter, a popular sports news broadcast show in the United States, put Merritt's record setting performance number 10 on its top 10 plays. Apparently there were ten other things in the sports world that happened that day or week that were better than setting a world record. However, regardless of whether the other nine plays were from the same day or the entire week, setting a world record should take precedence over them. Merritt is American, too, so you'd think he would get some respect from his home country.

Let's take a moment to recognize what it means to hold a world record. World records are held by people who have achieved results that no other person in the history of anything has ever surpassed. Actually, that's about all you have to know. No one has ever run the 110 meter hurdles faster than Merritt, not the great Liu Xiang nor Dayron Robles, both former world record holders. Xiang who has been plagued by injuries for some time now might not have another chance to compete for this record, or at least not at 100% fitness, but Robles must be thinking "dayuuumn, that dude is flyin'!" He's certainly in for some tough battles as long as he can recover from the injury he sustained in the final at the Olympics in London.

Given this great accomplishment, the guy is under appreciated by people who are not fans of the sport. Even during the Olympics he wasn't praised much for his gold medal in the U.S. It was all about Phelps and some guy who had no legs. It it isn't football (American, take that!), basketball, baseball, hockey (to some extent), or golf, then it doesn't really matter in the U.S. Or swimming if it's during the Olympics.

Track and field isn't alone, soccer gets no respect, either. Just ask the Sportscenter anchor who didn't know how to pronounce Maicon's name when he scored an absurd goal, he was only one of the best right backs in the world. That's not even the start of it, but in general soccer and track are disrespected sports, at least in the U.S.

Congratulations Aries Merritt for your ridiculous run and tremendous accomplishment!

Dan Uggla is Confusing!

I don't have anything particularly interesting or insightful to say about Dan Uggla, but I really do feel that I need to post an article about him in some way.  I really like Uggla, not only because he plays for one of my favorite teams, the Braves, but because I have never been able to make sense of the man.  In general look at him.  He is supposed to be a second baseman but he is 5'11" and weighs 205, when I think of second basemen people like Dustin Pedroia and Craig Biggio, who are 5'8" 165 and 5'11" 185, respectively.  Every time I see him I wonder who the first person was that looked at this strong powerful man and decided to throw him at second base.  In the minors he played a majority of his games at second base, but also had a pretty large chunk of games at third base, which is where I would have put him personally.  Comparing him to some of the stereotype third base body types, David Wright and Evan Longoria, Uggla is a little short (about an inch shorter than Wright) and at a proper weight.  Yet, I can't complain about Uggla as a second baseman as his production at the position has made him a notable player and his defense is solid.  I just can never get used to seeing a guy at second base who has arms as big as the moon.

"I don't get it either!"

I also find Uggla's numbers to be notably interesting.  He is on pace this year to hit around 20 home runs which would be his career low by 7 homers, yet is still amazing for a second baseman (especially when you note he usually hits 30 or more.)  He also has a really low batting average in recent years (.233 last year .206  so far this year), yet his OBP is sticking around his career norms.  The man is currently leading the league in walks!  He also has the dubious honor of being the first veteran player I have known of who has been an All-Star at the midpoint of the season, then at the end it on platoon due to continued bad play.  I was ashamed to have to drop him from my fantasy team when the Braves announced a reduction in his playing time.  His numbers don't make sense to me because it seems that every time I watch the Braves he either ropes a double somewhere or hits a towering moonshot, so apparently he can't hit a beachball unless I'm watching him.  This is getting a little sad now so lets look at his arms again.

Consolation

I guess that concludes all I have to say about Dan Uggla, he is a great player to have in the league due to his position and style of play that leaves me scratching my head every time.  If you don't watch much baseball I do recommend you take the time to watch some of the Braves this postseason, Uggla will be there and he will have large arms and you won't quite know what to make of him.  Keep checking in on the site as I will probably start posting more as the playoffs come into sight, and you can also read this for a little bit of Toninho talking about Uggla (and Manny Ramirez!)

He also knows how to finish out a home run swing in style