Insightful Athlete Quotation: Kevin Smith

No, not that Kevin Smith; the one who plays running back for UCF. This one isn't insightful so much as it is refreshing. I think we're all sick of athletes playing the no-respect card, as it's not only cliche but also relentlessly tiresome to hear highly successful people earning millions a year whine about how people don't love them enough. Here, a man who has not yet been allowed to earn money for his abilities (thanks to government-sanctioned collusion) offers this obvious but still gratifying observation concerning all the schools that didn't recruit him (despite the fact that he's now leading the nation in rushing yards):

"I don't think I run with a chip," Smith said. "I don't hold anything against those colleges. This is a business. Everybody recruits who they want. I run to represent my school."

Insightful Athlete Quotation: Brad Hawpe

Once again, it's just refreshing when someone connected to sports says something intelligent, even if obvious, that most writers and commentators steadfastly refuse to acknowledge, because I guess life just isn't as interesting that way. From Jayson Stark's article that makes a big deal about the Rockies' Brad Hawpe going 11 for 17 lifetime against Brandon Webb:

"Aw, he's tough," Hawpe deadpanned. "And it's just a small handful of at-bats. It's not like it's 500 ABs or something."

Maybe I'll post quotes like these when I find them as some small counterweight to the vast amounts of (deserved) snark aimed at idiotic sports commentary out there.

Kenny Lofton

Thank you, thank you, Kenny Lofton, for being one of the few basbeall players or managers willing to state the obvious:

"They just went out there and played the game," said Lofton, a postseason veteran. "You don't have to have a whole lot of experience to understand that the game hasn't changed. That's what I've been talking to the guys about: Go out there and play baseball."

Announcers and writers, take note: in postseason baseball, the bases are still 90 feet apart, the foul lines are still at a right angle, three strikes and you're still out, and a ball hit over the wall 'twixt the foul the poles is still worth one run plus another for each guy on base. It's still baseball, and good baseball players remain good while bad ones remain bad.