What’s bizarre about it? It’s the answer I was given when I asked the question (I don’t remember if I asked it here or elsewhere), “Why so many “Muslim” names amongst football and basketball players, but not amongst baseball players?” It’s shouldn’t be surprising that Nation of Islam (or any other religious/racial/social organization) is more likely to set up shop at/near a university than next to a high school or minor league ballpark, thus making it more likely to attract college students more than those who don’t attend college.
I meant no insult or criticism. Simply pointing out that those who attend college and those who don’t are going to have different experiences during a formative period of their lives.
It’s the answer you were given, so ipso facto, it must be true. :smack: The Nation of Islam is recruiting black college students to their cause, keeping these athletes out of baseball? And those Nation of Islam recruiters, they’re, what, hiding in the bushes outside all the lecture halls? Mind boggling.
I don’t think its that big a deal. At $23 they are cheap. While they don’t help, they don’t do any less that a gold chain. They come in different colors so they can be purchased to match the team colors, and the rope like design is less likely to be noticed when running than a pendant on a chain. Its just a silly trend.
E.T.A. Correction, they are much cheaper than $23. Amazon has them for much less than $10.
That. Add to that not only do MLB players most often have no college, they coasted through high school even more than athletes in other sports because they knew by their junior year they wouldn’t even have to do well enough to be eligible for college admission.
But, if lack of education results in a lack of critical thinking which manifests itself into the purchase of power bracelets, uneducated translates into dumb pretty fast.
:smack: Something close to 100% of the players wearing the Phiten necklaces are being paid to do so. The company has a licensing deal with Major League Baseball. And they pay plenty of NBA and NFL players, too.
Not going to touch the Nation of Islam nonsense, but again, the idea that ballplayers don’t go to college is whooey. The number of Muslims in pro sports correlates to the percentage of African-Americans participating and the number of players from traditionally muslim cultures in Africa, Asia, and the middle east. I counted a total of eight muslim players on NFL & NBA rosters last year, half of whom were not born in America. African Americans comprise roughly 80% of the NBA, 72% of the NFL, and 18% of MLB rosters.
Yes, the number is growing, and that’s a good thing. But speaking historically, 38 percent is still a far cry from the NFL’s & NBA’s much-closer-to-100 percent. And as long as Major League teams keep signing Latin American teenagers at a prodigious rate (the Seattle Mariners first spotted Felix Hernandez when he was 14, signed him when he was 16, and he made his ML debut at 19), it’s going to be a long time before MLB catches up to the NFL and NBA. Japan? Ichiro didn’t go to college either, entering pro baseball at 18, straight out of high school.
Agreed. I’ve been unable source where I got my information, so I’ll withdraw the statement.
I remember a basketball player talking about one of those “energy bracelets” (basically the same thing as the necklaces) in an article last year. Basically it came down to “I have no idea if it works, but I played well wearing one, so I’m not going to stop.”
Okay, but 62% is still most. In football, that number is 100% (because it’s a man’s game and anyone coming straight out of high school would probably get killed.) In the NBA, it’s relatively close to 100%. Once Kobe, LeBron and the rest of those who went straight out of high school retire, 100% of American-born players will have at least a year of college. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t see a professional athlete advancing the study of string theory any time soon and my post was mostly just a touch of levity. But, in my fairly broad experience, I’ve found baseball players are generally dumber, or at least come across as dumber to me, than the others. It is, of course, a completely meaningless observation. Just a reason why I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them fell for snake oil like these energy bracelets.
As point out, this is completely untrue. Perhaps it once was true, but now most players are drafted out of college.
However, that applies only to players from the USA (incl. Puerto Rico) and Canada. Players from Caribbean countries cannot be drafted, because the draft only applies to Americans and Canadians, but if they go to a North American university or college are subject to the draft; thus, “before college” is the only time they CAN be signed.
Well, of course, this is because the NBA now prohibits drafting high schoolers. If they didn’t the NBA would draft some of them again.
Has never been 100% in football, due most recently to the proliferation of foreign-born kickers and punters. But I’ll concede your point that more players in the NFL and NBA have attended college than in the NHL or MLB. That’s entirely because of the way that each league designed it’s player development system. If baseball adopted the same rules that the NFL and NBA have requiring draftees to attend college, MLB would be 100% too.
It has nothing to do with how intelligent athletes in ant particular sport or overall, and I say that based on many years of experience covering baseball and football as a reporter. But still, my observations and your observations are just that – two people’s opinions.
The more important point is that the players wear these necklaces for the same reason they wear Nike cleats or Rawlings gloves: because they are paid to. I haven’t seen any ads with players promoting the magical qualities, or any interviews with players touting their benefits.
And FWIW, if you look at the paid endorsers on Phiten’s website, you’d find that 4 of the 6 baseball players there did in fact go to college (Justin Verlander - Old Dominion), Curtis Granderson (Illinois), Joba Chamberlain (Nebraska), CJ Wilson (Loyola Marymount).
Few athletes know much about string theory, but they know about business.
ETA:
The new collective bargaining agreement, adopted last year, will change that.
That is not why it was asked to be removed. It was the umpires request and nothing else as I have read. No batter made any request. Why would you interject such a thought into something as simple as this?
If this is your case or train of thought then every pitcher can ask to have the batter remove his necklace or jewelery (whatever ‘bothers’ the pitcher). Doesn’t work like that.
This ump was simply profiling some one for wearing something that was so small and virtually invisible to a batter, did you see the close up of it? He could have put a wrist band over it, I guess?, or have it taped over, I guess?, but the ump said take it off. What a douche he is.
If this is the law then every player on the field needs to remove anything that is not baseball gear whether or not it shows. Hell if someones shin guard is reflecting light back to the pitcher, he’s gonna have to remove it or get one that is not as reflective! See where this is going?
What a joke these three blind mice are at times.
Stephen