By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
Baseball and softball
ACGC and Panorama baseball and softball fans were treated to some great action at their respective diamonds this week. Early in the week, Panorama softball overcame a six-run deficit to defeat West Central Valley. “These girls stayed mentally tough and kept pushing forward and never faltered,” Head Coach Ismael Galvan said.
That sounds like a recipe for success. Panorama baseball fans were able to see their team get back into the win column thanks to some excellent pitching via state golfer Parker Cary, who struck out nine batters.
ACGC baseball fans must have been pleased to get a win over nearby conference rival Panorama thanks to a complete game shutout pitched by Noah Kading. Charger softball fans had the delight of watching a back-and-forth classic against, again, nearby conference rival Panorama. Lead changes and ties were abundant in the contest with the Chargers ending up on top.
The NBA’s Achilles’ heel
NBA fans were treated less gracefully over the past week. Game seven of the NBA finals was on Sunday, June 22. The Thunder came out on top, 103-91, for its first championship since moving from Seattle. Unfortunately, what was gearing up to be an all-time finish to one of the best finals of the past 20 years will forever have a mark.
Tyrese Halliburton was shooting the lights and silencing a raucous Thunder crowd early in the game. In just seven minutes of action, the former Cyclone scored nine points, all threes. Soon after his early outburst, Halliburton stunned fans in the arena and those watching at home when he tore his Achilles tendon — a brutal injury which will almost certainly keep the star point guard out all of next season and potentially some of the season after that. This may be the first time that, when I think of an NBA final, I will remember the team that lost first. We will never know how that game might have finished had Halliburton not been injured.
It is bad enough that the peak of NBA basketball had to marred by such an event, but what might be even worse is the NBA’s growing Achilles tendon injury problem. Statistics show that, between 1990 and 2023, there were 45 Achilles tendon tears, an average of 1.36 per season, but never more than three in a single season. In this year’s playoffs alone, there were three — and seven total throughout this season.
Video analysis of all seven of these injuries showed it happened during a “false step,” a reactive movement athletes use to accelerate quickly. If you have ever played or watched basketball, this type of movement happens constantly throughout games.
Theories have swirled around the rise of this injury, the most popular being that the players are simply overworked. Much has been said about the workload on today’s players. The game moves faster, and, in turn, the players move more.
Some say the players back in the day were just tougher. I say they were just slower. The game moves at an incredibly higher pace than it did 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30 years ago. Don’t believe me? View any one of these most recent finals games side by side with any of the finals games from the 1990s. The difference is stark.
In my opinion, athletes need to stop specializing sports at such a young age. It was much more common for athletes to play multiple sports throughout the year, as you see at ACGC and Panorama. This keeps wear and tear on specific movements and body parts down while strengthening others. Many of today’s NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB players have been playing one sport since they were in grade school. And, simply put, they have to. The competition level is simply too high for them to focus on other sports if they want to become a professional athlete. Science needs to catch up to these athletes soon, or it will continue to haunt our professional leagues. The NBA and its Achilles tendon injuries, the MLB and Tommy John surgery, the NFL and CTE, and the NHL… well, hockey rinks are just too darn cold.
Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.