Cleveland Sports Forum

R.I.P Marshall Dillon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

Brian Windhorst on leaving Akron and Ohio.

Phoenix – A 13-year-old Arizona boy died after a baseball hit him over the heart as he tried to bunt in a Little League game, officials said.

Hayden Walton went for the bunt during a game Tuesday night in the close-knit northern Arizona city of Winslow, said Jamey Jones, a Winslow Little League official.

"He took an inside pitch right in the chest," Jones said Friday. "After that he took two steps to first base and collapsed."

He died the next morning at a local hospital.

The boy's parents, who were at the game, were shocked and unable to speak to members of the media, league president and family spokesman Dale Thomas said.

"It's a hard thing to handle for everyone," Thomas said. "When you're touched by something of this magnitude, it sends shock waves throughout the community."

Thomas said he grew up around the boy's family and described Hayden as "the epitome of what every little boy ought to be." Besides participating in Little League, Hayden was a Boy Scout, loved to work on cars and helped neighborhood widows by mowing their lawns and doing odd jobs for them, Thomas said.

He said Hayden had a younger sister.

The league suspended games until Friday and has counselors available for players or parents who need them.

Stephen Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement that "the loss of a child is incomprehensible."

"Words cannot adequately express our sorrow on the passing of Hayden," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hayden's family, all the players and volunteers of the Winslow Little League, his classmates, and his friends, at this difficult time."

That reminded me of this other tragedy that just happened ...

WILDWOOD, N.J. -- A New Jersey amusement park reopened on Saturday, one day after an 11-year-old girl fell to her death.

A spokeswoman for Morey's Mariner's Landing Pier in Wildwood says the park reopened at noon Saturday. It was closed Friday night, hours after 11-year-old Abiah Jones fell about 100 feet from a Ferris wheel.

The incident happened at about 12:30 p.m. Friday as Jones dropped from the amusement park ride as it was in motion. She was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where she died, Capt. Lynn Frane of the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office said.

The Ferris wheel remains closed while investigators seek a cause for the accident. Police have said it didn't appear the accident was caused by a mechanical failure.

The 156-foot-tall Ferris wheel is among rides at Morey's Mariner's Landing Pier.

Morey's said in a statement the cause was being investigated. Both Morey's and police said the problem did not appear to be mechanical. Police took photographs of various passenger carts on the Ferris wheel, part of which was covered in white sheets, and were looking for witnesses to the fall.

The Ferris wheel, which was built in 1985, most recently passed an inspection on March 17, according to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

Morey said in the statement, "The Morey staff and family offer our thoughts and prayers to the family."

WHat all this means is that two more famous people are going to die along with Marshall Dillon, and one more kid will meet a bad fate while playing some game, cause this sort of thing always happens in 3's, as Charlie T always pointed out.

Unless Marshall Dillon died while bowling or something, then maybe it all ties in and we're done.

I saw the James Arness passing. I'm not sure I ever watched an episode of Gunsmoke while it originally aired. I've probably watched four or five episodes in the past 10 days when I found it in the Comcast On Demand listings available for free with our package.

It was a good show.

Phoenix – A 13-year-old Arizona boy died after a baseball hit him over the heart as he tried to bunt in a Little League game, officials said.

Hayden Walton went for the bunt during a game Tuesday night in the close-knit northern Arizona city of Winslow, said Jamey Jones, a Winslow Little League official.



Yes, a sad story. Winslow is really a pretty small town. I've arranged to spend the night there on maybe three or four occasions on cross country trips. There are a couple of bars I like, heavily populated by regulars from "the rez."

I have a picture of the "Standing on the Corner" marker.


Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see...


It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin' down to take a look at me...


Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
we will never be here again
so open up, I'm climbin' in,
so take it easy



Good wishes to the kid's family. What a fluke, horrible thing to happen.

Let Windhorst be gone more than a year and let him meet some more Cleveland and Ohio sports fans around the country. Maybe he'll be able to pen an article with a bit more for the reader to chew on a couple years down the road.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Jim Tressel talks to fans at home

Associated Press

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio -- Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel told people at a rally on his front doorstep that he would always be a Buckeye and that the team will beat Michigan again this November.

After a crowd of some 200 people had sung a song disparaging the archrival Wolverines early Saturday evening, Tressel said, "Don't forget: Nov. 26th we're going to kick their ass!"



That brought the loudest cheer of the day from the group, which had walked a half mile in 90-degree heat from a rallying point at a nearby park to Tressel's expansive French Provincial home in this Columbus suburb near campus.

Tressel was forced to resign Monday for his role in covering up his knowledge of his players taking improper benefits from a Columbus tattoo-parlor owner.

Those in the rally cheered, sang the alma mater and held up signs that said, "You're in Our Prayers," "We Support You, Jim!" and "We Love You, Coach Tressel."

Tressel and his wife, Ellen, posed for dozens of pictures, shook hands and thanked those in attendance.

He had memorably guaranteed that the Buckeyes would beat archrival Michigan at an Ohio State basketball game shortly after he had taken the job in January 2001.

Saturday's rally was reminiscent of those held for two past Ohio State coaches. After Woody Hayes was fired for punching a Clemson player late in the 1978 Gator Bowl, hundreds of fans came to his residence to thank him.

The same thing happened after Hayes' successor, Earle Bruce, was fired late in the 1987 season. Again, a large group of fans and members of the university's band came to Bruce's house to serenade him with songs.

Five Ohio State players -- including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor -- have been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for accepting improper benefits from a tattoo-shop owner. The NCAA continues to investigate Ohio State, which goes before the NCAA's committee on infractions on Aug. 12.

But the fans who walked from Thompson Park didn't dwell on the negatives.

One fan wore a red, white and blue T-shirt that said, "Jim Tressel For President."

"We're going to be Buckeyes for life," Tressel said, his arm around his wife. "What's that old saying? Buckeye born and bred, a Buckeye 'til I'm dead."

The crowd cheered when he finished.

He showed no emotion, thanking the fans as they departed after 20 minutes or so.

Commotio cordis is a Latin term (meaning commotion or disturbance of the heart) that describes sudden cardiac arrest from a blow to the chest. While commotio cordis can happen to anyone, victims are overwhelmingly male and young. Despite the fact that it's very rare, commotio cordis is the leading cause of death in youth baseball. Commotio cordis has also been documented in hockey, lacrosse, karate and has happened at least once from a soccer ball.

How Commotio Cordis Happens
It doesn't take much force to trigger commotio cordis. It's all about timing. After squeezing blood out to the body, the heart resets for the next contraction. If something hits the chest right in front of the heart at just the right moment during that reset phase, the heart can suddenly begin quivering in a condition known as ventricular fibrillation, a cause of cardiac arrest. The victim will instantly pass out and stop breathing.

Researchers have induced commotio cordis fairly consistently by shooting baseballs at pigs timed to just the right moment. The optimum speed for a baseball to cause commotio cordis -- at least in unconscious pigs swinging from special slings -- is about 40 miles per hour, well within throwing speed for many young pitchers. That's just the optimum speed, however, not the only one. In one documented case of commotio cordis, a dad tossed a softball underhand to his 6-year-old at a picnic. The ball glanced off the boy's glove and hit him in the chest, causing cardiac arrest.

Commotio Cordis Treatment: Act Fast
Imagine you're a coach for a little league team. A 12-year-old batter steps up to the plate. The pitcher throws a fastball right down the strike zone. The batter swings and tips it just enough that the ball misses the catcher's glove and hits him in the chest. By the time the umpire yells "Foul!" the catcher is collapsing to the ground. What would you do?

Too often the response to a youth league athlete suddenly collapsing is confusion and hesitation. What should happen is immediate CPR and, if available, use of an automated external defibrillator (AED). Commotio cordis is the most compelling reason I can think of for coaches and parents to learn CPR and for youth sports fields to own defibrillators. Indeed, commotio cordis is a good reason for players to learn CPR also.

Acting quickly is the key. In 128 cases of commotio cordis documented before September 1, 2001, 25% of those treated immediately survived. Of those victims whose treatment was delayed for any length of time, 3% survived. Only saving 1 out of 4 victims isn't a great statistic, but it's much better than 3 out of a hundred. The good news is that those who survived usually had no brain damage.

Thanks for sharing, Seagull. I had never heard of that possibility, and especially the vulnerability of kids.

Was at a baseball convention a few years ago and one of the speakers was a doctor talking about Commotio cordis.

Scary.

I'm meandering through an airing of Maverick. The movie.


I've always loved James Garner, and most of the time Mel Gibson, and especially Jodie Foster on her more feminine days.


I've tried to watch it a few times previously over the decades, but never did completely.


I about spit out my drink in the early movie bank robbery scene when Mel Gibson realized Danny Glover was the bank robber in Maverick. In the midst of the Lethal Weapon releases.

My wife was kibitzing me today as I did my leg presses.


She told me I had been doing them wrong, unless I was focused on my calves. After three achilles tendon tears and one surgery, I am.


I had the machine set to 290 and I was pumping "my way."



I went her way, and struggled to overcome 215.

I don't recommend working out with your spouse with an expectation of any adulation.


When I brought her home I grilled her some fresh caught Alaskan halibut caught and shipped by a History professor we know from her work.


After the halibut was consumed, I gave her "what for."


Just for the halibut.