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Small College Sport Marketing can be Exciting, Demanding and Rewarding

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Small College Sport Marketing can be Exciting, Demanding and Rewarding
Pete Coughlin rushes for the Washington & Jefferson College football team in 2016. Photo: Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pa.)

Marketing sport teams at a small college can be exciting, demanding, and often rewarding. Usually, marketing and branding duties fall solely upon one person due to smaller athletics budgets. The sport marketing professional in a small college athletic department has to cultivate relationships with the primary fan base while establishing rapport with faculty members and staff on campus. It is important that everyone on campus knows what is going on with the sport teams. Reaching out to current students, alumni, and local supporters is necessary so that marketing strategies can be customized for the local community or area.

The sport marketer has a secondary influence on athletic development efforts, recruiting, and ticket sales due to the natural promotion of these areas. The majority of small college athletic donors are family and friends of student-athletes, community boosters, alumni, and city businesses. These individuals are driven to donate because of factors such as loyalty, emotional attachment, or membership benefits. The success of sport teams can impact fundraising while creative promotions help sell tickets. Larger institutions usually count on tickets “selling themselves” – especially for revenue generating sports or select sport teams that are usually dominant. Finding unique ways to add value to tickets that are purchased is pivotal, since game attendance can often be hit or miss. Offering free food, t-shirts, programs, and discounts are easy ways to reward individuals who purchase tickets and drive fan engagement.

Social media marketing can be a great tool for messaging and the ability to provide frequent posts help to keep the “core” informed and notified. Platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube should all be utilized to increase the visibility and awareness of athletic programs or specialized events. A sport marketer must possess adequate skills and training when it comes to creative design and producing creative content. Visually appealing content has been proven to help with recruiting and branding. Coaches can also collaborate with the sport marketer to promote specific players or coaches, and highlight accomplishments.

Sport marketing needs vary across competitive divisions and conferences in athletics, but the need to stay relevant stays the same. Sport marketing professionals at small colleges understand that they may be paid to do one job, but in reality, they are actually performing several.

By Zac Tubbs, M.S.

Zac Tubbs is a former collegiate and professional athlete who has spent time as a sport marketing instructor, collegiate coach, and professional scout. He holds a master’s degree in sport and fitness management and a bachelor’s degree in career and technical education. He also earned a Collegiate Compliance certificate in 2011 from the United States Sports Academy

Nike Oregon Project Suspicions Heightened by Leaked USADA Report

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Nike Oregon Project Suspicions Heightened by Leaked USADA Report
Feb 11, 2012, Fayetteville, USA; Dan O’Brien interviews Galen Rupp and Alberto Salazar. Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY SPorts

An interim report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which claims athletics coach Alberto Salazar infringed anti-doping rules has now been published in its entirety.

The report alleges that Salazar, working with Houston endocrinologist Dr. Jeffrey Brown, infringed anti-doping rules with regards to several of his athletes in the Nike Oregon Project (NOP).

The confidential 269-page report was prepared by USADA for the Texas Medical Board, from which it was seeking further information in March 2016 over Brown’s involvement with the NOP.

It was leaked by hacking group Fancy Bears and sections of it have been reported upon by The Times and the New York Times.

It is now in the public domain in its entirety on US athletics site Flotrack.

The report contains strong suggestions from USADA that all of the NOP runners that received L-carnitine injections from Dr Brown – Dathan Ritzenhein, Galen Rupp, Tara Erdmann, Lindsay Allen, Alvina Begay and Dawn Grunnagle – were in breach of anti-doping rules.

While L-carnitine is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list, the WADA code limits intravenous infusions and/or injections to 50 millimeters over a six-hour period.

USADA argued that, working from evidence of levels present in athletes involved, including 2012 Olympic 10,000 meter silver medalist Rupp, it would have been scientifically impossible to reach those L-carnitine levels without infusing much more than 50ml.

On page 250, the report states: “For the reasons set forth above, it appears highly likely that Galen Rupp received an L-carnitine infusion from Dr Brown in excess of 50ml in violation of the applicable anti-doping rules and in violation of Dr Brown’s duty to Galen Rupp not to cause him to violate the rules.

“USADA’s investigation of Mr. Rupp’s potential violation of sport anti-doping rules is continuing.”

Salazar has emphatically denied violating anti-doping rules.

He has said that he and his athletes closely followed all protocols established by anti-doping authorities.

Although the report was compiled more than a year ago, USADA has not progressed its case in significant manner in the interim.

In January 2011, Salazar became aware of research from the University of Nottingham in England that appeared to show significant improvement in performance when athletes raised their L-carnitine to extremely high levels.

L-carnitine is a substance that occurs naturally in the body and helps convert fat to energy.

Salazar allegedly first gave his athletes L-carnitine drink products, before turning to other methods of introducing it into their metabolisms.

The report cites part of an email sent by Salazar to disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong and assorted Nike executives in 2011 which evidences his early enthusiasm for the effects of L-carnitine, following an early treadmill test on an assistant coach, Steve Magness.

Medical records obtained show that Dr Brown then gave Magness a continuous gravity drip infusion of L-carnitine on November 28, 2011 that lasted four hours and ten minutes.

The records note that Dr. Brown used the same duration, method and solution of L-carnitine and dextrose outlined by the Nottingham researchers.

From Magness’ sworn testimony, anti-doping officials concluded that “it appears very likely that the infusion volume administered to Steve Magness by Dr Brown was at least 1,000ml”.

Soon afterwards it is alleged that Salazar emailed: “Lance, call me ASAP.

“We have tested it and it’s amazing.

“You are the only athlete I’m going to tell the actual numbers to other than Galen Rupp.

“It’s too incredible.

“All completely legal and natural.

“You will finish the Iron Man in about 16 minutes less while taking this.”

The report also produces evidence to claim that Salazar misled athletes about his interactions with USADA and the treatment they were receiving, and also alleges that he and Dr. Brown showed little regard for the health of NOP athletes.

It cites the fact that several NOP athletes were prescribed with calcitonin as a form of athletic assistance until late 2012, when assistant coach Pete Julian, a cancer survivor, emailed the group to stop this practice once it emerged that calcitonin had been cited as increasing chances of getting cancer.

Marathon runner Dathan Ritzenheim, who left the group in 2014, was reported to have replied immediately: “Is this some kind of a joke?

“I have been taking this for the last four years.”

The report adds that athletes were diagnosed with hyperthyroidism even when their thyroid levels were within normal ranges.

There is speculation too over Salazar’s apparent “obsession” with improving his athletes’ testosterone levels.

Salazar has previously admitted to carrying out a testosterone experiment on his sons, saying he did it in order to see whether it was possible to sabotage an athlete and make them test positive by rubbing testosterone cream on them.

The report questions this motive, implying it could have been an experiment in micro-dosing to evade testing, although this remains as speculation.

By Mike Rowbottom

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz

More than 80 Americans Among Those Returning Faulty Rio Medals

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More than 80 Americans Among Those Returning Faulty Rio Medals
USA Wrestling athlete Kyle Snyder. Photo: AP Images

More than 80 American athletes have sent medals they won at the Rio Olympics to the U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters to be shipped to Games organizers, who will replace them because of flaking, black spots and other damage.

The Americans, including the gold medal wrestlers Kyle Snyder and Helen Maroulis, are among at least 100 Olympians from across the globe with defective medals. The USOC learned about the problems in December and reached out to all the American sports federations in January to begin the process.

The Rio Games spokesman Mario Andrada said officials have noted problems with the covering on 6 to 7 percent of the medals. “The most common issue is that they were dropped or mishandled, and the varnish has come off and they’ve rusted or gone black in the spot where they were damaged,” Andrada told the Associated Press.

This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.

Academy Faculty Member Predicts Further Global Growth of eSports

Academy Faculty Member Predicts Further Global Growth of eSports
Photo: iq.intel.com

A United States Sports Academy faculty member who has conducted scholarly research on “eSports” is predicting continued global growth for the popular competitive video gaming tournaments.

Academy Director of Sports Management Dr. Brandon Spradley recently co-authored a research article on the subject with doctoral student Daniel Kane for The Sport Journal, the Academy’s peer-reviewed online journal of sports. Kane is pursuing his Doctor of Education degree in sports management from the Academy.

“eSports is competitive video gaming,” Spradley said. “As a sports professional who studies sports management, it is necessary for me to keep up with current trends in the field. eSports has certainly been a growing trend over the last few years.”

United States Sports Academy Director of Sports Management Dr. Brandon Spradley

Spradley said eSports include any video game that can be played by multiple people – sports games, war games, fighting games, etc. – in a competitive, tournament-style setting. Some of the popular sports games played in eSports tournaments are the Madden series of NFL games and the NBA 2K series.  The tournaments have become highly popular among players and viewers around the world.

“An eSports tournament is set up in much the same way that a traditional athletic tournament would be, in an arena setting,” Spradley said. “The environment and the atmosphere, the things we love about major sports events, can be very similar to a traditional tournament. You have similar marketing aspects and sponsorships. The only thing is that instead of having people running around a track or shooting a ball into a hoop, you have them sitting around playing video games on a big screen.”

Newzoo, a gaming market observer organization, says the number of people who watch eSports – both occasional viewers and enthusiasts – will rise to 427 million globally by 2019.

Fortune magazine reported that the global eSports industry generated approximately $749 million in 2015, including $224 million in North America.  The revenues were overwhelmingly driven by sponsorships and advertising, which accounted for 78 percent, with other revenues coming from fantasy and eSports betting, amateur tournaments, and merchandise and ticket sales. The magazine predicts that global eSports revenue will rise to $1.9 billion by 2018.

Amid growth, there is also controversy.  Says Spradley, “A hot topic for debate among sports professionals is the question: ‘Should eSports be considered a true sport?’”

A former track and field athlete at the University of Alabama, Spradley said he is personally “on the fence” about calling eSports a true sport. But as an academic, he said he finds rise of eSports fascinating. In The Sport Journal piece, Spradley took an objective and academic view of the subject and helped Kane gather evidence to show eSports exhibit characteristics of a true sport.

The Sport Journal article (read here) suggests that eSports be considered a sport and governing bodies like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should recognize it as such. The piece also suggests eSports should be listed as an emerging sport for women in accordance with Title IX regulations.

Labeling video game playing as a sport is controversial, with many people saying eSports will never be considered a “true sport.” Others say the skillful execution, planning, precise timing and hand-eye coordination needed for competitive gaming are aspects that make it a sport.

“I’m a former collegiate student athlete, so it is hard for me to look at eSports as a real sport,” he said. “But in my role as a professor, I have to look at trends and study them. I have not necessarily bought in to the idea that eSports should be considered a sport like basketball, football or track and field, but I do think the topic of eSports is interesting because there are so many unique aspects to it.

“I have watched some of the eSports events on television; I look at the preparation that takes place.  I look at the preparation, the focus and the mental aspect. You have to have good hand-eye coordination and be prepared ahead of the tournament. It takes real mental focus to be good at eSports on a truly competitive level.”

The first competitive video gaming tournament took place in 1972 at Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where a few students played a space video game against each other. In 1980, Atari held the first large scale video game competition called the Space Invaders Championship tournament, which attracted 10,000 participants from around the United States. In the 1990s, the advent of the internet saw large eSports tournaments sprouting around the world. The trend continued to grow in the 2000s, which also saw the beginning of televised eSports in South Korea, the United Kingdom and eventually the United States, where ESPN has broadcasted Madden NFL competitions.

Today, the eSports movement has been granted legitimacy by professional sports organizations. Recently, 17 NBA teams announced plans to participate in the inaugural season of the NBA 2K eSports league, set to debut in 2018. It will be the first eSports league operated by a United States-based professional sports league.

eSports have also gained popularity at the collegiate level, where this year the Big Ten Network announced it would host a season of video game competitions between the conference’s member schools. eSports have also received considerable media coverage from ESPN, Yahoo!, Sport1 and others.

“It is more widespread than you may think,” Spradley said. “I read an article where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was talking about a partnership they signed with a video game publisher. A team, for example the New York Knicks, would link up with the eSports New York Knicks, and they would play competitive video tournaments gaming during the season against teams like the eSports Chicago Bulls. That caught my attention because it was the first time I had seen a major professional organization getting on board with eSports.”

On a global scale, supporters are pushing to have eSports recognized as an Olympic sport. In April, the Olympic Council of Asia announced plans to introduce eSports as a demonstration sport in the 2018 Asian Games and to make it a medal sport in 2022 in Hangzhou, China.

While eSports may never be recognized by some fans of traditional sports, Spradley said there is no denying that the trend will continue to grow worldwide for the foreseeable future.

“eSports will continue to grow,” Spradley said. “Much like traditional sports, I think this will grow from the local level upward.”

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.

The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala.  For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.

By Eric Mann

Eric Mann is the communications assistant at the United States Sports Academy. Reach him at emann@ussa.edu

NFL Changes Super Bowl Venues After Los Angeles Stadium Construction Delays

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NFL Changes Super Bowl Venues After Los Angeles Stadium Construction Delays
Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. Photo: Tampa Bay Times

Tampa has stepped in as the host of the 2021 Super Bowl after delays to the construction of Los Angeles Stadium.

The venue at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, which features in the city’s bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has experienced delays after record rainfall reportedly caused flooding at the site in Southern California.

Construction had been expected to be complete in 2019, but the finish date has now been pushed back a year.

The National Football League (NFL) require a stadium to have been open for two seasons before they can stage the Super Bowl.

The Los Angeles Stadium had been selected to stage the 2021 Super Bowl last May.

However, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa will now stage the 2021 event, with Los Angeles hosting the 2022 edition.

As part of the 2024 bid, the Los Angeles Stadium would hold the formal Opening Ceremony.

A simultaneous event has also been planned at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which was the main stadium used in the 1932 and 1984 Games.

Proceedings would then switch round for the Closing Ceremony, with the Coliseum hosting the formal event with another event being held alongside at the Los Angeles Stadium.

The state-of-the-art stadium was expected due to be completed in 2019 and could become the most expensive sporting venue in the world.

Designed by architectural firm HKS, it will be covered with a transparent roof and will have seating for between 70,000 and 100,000 spectators.

The estimated cost of the venue currently stands at $2.6 billion.

“From our standpoint, we felt this was an appropriate thing to do,” said Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner.

“We were fortunate that Tampa had a very competitive presentation when they bid on the Super Bowl earlier in 2016.

“So, this was a solution the membership got on very quickly.”

The Los Angeles Stadium is set to become the home ground of the NFL teams the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers from 2019.

“As work continues on the transformational sports and entertainment district being built at Hollywood Park, we are looking forward to moments such as a grand opening during the Summer of 2020 and the Super Bowl’s return to Los Angeles after nearly three decades,” said Kevin Demoff, Los Angeles Rams chief executive.

“In the past week, we have worked with the NFL on the resolution that was presented today and are supportive of the NFL owners’ decision to play Super Bowl LV in Tampa and to have Los Angeles host Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

“Over the next 90 days, we will continue to work with our partners across the Los Angeles region, including the Chargers, to deliver the elements promised in the bid that was approved last year.”

U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis the 2018 Super Bowl, before Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium stages the 2019 event.

Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida will host in 2020.

By Michael Pavitt

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz

Great City Games Moving Ahead in Manchester Following Terror Attack

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Great City Games Moving Ahead in Manchester Following Terror Attack
The GreatCity Games in Manchester will take place in Manchester on Friday. Photo: greatcitygames.org

Organizers of the Great City Games in Manchester have announced that they will take place as planned despite Monday’s (May 22) terrorist attack.

The event is due to take over the streets of the city on Friday (May 26) at a purpose built athletics arena in Albert Square.

In a statement organizers stated that installation work on the Deansgate venue began last night and would continue over the course of this week.

“Following consultation with Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council, we can confirm that the Arcadis Great CityGames scheduled for the evening of Friday 26 May will be staged as planned,” officials said.

The GreatCity Games is due to feature 12 athletics events.

Among the leading names due to compete are St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Kim Collins, the 2003 world 100 meter champion, and Britain’s Rio 2016 4x100m bronze medalists Asha Philip and Desiree Henry.

It remains to be seen whether the incident will affect the Great Manchester Run, which includes a half marathon and a 10 kilometer race. The event is due to take place on Sunday (May 28) and organizers have said a decision will be made in the next 24 hours.

Police have confirmed at least 22 people including children as young as eight-years-old have died and a further 64 people are injured as a result of the attack at the Manchester Arena, the largest venue of its type in Great Britain.

A lone attacker, named as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, is believed to have detonated an explosive device at the arena as people left a concert by American singer Ariana Grande.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the assailant died at the scene while counter-terror police and the intelligence services have launched a “fast-moving investigation.”

They have also confirmed that a 23-year-old man has been arrested in the city in connection with the incident.

Along with this, the force carried out raids in the Whalley Range and Fallowfield areas of Manchester as part of their investigations, with a controlled explosion being conducted at the latter venue.

Today, Greater Manchester Police said they had arrested three more men in south Manchester in connection with the incident.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the so-called Islamic State group.

By Max Winters

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz

Armour: Skyrocketing Costs Put Future Olympics at Risk

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Armour: Skyrocketing Costs Put Future Olympics at Risk
Fireworks at the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the Sydney Olympics in 2000. By David Shapinsky from Washington, D.C., United States - via Wikimedia Commons

The tab starts at more than $10 billion and often winds up being much, much higher. The predominant legacy is white elephants. The infrastructure improvements often wind up looking better on paper than in reality.

No wonder the Olympics are fast becoming an undertaking only an autocrat can love.

In a scathing report issued Monday, a federal prosecutor in Brazil said the country’s bid for last summer’s Rio Olympics was made with “no planning.” This will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the International Olympic Committee and its never-ending search for the best party.

The IOC has happily signed off on grandiose plans that have no chance of coming to fruition and budgets that would better qualify as works of fiction, knowing it won’t be sticking around for the cleanup. So long as there are five-star hotels, dedicated traffic lanes and Michelin-worthy food in the Olympic family lounges, what does the IOC care that the Games often result in a crushing financial burden for the host cities?

But as costs spiral and the trail of waste grows longer and wider, the IOC runs the risk of endangering the future of the Olympic movement. Unless the rampant spending is reined in, the IOC will find within a decade that the only cities interested — or able — to host the Games will be a select few that have done it before, like Los Angeles, or are in countries run by despots for whom money is no object.

Pyongyang in 2032, anyone? Or perhaps Qatar, which has already bamboozled FIFA into letting it host the World Cup in 2022.

No doubt the IOC will react to the Rio report with its customary statements about how the bid process has been reformed and fiscal responsibility is paramount. But cities are indicating that they’re finally getting wise to the Olympic shell game.

The 2022 Winter Olympics were awarded to Beijing, a city that doesn’t really have, you know, winter, after Oslo and Stockholm said thanks but no thanks. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel took a pass when the city was pressed to bid for 2024, saying only Sydney and Barcelona had benefited significantly from hosting the Games.

“You all can have the Olympics,” said Emanuel, who wasn’t in office when Chicago bid for the 2016 Games that went to Rio.

Speaking of 2024, the IOC is debating whether to split those Games and 2028 between L.A. and Paris after Boston, Hamburg, Budapest and Rome wanted no part of 2024.

And already, voters in Switzerland have rejected a possible 2026 bid while Barcelona took itself out of the running because of “social and economic circumstances, not only in Barcelona but in the whole country.”

With economic uncertainty or unease helping drive the wave of populism in the United States and across Europe this last year, the days of spending lavishly on events are over. At least it is in places where politicians have to answer to the public.

All a leader has to do is look to Rio, where venues were already crumbling and the Olympic park was a virtual ghost town six months after the Games ended. Another cluster of venues, which was supposed to become a public park with swimming facilities, remains closed.

Even the medals are falling apart, with organizers acknowledging that some are already rusting and chipping.

For the privilege of all this, the people of Rio will be saddled with bills for years to come.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announces the Los Angeles City Council’s 13-0 unanimous final approval vote to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, on January 25, 2017. Photo: AFP Photo/Mark Ralston

A city like Los Angeles, which is making wide use of facilities at USC and UCLA along with other, existing or under-construction buildings, and doesn’t need significant infrastructure improvements, the Games make sense. But there are only a handful of cities like L.A., and it gets tiresome when you’re always the one throwing the party.

That leaves countries like Russia or China or pretty much anywhere in the Middle East, where money and public objections aren’t a factor. Neither are freedom of speech, the right to dissent or protection of the LGBTQ community. But, hey, what’s a few violations of human rights between friends?

They say you can tell a lot about someone by the company they keep. The IOC would be wise to keep that in mind.

By Nancy Armour

This article was republished with permission from the original author and 2015 Ronald Reagan Media Award recipient, Nancy Armour, and the original publisher, USA Today. Follow columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.

WBSC Sets Schedule for Under-12 Baseball World Cup in Tainan

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WBSC Sets Schedule for Under-12 Baseball World Cup in Tainan
Photo: wbsc.org

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has unveiled the competition schedule for this year’s Under-12 Baseball World Cup in Tainan, Taipei.

Due to be held between July 28 and August 6, the hosts and under-12 World Cup 2015 silver medalists will lock horns with current world number one ranked side Japan in Group A.

Mexico, Czech Republic, Brazil and South Africa complete the set.

Two-time defending under-12 world champions United States will compete in Group B.

Third seeds South Korea are expected to form their primary opposition along with 2015 bronze medalists Nicaragua, and Australia, Panama and Germany.

South Africa and current under-12 Americas champions Mexico will officially open the World Cup on the first day of competition.

Japan, the reigning Asian champions, will face European qualifiers the Czech Republic while Australia will take on the US.

Panama will meet Asian qualifiers South Korea, while current European champions Germany will open against Nicaragua.

Following the Opening Ceremony at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, host nation Chinese Taipei will meet Brazil.

The full schedule can be found here.

The top three in Group A will play the top three from Group B in the Super Round while a Consolation Round will be staged for those finishing outside of the top three positions in each group.

Following the Super Round, the top two will then meet in the final at Tainan Municipal Stadium on August 6.

Earlier this week a promotional video for the tournament was released.

It showcases action from the best players in the age-group.

By Max Winters

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz

Would Wil Myers be a Bigger Star if he Didn’t Play in San Diego?

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Would Wil Myers be a Bigger Star if he Didn’t Play in San Diego?
San Diego Padres player Wil Myers. Photo: MLB.com

Wil Myers has been a rising star since his 2016 year with the San Diego Padres, which saw him selected to the MLB All-Star Game for the first time in his career.

Myers ended that season with 676 plate appearances and 28 home runs, which is more than double the amount of home runs he hit in previous years. Myers hit a huge two-out double to right center field and became the first Padre to get an extra-base hit in an All-Star Game since Ken Caminiti in 1996.

His rise to success was quick and his name was starting to show up everywhere. He was called the hometown hero after that hit during the All-Star Game. He signed an $83 million, six-year contract before the 2017 season, which is the most rewarding contract in Padres history.

This being said, would he have made more money if he went to another team? Should he have signed a shorter deal and explored his options with a different team and with a higher payday? If you are a Padres fan, like me, you are happy with having Myers in San Diego for six years, but is that really the best deal that he could have received?

Myers made the right decision to stay in San Diego and sign that $83 million deal. San Diego is a great place to live, with a lot to do, great fans, and one of the most beautiful ball parks in all of baseball. Myers has the chance to be the face of the Padres franchise for the next six years. I don’t believe he would have the same opportunity if he went elsewhere.

The Padres have been rebuilding for quite some time now, and the fans are starting to get restless for even a sliver of success. Myers is giving Padres fans a look into that success. Fans are used to the Padres getting a great player, only to trade them to another club for some minor leaguers that we don’t even know. The extension of Myers definitely calmed some of the fans and gave them an All-Star player to cheer for.

Now on to the question “If Wil Myers did play with another club, would he be a bigger star?” I think the answer is “yes.”

San Diego has a lower salary cap, smaller fan base, and is not known for keeping high profile players since the team is still rebuilding. If he played for another team like the Yankees or the Angels I do believe that his name would be a lot bigger than it is now.

The Padres are building the team around Myers and hope to make it back to the playoffs in the near future. The Padres this year have started slowly and are 5th in the NL West, yet fans still seem to be engaged. I think this is due to the success with the long ball, Myers’ contributions, and the fact that the roster has some of the best rookies in baseball this year.

It takes time to rebuild a team, but the Padres are definitely on the right path. Yes, Myers would be a bigger name if he played for a higher profile team, but he set himself up well only being 26 years old with a six-year contract. He will still be young at the end of the contract and could always stay in San Diego or move on to a new team.

Retaining Myers is a huge step to getting San Diego back in the pennant race, which the Padres haven’t seen since the 2006 season, where they lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS. There is no doubt that Myers is an All-Star player and could be a bigger star elsewhere, but his home is San Diego, and at this point of his career it is the smartest decision he could have made.

By Joshua Whitaker

Joshua Whitaker is a lifelong sports fan who enjoys diving deeper into the issues that matter to sports fan like himself. 

Nightengale: Ngoepe, First MLB Player from Africa, Wants to Inspire Others

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Nightengale: Ngoepe, First MLB Player from Africa, Wants to Inspire Others
Pittsburgh Pirates rookie infielder Gift Ngoepe. Photo: Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Gift Ngoepe walks into the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse, and his heart races, looking all around the room as if he’s inside the Louvre, trying to grasp the enormity of it all.

How, he asks to no one in particular, can this possibly be called a locker room? They look more like individual condominiums than lockers. It sure doesn’t look anything like the one he grew up in back home.

Ngoepe, 27, born in South Africa but too young to remember the pain and cruelty of apartheid, and still grasping the historical impact of Jackie Robinson in this country, is the first player from Africa to wear a major-league uniform.

“I know what I’m doing is significant for my country,’’ Ngoepe (pronounced (n-GO-pay) tells USA TODAY Sports, “but to me it’s not black and white. I grew up in the area of apartheid, but the white people were nice to me. I was nice to them. I went to English schools where I met white friends, and people who looked after me were white. I was fine with both races.

“I know there are things that happen here. I’ve been to a couple of places where they look at me like, ‘What is going on?’ But I’m not a guy of much conflict.

“I don’t want to hear about things that are bad. That’s why I don’t read the newspapers. Everything is just bad news, like this guy shot that guy. That guy shot this guy. I know about these things. I just don’t want to get in-depth with it.’’

Ngoepe may have grown up 8,000 miles away in Randburg, South Africa, but every time he walks into a new clubhouse, whether it’s PNC Park in Pittsburgh or SunTrust Park in Atlanta where he’s visiting for the first time this week, it reminds him of home.

The washer and dryers. The big refrigerator in the kitchen. The shower stalls. Even the baseball field just outside the walls.

“What I remember growing up,’’ Ngoepe says, “locker rooms didn’t look like this. And our field was rocky. This is awesome.’’

Ngoepe, you see, actually grew up in a baseball clubhouse.

Not figuratively, but literally.

Ngoepe, his mother, and two brothers lived in a 7 ½-by-9-foot room, about the size of a large closet, next to the clubhouse shower stalls of an amateur white baseball club called the Randburg Mets. They had a bed and a thin mattress, a dresser, a sink, a stool, a space heater and a TV.

His mother, Maureen, was the clubhouse attendant. She cooked and cleaned for the players, who practiced twice a week, and sold snacks during their games on Sundays. Ngoepe was the team’s batboy.

When the players went home after practice and games, Ngoepe kept playing alone. He spent hours throwing baseballs and tennis balls against the clubhouse walls. He threw pop-ups into the air and ran under them. He tossed balls into the air to hit.

“The wall, that was my best friend,’’ says Ngoepe, regarded as the Pirates’ top defensive infielder. “The wall just kept throwing the ball back to me. I didn’t need anybody else. Really, it was my perfect playground.’’

Ngoepe, in a land of cricket, rugby and soccer, became a baseball freak. He developed the soft hands and strong and accurate arm during the day, and would set his alarm at 2 in the morning sometimes, just to catch a major-league game.

He would dream of one day being the next Derek Jeter. The next Roberto Alomar. The next Nomar Garciaparra. He was a Boston Red Sox fan, only because his best friend was a New York Yankees fan.

“I would one day love to meet them,’’ Ngoepe says in his thick British accent. “I would like to meet Ken Griffey, too. Those were my heroes growing up.’’

Now, Ngoepe finds himself a role model, too, for those among the 1.2 billion people in Africa who may harbor similar dreams. If not baseball, he’s a man who exemplifies determination and resiliency.

Ngoepe, who never made more than $43,000 in a season until this year’s pro-rated $535,000 salary in the big leagues, spent nine years and 704 games in the minor leagues. He nearly quit several times, the last in 2013 when his mother died of pneumonia at the age of 45. He flew back home, was at her bedside for five days before she died in his arms, and spent the next 1 ½ months in South Africa grieving.

This was a woman who was three months pregnant with him and crying in church one day because his father abandoned them. A prophet walked into church that day and comforted her, told her that she would have a son. Name him, “Gift,’’ she said, because the child would be a “gift from God.’’

Maureen named her son: Mpho Gift Ngoepe. The first name also means “gift’’ in their native Sotho.

“It was so hard,’’ Ngoepe says, “because my mom meant everything to me. She was always there for me. But I know she would have wanted me to go on. She never wanted me to quit. So I kept pushing and pushing. I had to stay strong. I had to overcome my failures.

“Now, I believe I can be an inspiration.’’

Ngoepe has become a genuine folk hero back home now. Sure, he hasn’t reached the fame of Ernie Els, the U.S. Open and British Open champion, or legendary golfer Gary Palmer. Or swimmer Cameron van der Burgh, the gold medal winner in the 2012 Olympics. But quickly, he’s ascending the list of famous South Africa athletes.

Ngoepe, who produced his first hit off Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs, may be hitting just .200 these days as a slick-fielding middle infielder, but it hasn’t slowed the demands on his time from international media.

“The minister of sports just reached out,’’ Ngoepe says, “and said, ‘When you get home, let us know, so we can give you a hero’s welcome.’

“I’m like, “No. It’s not happening. I like my free time. When I get home, it will be just me, my family, and everything else can wait.’’’

Besides, when you’re trying to hang onto dear life in the big leagues without being sent back to Class AAA Indianapolis, it’s not the time to plan parade routes.

So far, he has been overwhelmed by the support of his new peers.

Pirates players have welcomed him as if they’ve known him their whole lives. Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays and Ian Desmond of the Texas Rangers shot him congratulatory text messages when he arrived to the big leagues. Cincinnati Reds All-Star first baseman Joey Votto walked across the field just to shake his hand. Hopefully one day, Ngoepe says, he can meet Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, too, telling him how much he admires him as a player and role model.

“There’s a little bit of pressure just to stay here,’’ Ngoepe says. “It’s hard. You’ve got to do everything you can to the best of your abilities to stay in this league. But I know if I do well, it will open more doors for African people.’’

No matter how long he sticks around, for a guy who was discovered only after spending three weeks in Major League Baseball’s European academy in 2008, tutored by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, Ngoepe has already beaten the astronomical odds.

“I kept wondering why no one would sign him,’’ says George Santiago, who worked for the International Baseball Federation when he first saw Ngoepe in 2007. “I would mention him to friends of mine and scouts. People looked at me like I was crazy, just because he was from South Africa.

“You saw the talent. You saw the tools. It’s not like you could miss him. He was the only brother on the South Africa team.’’

Says Larkin: “I remember seeing his athleticism and his strength on the field, but what really stood out for me was just his aptitude. He really had an understanding of the game and an ability to comprehend different situations required of him.

“He’s such a great kid, an off-the-charts quality individual. Really, he has fitting name, too, because he is really is a gift.’’

Ngoepe, sitting in front of his locker after a game last week, starts humming along to the music in the background, Michael Jackson’s “Beat it,’’ and breaks into an expansive grin.

Look at him, wearing No. 61 for the Pirates, staying in a hotel walking distance from PNC Park – where fans wave the flag of his country during games – and living the life he dreamed of as a child, however improbable.

“I haven’t made up my mind what I want to do when this is all over,’’ says Ngoepe, who has a tattoo of Africa on his left shoulder. “I do love South Africa, I really do. If the economy gets better, I’ll stay there. The safari. The people in South Africa. It’s such a beautiful place.

“But I know God has a plan for me. And my mom, she still watches over me, too.

“Really, I feel my journey has just begun.’’

By Bob Nightengale

This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, USA Today. Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter and Facebook