Kirk Wessler's year-end Kirks & Jerks column

[tornado]

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20141230/SPORTS/141239926/11130/SPORTS?Start=1

The only Bradley reference at all is not actually about the team...Kirk Wessler labels Geno Ford & Dr. Michael Cross as "Jerks"!
"RENAISSANCE JERKS: Bradley athletics director Michael Cross, basketball coach Geno Ford
and everyone else thumping the tub to jam BU men’s basketball home games into the on-campus
Renaissance Coliseum, a too-small arena that never was intended for that purpose. The vast majority
of Braves fans have shown they don’t want to go to Ren Col, and they aren’t likely to change their minds,
even if the team resumes regular winning."

No other reference really to anything about Bradley basketball - or any Bradley sport



then there was this ...(and I know some will label me a bigot, but someone has to stand up for common sense and reality)
"GENDER EQUITY KIRK: Mo’ne Davis, the fireballing eighth-grade pitcher from South Philly,
became the first girl to win a Little League World Series game and made it seem possible
that a female might someday earn a spot on a Major League Baseball roster."

OK to dream whatever you want, but wake me if that ever happens....
anyway....just WHAT keeps females from earning spots on major league rosters?
Or minor league rosters...or even college rosters...?
What is it??? Bias? Close-mindedness? Bigotry?
Nope - I think the answer is tremendously obvious - it is the massive talent differential between even the very, very best baseball-playing female and even the bare minimum necessary to play at any given level.

Can anyone name a female that ought to be on a major league roster?
It might happen some day - particularly minor league but even if it does - just exactly what is it we can conclude if the very best woman baseball player is barely good enough to play a bit in the minors....
Did anyone catch this? - LINK (note the term "torching")
- or this - that once a woman did play a tiny bit of baseball at the lowest of college levels
BTW - her lifetime batting average against the males was .074 - kinda makes the argument it mighta just been a stunt all along...
Next thing you know Kirk will be telling us we're soon gonna see women competing in the Heavyweight Division of Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling or
maybe playing with the guys in the NHL or NFL....


One more thing- there's plenty of girls that can compete with boys as children - even up to early teen years...
in soccer, basketball, baseball....many local junior high and even a couple high school boys basketball & soccer teams have had girls....
Nobody ever denied that since often the girls actually grow earlier, can be bigger & stronger up to maybe age 13, 14 or so...
But this idea- even obsession - that in most sports beyond age 14 that girls are gonna blitz the guys is lame - it's not happening...
it is a figment of the media's invention...
I once saw an interview with Chris Evert when she was the #1 ranked women tennis player in the world and she sheepishly admitted that her 15 year old little brother ...who she used as a practice partner ...routinely beat her all the time. And we know that male scout teams of ordinary non-basketball guys plucked off the average college campus can & do routinely beat the top rated women's DI teams.. LINK - LINK - LINK -- some of these guys don't even look like they played HS ball

 

[Da Coach]

By the way, the Associated Press named their Female Athlete of the Year-
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_gr...s_mo_ne_davis_female_athlete_of_the_year.html

Their Female Athlete of the Year was Mo'ne Davis- the girl that, according to Kirk, "made it seem possible that a female might someday earn a spot on a Major League Baseball roster."

2nd place was Lauren Hill, the female basketball player stricken with a fatal form of brain cancer who was allowed to play and make a couple unguarded layups in a Division III women's basketball game.

3rd place was Serena Williams, who has been a top women's tennis player for many years, and the only one of the three to actually win any kind of championship.

 

[Vent]

Why would Kirk want to write anything about Bradley? There isn't much to write about. Most people have lost interest in the program due to it being so bad. And besides, according to Geno, fans that thought playing Eureka was a bad idea, are uneducated. Most uneducated people are poor readers. Boy that might be the poorest and most alienating words I have ever heard a coach say about his fan base.

 

[tornado]

I know what he means - when he labels people uneducated - it's a common way seen all the time to attack anyone who doesn't not share your opinion,
thus you claim you are so much more highly educated or enlightened and they cannot possibly see the facts straight enough so their opinions are discounted...

Molinari kinda said it in a different way that was nowhere near as insulting.... when he called Central Illinois "the land of 10,000 coaches"...


...but still, I may disagree with how they coach or run the Athletic Dept...but it is still improper and downright juvenile to write a newspaper column, and to call yourself respectable yet call people names like "Jerk" publicly...
Any reporter who does so should be ashamed....if he wants to call wife-beaters, cheaters and criminals "Jerks", I will look the other way...
but people who are honest and doing the best they can is another story....


btw - I guess the AP awards for top women's athlete of the year have morphed into the top inspirational athletes - as they have totally ignored
all the women who train for years and won medals at the Sochi Olympics....and other women who competed and excelled at their sports.

 

[tornado]

By the way, the Associated Press named their Female Athlete of the Year-
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_gr...s_mo_ne_davis_female_athlete_of_the_year.html

Their Female Athlete of the Year was Mo'ne Davis- the girl that, according to Kirk, "made it seem possible that a female might someday earn a spot on a Major League Baseball roster."....

one major league manager thinks that a woman will play in MLB some day..
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...female-player-in-majors/ar-BBrS9J5?li=BBnba9I

I guess I wouldn't bet against it but if it happens, I suspect it'll be a publicity stunt like bringing Minnie Minoso back to play when he turned 60
or an NBA team drafting Ann Meyers.
There was also some talk of Mark Cuban using a draft pick on Brittany Griner - but it never happened.

 

[Chico]

one major league manager thinks that a woman will play in MLB some day..
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...female-player-in-majors/ar-BBrS9J5?li=BBnba9I

I guess I wouldn't bet against it but if it happens, I suspect it'll be a publicity stunt like bringing Minnie Minoso back to play when he turned 60
or an NBA team drafting Ann Meyers.
There was also some talk of Mark Cuban using a draft pick on Brittany Griner - but it never happened.

Don't forget Bill Veeck having a midget(Eddie Goedel) pinch hit for the St. Louis Browns. Guess what, he drew a walk.

 

[tornado]

By the way, the Associated Press named their Female Athlete of the Year-
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_gr...s_mo_ne_davis_female_athlete_of_the_year.html

Their Female Athlete of the Year was Mo'ne Davis- the girl that, according to Kirk, "made it seem possible that a female might someday earn a spot on a Major League Baseball roster."......

It's been two years since Mo'Ne made headlines by playing Little League baseball...
she is now about to turn 15, will be a rising sophomore in her high school - so how did she do in high school sports this past year....

as a freshman, she played girl's varsity basketball at a small Philadelphia private high school (total HS enrollment 448 and tuition around $30K)
One reporter went to watch her play in February - decide for yourself - but it seems he was not overly impressed- she went 1-8 and had defensive lapses against an opponent that was even smaller (~300 enrollment)
Beyond that, there's virtually no media reports anywhere of how she did -
http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/article/14714514/exactly-how-good-mone-davis-basketball-anyway

...the only report of how they did on the season is a comment that they were 1-9 - LINK

-then she appears to have gone out for baseball but is currently pitching for their high school JV baseball. Their JV appears to be 2-5 - LINK
https://twitter.com/edfmccann/status/730893970037977088

but, she's trying to cash in on fame launching a line of sneakers!
https://twitter.com/DFLIX_People/status/729643912990588928

 

[pfcmsh]

Negative About Bradley

Negative About Bradley

Mr Wessler is pretty negative about Bradley. What does he have against us?

It's true that Bradley has seriously fallen from a competitive MBB team, but we've been traditionally competitive and even very good at times and we will return to that level. Mr Wessler states, "...even if the team resumes regular winning." It's as if he wishes that we do not return to regular winning.

Was he not a supporter of Coach Ford and Mr Cross? Now he is not? Isn't he a Bradley alumnus?

Of course, we will return to regular winning!!

I don't appreciate his remarks. Maybe he just wants interest in his articles?

 

[Chico]

Jim Les was not kw's choice. That IMO is the reason he was so negative during Jim's time coaching the Braves.

 

[basketball nut]

Jim Les was not kw's choice. That IMO is the reason he was so negative during Jim's time coaching the Braves.

That just goes to show why KW needs to continue writing about sports and not trying to hire coaches. JL wasn't his choice but yet had some success. (I realize not everyone on this board agrees to what level but at least they had some very good seasons). Then he thought the worst 4 seasons in BU history was coached by a great coach that shouldn't have got fired. Goes to show he has no idea what a good coach looks like.

 

[pfcmsh]

Thanks

Thanks

Jim Les was not kw's choice. That IMO is the reason he was so negative during Jim's time coaching the Braves.

Thank you, Chico. I just do not understand how KW could think that Coach Ford was better than Coach Les. I do not care if I ever read another article from KW.

 

[pfcmsh]

That just goes to show why KW needs to continue writing about sports and not trying to hire coaches. JL wasn't his choice but yet had some success. (I realize not everyone on this board agrees to what level but at least they had some very good seasons). Then he thought the worst 4 seasons in BU history was coached by a great coach that shouldn't have got fired. Goes to show he has no idea what a good coach looks like.

I remain a Coach Les fan. You make a good point, basketball nut. To me he seems totally out of touch and very negative about Bradley. We will recover from the slide caused by the 4 years prior to Coach Wardle. I wonder then if he will get on the band wagon. Is he neutral about Coach Wardle?

 

[tornado]

partially in their defense - the PJS doesn't have the budget nor the staffing to cover much of anything.... but their decisions as to what to cover are somewhat puzzling.

I noticed this morning they had 6 or 7 columns and reports on track ...
they had staff in El Paso, in Dunlap, they even reported on Galesburg...etc...
- but then - they sponsor a track meet - so that's pretty self-serving...same with bowling - they also sponsor a bowling tourney...
They must think there's an enormous following of local track...but oddly the track meets I have been to have attendances in the single digits sometimes.

But ....they haven't had squat on any of the other spring high school sports - nothing on soccer, and very little on baseball, softball...
and barely more than a box score on college sports!!

You wouldn't know Bradley baseball is battling for 2nd place and BU softball battling for upper division.... these are performances worthy of more coverage...
Heck - ICC baseball is 28-19 - doing really well... they have a kid batting well over .400 and among the NATIONAL leaders in 3 categories..

but have you noticed what we get?
Dave Reynolds just wrote a long column saying Major League Baseball needs to move the fences way back and put an end to guys hitting home runs.
That is insane - does he even have a clue how badly that would hurt attendance and TV viewership?
And he did write about Bradley today - of course it was TRACK- but we only compete in a couple of track events and as a team we will 100% guaranteed finish last in the MVC because we only have long distance runners.
How 'bout a little more coverage on the new guys just signed.

Then you have Phil Luciano out covering elementary school potties and toilets...and of all things ranting about why he has to cover it - but the answer is because HE and his media have made it into an issue! I've certainly never worried about it before or requested coverage on it.

 

[Future Walk-On]

I remain a Coach Les fan. You make a good point, basketball nut. To me he seems totally out of touch and very negative about Bradley. We will recover from the slide caused by the 4 years prior to Coach Wardle. I wonder then if he will get on the band wagon. Is he neutral about Coach Wardle?

Don't avidly read Wessler or DR but what annoyed me was some article KW wrote back in November like 5 games into the season where he was super critical of the team.

I'm like they are all freshman we know they are bad maybe let's be optimistic or somewhat positive here.

 

[pfcmsh]

Good Point

Good Point

Don't avidly read Wessler or DR but what annoyed me was some article KW wrote back in November like 5 games into the season where he was super critical of the team.

I'm like they are all freshman we know they are bad maybe let's be optimistic or somewhat positive here.

You are so right. He was very negative. Good point about youth and us knowing we had to begin to stop the slide. We got better as they year went on and now we have something to build on.

 

[tornado]

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20141230/SPORTS/141239926/11130/SPORTS?Start=1...
"GENDER EQUITY KIRK: ...and made it seem possible
that a female might someday earn a spot on a Major League Baseball roster."..

well, I am sure Kirk will gloat that we are ONE STEP CLOSER...but it still seems an awfully lot like this is just a publicity stunt...

"In historic move, two female players signed by minor league baseball team"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...players-signed-by-minor-league-baseball-team/

First - this isn't minor league in the sense of Single A, Double A, or Triple A...
this is just some really small, obscure independent minor league team in Sonoma, CA (Sonoma Stompers) - they are not affiliated with any Major League Baseball team.

And they haven't played the women yet - just signed them - although it is projected they will be in the starting lineup today!

The two players are
Stacy Piagno, "a 25 year old pitcher/infielder", 5-9 softball player from University of Tampa
Kelsie Whitmore, "a 17 year old outfielder/pitcher", 5-6 softball player from Cal State Fullerton

and although one team representative claims it is not a stunt, the facts seem to hint otherwise as the article says...
The Stompers are somewhat famous for stunts like having 67-year old retired MLB pitcher Bill Lee start a game and promoting an openly gay starting pitcher on Gay Pride Night at their park...
then this...
"If this sounds like it has the makings of a Hollywood movie, then it might
not be completely surprising that the impetus for the signings came from a
legendary director: Francis Ford Coppola. His winery, Virginia Dare, entered
into a partnership with the nearby team, and Coppola pitched the idea to
Fightmaster.
“My family would play co-ed baseball games and inevitably the star player
would always be an aunt who could run and hit and that made the games so
much more fun,” Coppola said in a statement. “When watching Major League
Baseball, I always wondered why there couldn’t be a co-ed team. It’s the one
major sport in which weight and strength come less into play. So when my
Sonoma winery became involved with the Stompers, I had the opportunity to
turn this thought into a reality and recruit these amazing women capable of
playing alongside men.”

 

[Da Coach]

Here is the girl who is scheduled to be the starting pitcher tonight-
Stacy Piagno, 25 years old-
http://staugustine.com/sports/2016-...stint-sonoma-stompers-mens-pro-baseball-team#

She played softball in college, but played baseball in high school, and is a member of Team USA Women's baseball-
http://www.teamusa.org/usa-baseball/athletes/Stacy-Piagno


The other girl, Kelsie Whitmore, is just 17 and just finished high school. She is signed to play softball at Cal State Fullerton, but has not enrolled there yet. The NCAA considers baseball a different sport than softball, so despite signing a professional baseball contract, she will still be eligible to join the CSF softball team when she enrolls in the fall.
http://www.fullertontitans.com/sports/w-softbl/2015-16/releases/20160630stlydv

 

[tornado]

betcha they have more media at tonite's game than ever

 

[tornado]

betcha they have more media at tonite's game than ever

yup - media in droves plus..
the game was a huge sellout....the stunt works!

The game is still going - the Stompers are losing 5-2 in the 7th to the Pacifics

the bad news for starting pitcher Stacy Piagno she's on the hook for the loss.
..she lasted just two innings...she was unable to get out of the 3rd inning.....
leaves the game with this line..

Per one source: .. 2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 Ks, 1 HBP. LINK - LINK
- altho one other report said all the runs were unearned
Also - Kelsie Whitmore started and played in the outfield.

In an unusual move..Stacy was mobbed by the press as soon as she came out in the 3rd inning

btw- they have live streaming and surprisingly, it's way better than ESPN3 -
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/baosn...&utm_medium=social&utm_content=20160701201204

They just had an interview with Kelsie- both women are only contracted for one month July 1- July 31, as they have other obligations after that (as note above by Da Coach)

 

[tornado]

story & box score
http://www.stompersbaseball.com/new...iers-in-historic-moment-for-women-in-baseball
http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=355074

Stompers lost 8-4
Starting pitcher Stacy Piagno gave up 4 runs in 2 innings, two of which were earned, she walked two struck out none.
She faced 14 batters, and gave up 5 hits for the 12 AB's, threw 39 pitches - 19 strikes/20 balls. Her opponents' batting avg. was .417.

Kelsie Whitmore had two plate appearances, one walk and a strikeout. She had one chance & one putout in left field. Her replacement went 1-2.