Utah baseball diamonds a microcosm of nation’s declining black player population

Posted on April 16, 2013 by comm5775

Story and slideshow by TALON CHAPPELL 

View the local baseball culture around Salt Lake City.

When Brooklyn Dodgers player Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, he didn’t know that only 30 years later black players would be a staple in American baseball.

He also didn’t know that only 30 years after their resurgence, black players would be rapidly dwindling in number.

The percentage of black professional, collegiate and high school players has dipped every decade since the ’70s. Then, black players like Reggie Jackson, Ozzie Smith and Hank Aaron were dazzling crowds with speedy base running, golden glove plays and 450-foot home run bombs.

Almost nowhere else in the U.S. is this statistic more glaring than in Utah, where black baseball players at all levels are virtually nonexistent.

This begs the question: Why are black kids staying away from baseball diamonds? What can baseball do, in Utah and the rest of the US, to get more black youth involved in what was once America’s favorite past time?

“42” past and present

The story of Jackie Robinson is being chronicled in the new film “42,” named after Robinson’s jersey number which has been retired in every major league stadium in honor of his legacy.

“42” opened in theatres Friday, April 12, 2013.

The movie follows Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) through his childhood learning baseball, his rise in the minor and Negro leagues, signing by team executive Branch Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) for the Dodgers and the struggles he faced while playing in a white league and segregated stadiums.

Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, which was one year before the U.S. military was integrated, 10 years before Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and 12 years before the Boston Red Sox became the last major league team to integrate their roster.

Robinson laid the foundation for future generations of black ball players to enter the majors on equal standing with their white counterparts. He also got the black community to watch and pay attention to Major League Baseball.

Michael Wilbon, a respected ESPN baseball and basketball writer (and host of “Pardon the Interruption”) grew up in Chicago during a time when baseball was far more relevant in the black community than it is today.

“The talk in the barber shop wasn’t of Wilt [Chamberlain] and [Bill] Russell nearly as much as it was of [Hank] Aaron and [Willie] Mays,” Wilbon said in a Washington Post story. 

Baseball losing interest among Utah youth

Landon “Land-O” Dickerson is a center fielder for the Layton High School baseball team. He is also the only black player on the baseball team at his school, located about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Dickerson first started playing tee-ball when he was 5 years old and knew that baseball was his sport.

“I grew up playing baseball. I played football and basketball too but nothing made me more excited than going to the batting cages in spring,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson never really paid attention to the fact that he was usually the only black kid on his youth baseball teams. He was too busy playing to care. While he was batting and fielding, his few black peers were pursuing the two other dominant American sports, football and baseball.

“I didn’t even think about it [lack of black players] ’til I started playing comp [competition level] ball. I thought it was weird that no other black kids wanted to play competitively, but everyone said I was weird for liking baseball more anyways so I didn’t really care,” Dickerson said.

Robert Ferneau is the head coach of the Layton High baseball team. He has had a long and illustrious career in baseball.

Ferneau played at Layton High before playing at the collegiate level, first at Snow College (Ephraim, Utah) then at Colorado State University. He then finished his playing career at Weber State University. After an injury kept him from being drafted into the majors, he focused his energy on coaching. After earning a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science, he came back to coach his alma mater in 1993.

During his 20-year tenure at the school, Ferneau has noticed the drop in participation from black players.

“There’s usually not a lot [black players] because of our community, but usually a couple per season. Now we get one or two a season, sometimes none,” Ferneau said.

Ferneau doesn’t think there’s a whole lot baseball can do to attract more kids, of all races, to play. But some options he thought would help include building and maintaining better facilities and fields, getting more kids involved with baseball and tee-ball at a young age and spreading exposure of professional black ballplayers.

Utah collegiate baseball completely lacking in diversity

The already dismal percentage of black athletes in baseball further decreases in the college ranks.

The rosters of Utah’s two major collegiate baseball programs (the University of Utah and Brigham Young University) feature no black players between them. Every other Utah college or university’s baseball program is club based and of those programs, only two had a single black player on their roster (Utah State University and Weber State University).

Ryan Madsen played college ball at the College of Eastern Utah in Price, Utah. He too noticed the decline in diversity when he got to the college level.

“I was always used to having a couple non-white guys on my youth and high school teams. When I got to CEU the whole team was white, and a lot of our competition was mostly white,” Madsen said.

Madsen believes that many black high school players don’t aspire to play at the college level because there just aren’t enough scholarships to go around.

“They’d rather try to get a scholarship in a different sport, or stop playing ball to get a job so they can begin to afford paying for college,” Madsen said.

After his two years at CEU, Madsen decided the cost and effort of major collegiate baseball was too high and he focused on his education. He graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2012.

According to a CBS Sports report, NCAA baseball programs can only offer 11.7 scholarships per season. This means that most of those scholarships are split among multiple players, which adds to the already staggering cost of a college education for those athletes in less-than-desirable financial situations.

Only 11.7 scholarships for baseball, as opposed to 85 scholarships handed out by major college football programs. It doesn’t quite add up.

Black players being replaced in the professional ranks

Utah’s three minor league teams have a combined four black players on their rosters, only two of whom are of African-American descent. The state’s most prestigious team, the Salt Lake Bees (AAA affiliate for the L.A. Angels) have no black players on their roster; the Orem Owlz (AA affiliate of the L.A. Angels) have one black player from the Dominican Republic and the Ogden Raptors (AA affiliate of the L.A. Dodgers) have three black players, one from the Dominican Republic, and two from the U.S.

Chances that were once being given to promising young African-American players in major league farm systems are now being given to the wave of players from Latin-American and Caribbean countries.

According to a CNN Money article, most of the reasoning behind the transition from homegrown to foreign players in the majors is purely economic. Because of the relative poverty within these countries, it is cheaper for major league teams to train, develop and sign a player from Latin America or the Caribbean than it is to do the same in the U.S. Because of this, every major league club has an academy that offers schooling and baseball training in the Dominican Republic, as well as 10 clubs that have one in Venezuela.

In response to this, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig set out to build the U.S.’s first homegrown baseball academy.

“We’ve already built development academies in the inner cities … We’ve got one in Compton that everyone raves about, we just opened one in Houston and we’re building one in Miami and Atlanta,” Selig said in an ESPN interview.

Black players only make up roughly 8 percent of major league rosters and 25 percent of those individuals play for three teams (Yankees, Dodgers, Angels). This represents a major decline from the 27 percent in 1975 and even from the 19 percent in 1995. Selig told ESPN “that winning back the African-American athlete [may be] his last hill to climb” before his retirement in 2014.

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Gay male athletes are still seeking acceptance from coaches, teammates and fans

Posted on December 6, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by MATT ELLIS

Check out some sports venues in Salt Lake City.

In September 2012, Jamie Kuntz was kicked off of the North Dakota State football team after he was seen kissing his boyfriend.

When former NBA center John Amaechi came out as being gay in 2007, he was met with harsh words from the public and former NBA players alike.

Though current athletes, when asked, profess to support gay people and their right to participate in sports, the facts have shown that homosexuality in athletics is an issue that is far from being resolved for both players and fans.

Kuntz was sidelined with an injury when his team took the field against Snow College over Labor Day weekend and was filming the game from the press box. A teammate saw Kuntz kiss his 65-year-old boyfriend and told coaches, who confronted him on the bus ride home.

According to Kuntz, he initially lied about the situation, saying the man was his grandfather. He later felt guilty about deceiving his coaches and told the truth. He was officially kicked off the team for lying, not for being gay, even though there is no record of a player being disciplined in such a way for being dishonest.

In an interview with ESPN, Kuntz pointed out that if it had been an older woman with him in the press box he probably would have been congratulated by his teammates.

So if Kuntz had not lied in the beginning, would he still be on the football team? Was the lie simply an excuse to get an openly gay man off the North Dakota State football team?

An individual involved with the athletic department at Weber State University, who asked that his name not be used, offered his opinion.

“Obviously I’m not familiar with their policies or how they run their program, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had the athlete not told a lie,” he said. “It sounds to me like an excuse to basically ostracize an openly gay athlete, but we can never know for sure.”

He added that he thought most of the American public would probably say that they support gay peoples’ right to participate in athletics but that “when the rubber meets the road,” few of them would support what they said with their actions.

Several surveys done by different news outlets would seem to support this theory.

In a survey done by NBC/USA Network of 979 randomly-selected people, 86 percent of those surveyed disagreed with the statement, “openly gay athletes should be excluded from playing team sports,” and 61 percent agreed that “homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society.”

But in the same survey, 68 percent of those surveyed agreed that “it would hurt an athlete’s career to be openly gay.”

A student-athlete at the University of Utah, who also asked not to be named, thinks it has to do with the common stereotype of the gay man.

“A lot of people think of a gay guy as really feminine or almost dainty-like,” he said. “Most men in sports don’t really fit that description, so it’s like an inconsistency that’s maybe hard to wrap their mind around.”

He said there was an athlete in his high school who was openly gay, and that didn’t sit well with a lot of people who shared the same locker room.

Many people feared they might attract unwanted attention from the gay teammate during private activities, the athlete said.

“It was weird to be in the same locker room or in the same shower situation with someone of your same gender who might be interested in you sexually,” he said. “I know there were guys who complained to coaches and stuff to do something about it.”

That sentiment was echoed by Tim Hardaway in 2007 when he learned that John Amaechi had come out to the public.

On Miami sports radio station WAXY-AM, Hardaway insisted that he would never want a gay man to play on the same team. If it were to happen, he said he would actively distance himself from that individual because he didn’t think it right that they share the same locker room.

Lebron James, also in reaction to Amaechi’s announcement, said in an interview with ESPN that having gay teammates would be an issue of trust. If a gay athlete hasn’t come out to his teammates, then he isn’t being completely honest and, according to James, can’t be counted as trustworthy.

But if that athlete were to come out, according to James’ reasoning, they should be fully accepted by both coaches and team members.

History has shown that it isn’t always that easy.

Glenn Burke was an outfielder in the MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics during the late 1970s. Though the general public wouldn’t know of his sexual orientation until years later, he discreetly came out to his teammates and was met with hostility.

The abuse, both verbal and physical, eventually forced him to retire from baseball after only three years in the majors, which Burke later said was much earlier than he would have liked.

A European soccer player named Justin Fashanu also came out during his playing career. He was, at one time, one of the premier footballers in England andwas the first black man to command a £1 million signing fee.

After coming out he faced homophobic slurs from teammates, fans and even his own manager, which many point to as the reason his performance dropped off toward the end of his career.

As a black man he faced racist remarks on a regular basis, according to Peter Tatchell, a British human rights campaigner. But it was the homophobic variety which many, including Tatchell, say were the ones that got to him.

In 1998, amid allegations of sexual assault, Fashanu took his own life.

Michael Star, who does a weekly political podcast out of Rochester Hills, Mich., regularly speaks on LGBT issues with guests, both political and non-political. He said it is a part of who we are to resist changes in what we perceive as normal.

“Humans naturally want to believe that what we are doing is right,” Star said. “We sort of have an inclination to subjugate those who do things differently because we want to think that our way is the best way. So even though the individual may want to be quote-unquote ‘progressive,’ it’s a slow process because you’re almost going against human nature.”

As many have done before, Star compared the gay athletes’ situation to that of African-Americans during the Civil Rights movement. He believes that change is coming, but that it takes time for the masses to accept the transformation.

In the meantime, gay athletes’ fear of being in the open will persist.

“These athletes have a legitimate fear that life as they know it will change,” the WSU athletics representative said. “When you come out, you’re putting a target on your back that’s impossible to hide. It’s there for everyone to see.”

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The difficulties of being LGBT in sports

Posted on November 6, 2012 by comm5775

A local high school football stadium has seen brighter days.

Story and photo by CARSON HUISKAMP

Many boys grow up hoping to become an All-Star like Lebron James or Aaron Rodgers.

Throwing the ball around with friends, they imagine they have just caught the game-winning pass at the Super Bowl, or made that buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before time ran out. Sprinting down their driveway in pure joy, they look around as the crowd around them screams and shouts their name in rejoice.

In a sense, every child is just like one another.

But when it comes to LGBT student-athletes, not every child is just like one another. And some members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community must examine the risks and dangers of coming out to the public, especially in sports.

“I think it’s just fear. Not knowing what they will be faced with, and especially not knowing themselves,” said Bernadette Bell, director of student services at Judge High School, located in Salt Lake City.

“I don’t even know any LGBT kids who play sports. But our school policy is they get to play like anyone else,” Bell said.

LGBT students face many more risks with coming out than just losing family or friends. Peer pressure from fellow classmates can have a lasting effect on LGBT kids and sway their decision about coming out in school.

A teacher at Rowland Hall who asked not to be identified said, “There was one time I walked by and a couple students made the comments ‘you’re just so gay’ to another student. I stopped them and said, ‘you think I’m a bad person?’ They just stood there. Walking by that stuff concerns me. You’re using the term so freely and people tend to just laugh that stuff off.”

Imagine a student who has a passion for sports but may possibly be shunned by other players or coaches because he or she is gay or lesbian. Imagine the possible tension in locker rooms from not-so-accepting teammates, or even opponents.

“I think in women’s sports and women’s fields of play, it’s not as bad,” the teacher said. “But in the male field, everyone feels they have to keep up that aura that ‘I’m masculine and physical and tough’ so they aren’t seen as weak to others.”

The fact is, sports and being gay don’t mix well. In fact, the two don’t mix at all. It wasn’t until 2007 that the first NBA player came out to the public well into his retirement. The NFL has not had a single active player in its entire history come out to the public about their sexual orientation either. And nearly every professional sport one hears about avoids the topic altogether.

When such little attention is given to the issue by the media, it’s no wonder kids are hesitant about coming out to their respective high school teams. When no professional player is willing to risk coming out to the public in fear of the ramifications, a child will likely be hesitant in their personal lives to come out as well. Professional athletes are role models for millions of kids, and yet many refuse to even talk about the issue of equality and LGBT communities.

“I think that you are so worried that you will lose your family, and peer pressure is so difficult,” the Rowland Hall teacher said. “In junior high, middle school, and high school, the peer pressure can just be so harmful.”

It is very rare to see openly LGBT kids in high school sports, mostly because of the threat of stereotypes and bullying.

“A guy who is gay doesn’t want to come out to others because they don’t want people to say they are not as strong,” the teacher added. “The same can be seen in the armed forces, you don’t want the assumption that you’re not strong enough in sports.”

Strong, tough, brave, confident. These are the messages boys and men are bombarded with on a daily basis.

“There is so much fear out there that people are afraid to be who they are,” the teacher said. “It has a long ways to go.”

Filed under: Education, LGBTQ, Sports & Recreation | Leave a comment »

Spotlight on Jeremy Lin exposes Linsane Asian stereotypes

Posted on April 24, 2012 by comm5775

New York City was experiencing unseasonably warm weather in February, but it was even hotter inside Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks were scorching, and it had nothing to do with climate change.

There was a new phenomenon about to go global: Linsanity.

Jeremy Lin, the undrafted Harvard graduate, helped propel the Knicks to a seven-game win streak, which included a 99-88 win over the Utah Jazz where Lin had 28 points and 8 assists.

It is the feel-good sports story of the year – a story with ups and downs, highs and lows, even laughter. But as with any fairytale, there is an ugly side to the saga.

Lin is only the fourth Asian-American to ever play in the NBA and much focus has been on his Taiwanese ancestry.

As Lin’s profile rose in the media, something unexpected also crept into the spotlight – America’s casual use of racist jokes involving Asian stereotypes.

During a game broadcasted on the Madison Square Garden Network, a camera zoomed in on an audience member holding up a homemade sign that had Lin’s face and an open fortune cookie with the words, “The Knicks Good Fortune.”

On the night Lin scored a career high 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, FoxSports.com writer, Jason Whitlock, tweeted, “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.”

Whitlock later issued an apology. Fox Sports did not reprimand him.

Tricia Sugiyama, Asian-American Program Coordinator at the Center for Ethnic Student Affairs at the University of Utah, said she is not surprised by how fans and sports pundits have perpetuated negative Asian stereotypes for laughs.

“I think it’s part of the whole ‘model minority’ stereotype,” Sugiyama said. “People openly mock Asians because they’re seen as less vocal. They won’t fight back.”

A “Saturday Night Live” skit, which aired on Feb. 20, perfectly illustrates general American attitudes toward using certain racial stereotypes publicly, Sugiyama said.

In the short clip, three sportscasters are sitting around dishing out racially tinged puns as they discuss Lin. But when a fourth commentator makes similar remarks directed towards an African-American player, the others scold him for his comments.

The issue Lin’s race and how the media treats it came to a head when ESPN published the headline “Chink in the Armor” for a story that questioned Lin’s abilities after the Knicks lost a game, breaking their win streak.

The story headline was published on ESPN’s mobile site and was pulled about a half-hour later.

Generally speaking, the phrase “chink in the armor” has no racial implications. But many found it to be in poor taste when used in reference to the on-court performance of an Asian-American athlete. ESPN ultimately fired Anthony Federico, the copy editor who posted the headline.

“I think the phrase was probably used inadvertently,” said Michelle Crowson, a graduate student and instructor of Asian-American Studies at the U. “But to say it was just a mere mistake is a bit too optimistic.”

While she is not a sports fan in general, the story of Lin has captivated Crowson like so many others. For her, it is not about Lin’s underdog story. She’s more interested in how Lin’s story is exposing and dispelling Asian stereotypes in the mainstream media.

“Following it all as it unfolds in the media has been so fascinating for me,” Crowson said.

There is a distinct difference in how the mainstream media portrays Asian stereotype depending on gender, she said.

“Asian females are seen as submissive,” Crowson said. “Other times they use their sexuality to their advantage – the dragon lady.

“Asian guys are generally shown as nerds. They’re not good at sports,” Crowson said. “They’re also shown as being asexual. They’re rarely the romantic lead.”

Lin has broken some of these Asian male stereotypes by simply having made it to the NBA.

“In our society, athletes are seen as the physical ideal. They have a certain romantic or sexual aura to them,” Crowson said. “He’s become sort of a sex symbol. I don’t think Asian American men have had a role model like that. Lin’s impact on the mainstream is incredibly powerful.”

For Derek Leo, a freshman at the U and a student of Crowson’s, Lin is someone who young Asian-Americans like himself can look up to.

“He’s like the ideal. He’s smart and athletic,” Leo said. “Not only can he play ball but he graduated from Harvard, too.”

Leo is a second-generation Chinese-American. Both of his parents immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong.

His family settled in Tooele, a town of 30,000 in Utah’s west desert, where they have owned and operated a restaurant for the past 40 years.

“I was one of like three Asians in my graduating class.” Leo said. “It’s not very diverse out there. But it’s not really something I’ve thought about until recently.”

Leo considers himself an athletic person. He does not recall having any Asian-American athletes to look up to as role models when he was growing up.

He was familiar with Michael Chang, the former Chinese-American tennis player who holds the record for being the youngest to win the French Open. Chang was 17 when he beat Stefan Edberg in the final match at Roland-Garros in 1989.

And Leo knows about Michelle Kwan, a Chinese-American figure skater who has won two Olympic medals and she’s a five-time figure skating world champion.

But Leo doesn’t care for tennis or figure skating. While he recognizes that these Asian-American athletes have accomplished great feats in their respective sports, Leo is an NBA fan.

Even though he roots for the Boston Celtics, he still has vested interest in Lin’s success, which he believes will be short-lived.

“Honestly, I think Linsanity will die down and he’ll wash up,” Leo said. “I mean it already kind of has.”

On March 31, it was announced that Lin would undergo knee surgery, which would sideline him for the rest of the season.

“When I read that news, I was so bummed out that my shoulders just dropped,” Leo said.

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Jason Nowa

Posted on April 24, 2012 by comm5775

Utes Baseball Overmatched Midway Through Season
Story and Photos by Jason Nowa

The inaugural year in the Pacific-12 Conference (Voices of Utah) for the University of Utah athletics has been one of transition and struggle.

When the university switched athletic leagues last year, the big story was all about difficulty– how challenging the change would be, and how tough it would be for the Utes to switch to new surroundings, higher pressures and a notch up in the quality of competition.

Critics and fans alike suggested the sport to take the biggest hit would be baseball. The baseball program was thrown into one of the best conferences in the country.

Warm climate states, including California and Arizona, have six Pac-12 member teams, and that warm weather certainly helps, giving teams a chance to play year-round.

The Baseball America preseason Top 25 rankings had five Pac-12 teams ranked to being the year. All five of those preseason ranked teams are currently still ranked in the Top 25 midway through the season.

One new addition from the Pac-12 to those rankings is the University of Oregon, currently ranked at 22 in the nation.

The others are University of Arizona at number four, UCLA number five, Stanford number six, Oregon State number 20, and Arizona State number 24.

A historic win for the Utes came when they swept a doubleheader on March 16 against USC for its first Pac-12 victories.

Their worst loss of the season so far came on March 30 at home against UCLA 16-0. The Utes have had two separate six-game losing streaks through the season and have won more than one game only once.

“This first half of our season hasn’t gone as we wanted, but we can only move forward and plan for the next game. The past is the past,” junior catcher Parker Morin said.

The team had only one home game through the first 22 games to start the season. They went 1-8 through their last home stand.

The team heads back on the road playing at California-Berkley before returning to Salt Lake City for a quick home stand starting on April 24.

The Utes are currently the only Pac-12 team with an overall losing record halfway through the season.

Pitching has been a problem this year. The team has only two starting pitchers who have thrown over 17 innings. Juniors Joe Pond and Brock Duke are the most consistent starters.

Pond is 2-5 in eight starts with an ERA of 5.62 in 40 innings. Duke is 2-1 in six starts while posting a 3.35 era in 40.1 innings. Duke has 25 strikeouts to 14 walks while Pond leads the team with 32 strikeouts and has 20 walks.

The team’s most reliable relief pitcher has been Mitch Watrous, who has pitched 24 innings posting a 2.25 ERA, lowest on the team with the most appearances.

Closer Tyler Wagner has been very shaky through the first half of the year. He has pitched 20 innings with a 4.87 ERA. Wagner on April 3 gave up five earned runs in the 9th inning of a devastating 9-6 loss to rival BYU.

“Our team needs better quality starts from myself along with our other pitchers so that our offense doesn’t have such big deficits to try and overcome,” said Junior starting pitcher Joe Pond.

The most valuable player through the first half of the season has been catcher Morin. Morin leads the team with a .347 batting average, 41 hits, and 22 RBIs. Morin as a catcher also has the duty of controlling the pitchers and knowing their strengths.

Short stop James Brooks, who is a returning starting senior from Melbourne, Australia, has been equally as consistent as Morin to help lead the offense. Brooks is batting .301 with six home runs and 18 RBIs in 37 hits. These two have held the team afloat offensively.

The two biggest disappointments offensively have been sophomore third baseman Trey Nielsen, and senior outfielder Shaun Cooper. Nielsen dominated Mountain West Conference pitching last year as he was honored as a Louisville Freshman All-American. Nielsen was one of the big threats in the lineup as he had nine home runs with 41 RBIs on the year. Nielsen’s production has tailed off considerably this year with a .233 batting average, no home runs, and only eight RBIs through 30 games that he has started.

When asked how the transition has been for the team to the Pac-12 conference Nielsen said, “It’s been a struggle. We are facing multiple future major league players on each team now as opposed to maybe one or none from any team we faced in the Mountain West last year. This Pac-12 league is the best in America.”

Cooper was picked as a preseason Louisville All-American slugger after the fabulous season he had last year with a .332 batting average, eight home runs, 43 RBIs in 67 hits. This year Cooper is only batting .205 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in 24 hits.

All the lost production from a potent offense a year ago could stem from the loss of two-time All-American first baseman C.J. Cron (Voices of Utah) to the major leagues. Cron became Utah’s first-ever, first-round draftee when he was selected 17th overall in the 2011 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Opposing pitchers feared Cron, and often walked him.

The Utes finished in second place in the Mountain West conference last year with an overall record of 28-19.

The competition from switching leagues is a dramatic increase but it makes a team much different after losing two players to the major leagues in the same year.

Pitcher Rick Anton also was drafted a year ago. Anton was selected in the eighth round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Being on the team last year was awesome; we were so good with C.J. and Rick. And they made everyone else better on the team. It’s tough without them. We’ve had to find new leaders to look to and find that one guy to rally around,” said shortstop Brooks.

The Ute baseball (Voices of Utah) team is currently sitting in 10th place out of 11 participating schools, with only University of Colorado not having a baseball team.

Overall the Utes are 10-25, while 4-8 in conference play as of April 10. They are 1-9 at home, 7-13 on the road, and 2-3 at neural field sites. There are 21 games left in the season to try and improve their record.

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McAllister: A greatful University of Utah graduate and supreme gymnast

Posted on April 24, 2012 by comm5775

By LEWIS WALKER

At age five, fearless in the places where most people outside of gymnastics would crumble like a game of Jenga gone wrong, stood Stephanie McAllister. Today with a full-ride gymnastics scholarship to the University of Utah, she is competing against some of the greatest gymnasts in the nation outside of the Olympics.

When McAllister was younger, she was involved in soccer, cheer, dance, pewee baseball, and figure skating, but gymnastics wasn’t always a sure route for her. “Once I got into gymnastics I was good at it but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do,” McAllister said.

As McAllister got older her coaches reassured her that she had talent, but going further in her sport it would require her commitment to hard work and attention to certain skills. With the passion and desire to be great, and only at the age of five most would be impressed by the goals she had set for herself. “Stephanie was always the child that wanted to try new things, or planned do things,” said Jenny McAllister, Stephanie’s mother. “As I got into gym I had goals of working my way up through the levels as fast as I could,” McAllister said.

In gymnastics, the levels range from one to 10, but once you get to level 10 most of the competitors are home-schooled and their lives are basically living at the gym, but you would think a teenager would love to be out playing with their friends, this isn’t the case if these athletes choose this route. Now at the age 21, McAllister, the Indiana native has found a comfort in Utah where she has spent the last four years of her life.

Knowing she wanted to go to college, McAllister worked her way up through the levels quickly, limiting herself to level 10, being the highest before becoming elite and being eligible to compete for the Olympics. Like Nastia Liukin, McAllister did not want to become a professional and miss out on the opportunity to become a part of an institution where she would make great friends and form relationships with people she would always remember. “ I always take pictures and my friends make fun of me because every opportunity I have I get my camera out,” McAllister said.

“I didn’t want to exceed level 10 because I didn’t want to give up my life like some other girls,” McAllister said. “Most girls give up the most important times of their lives just to end up in the same place as I am today.” She added that most coaches like the gymnast coming out of level 10 because they are not as burnt out as others and they didn’t give up everything just to train. Only six people get chosen to compete in the U.S. Olympics, so is it really worth giving up and missing out on things in your teenage years just to end up in the same predicament as the rest of your competition?

Today Stephanie McAllister has perfected a gymnastics move on the uneven bars, which is her biggest strength named after herself, “the McAllister.” She performs the move by doing a reverse gripped hand-stand on the high bar into a front spin and back to a hand-stand flipping her grip and down into a hanging position. “To be able to have a move named after you, you need to perform it at a national meet with it never being done before,” she said.

“ I am exceptionally proud of my daughter and where she is in life right now, enjoying every moment, and must I add– a soon to be college graduate,” said Jenny McAllister.

Many people have looked up to McAllister over her years spent at the University, one being freshman Kailah Delaney. “Stephanie has taught me a lot about being a college athlete and juggling my studies,” Delaney said. Many times student-athletes think sports are the reasons they ended up where they are but that isn’t the foundation of what your future is made of. “ It is good to  have someone to look up to when your young because not everyone knows the right things to do, but she has helped me a lot,” Delaney said.

Over the past four years the University of Utah is proud to have gained such a talented, caring person to help their team make its 37th consecutive National Championship appearance possible, she will be missed when the Red Rocks take the Huntsman Arena next year.

Photo credits: Left to right- By:Lewis Walker, By:Lewis Walker,By:Taner Pasamehmetoglu (The Daily Utah Chronicle)

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Getting Dirty: Why children need to be outdoors

Posted on April 24, 2012 by comm5775

Story and photos by KATIE HARRINGTON

A semi-weathered copy of Thoreau’s “Walden” is perched on the top shelf of an IKEA bookcase in Nick Harrison’s bedroom, next to a collection of guidebooks, a stack of old climbing magazines and a French pocketknife — the handle made from the trunk of a cork tree. Harrison’s name is engraved on the blade.

A large, unfinished painting of southern Utah’s Castleton Tower is nestled into the corner of the room, near a box of paintbrushes and a piece of notebook paper with the title “2012 TO DO LIST” written across the top:

Keep a clear mind. Visit a different continent. Finish Castleton painting. Push my physical limits. Change someone’s life for the better.

Harrison, a 20-year-old student and a “liftie” at Alta Ski Area, grew up with the Wasatch Mountains in his backyard, inspired by their mystifying allure.

“I am drawn to the outdoors,” Harrison said. “These mountains are my constant source of motivation. I draw them. I climb them. But I didn’t fully appreciate what they had to offer until I got older. Survival, self-reliance, serenity: these are all things you can only truly learn by getting outside.”

But kids today don’t seem to see the outdoors the same way Harrison does.

Crowson (left) and Harrison pack their car for a climbing trip in April.

According to a national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids ages eight to 18 spend an average of 7.3 hours engaging in entertainment media in a typical day. This amounts to more than 53 hours per week.

Be Out There — a National Wildlife Federation campaign that hopes to reconnect children to the natural world — notes that a study in 2005 revealed that children are spending half as much time outdoors than they did 20 years ago.

Neil Crowson — Harrison’s roommate and adventurer counterpart — grew up down the street from Harrison, spending his childhood skiing in the Wasatch Mountains and rock climbing with his father.

“It’s really important for a kid to go out and get himself in the dirt, jump off rocks and cut his knees up, and get on the mountain at a young age,” Crowson said. “If kids do that, then they come to develop ambitions and learn to respect the mountains.”

Both Harrison and Crowson say they have — in one way or another — been defined by their outdoor surroundings, that growing up with the mountains as their playground has given them a sense of place and purpose in a seemingly uncertain world.

The walls of their living room are covered from ceiling to floor with personal photographs that share a common theme: being outside.

The gear room in the basement of their bungalow-style house is crammed with racks of ropes, climbing gear, bikes, skis, backpacks, tents and camp stoves—and a looming odor that can only be created from years of adventuring outdoors.

“I can’t ever see myself leaving the Wasatch completely,” Crowson said. “The people that founded these canyons, both in skiing and in climbing, have also founded tons of areas around the west coast. But you always see them coming back to Salt Lake and that’s because we hold the mountains with such high regard. They define us.”

But that defining power of the mountains — of the outdoors in general — is becoming increasingly sparse among today’s youth, as an increasingly technology-fueled lifestyle drives kids indoors — and keeps them there.

“It’s hard to learn a key set of morals as a kid when the world is changing so rapidly and technology is always advancing,” Crowson said. “It’s always hard to know how to become a man. But the beautiful thing about the outdoors is that it’s a constant. It’s timeless. So the same set of values that existed 100 years ago still exists today.”

Outdoor Nation — a community-based program created by young people, for young people — was founded in 2010 to address the growing disconnect between today’s youth and the outdoors.

“America is in a current state of crisis where its youth are choosing technology over nature, Xboxes (check the proper spelling on X box) over healthy lifestyles,” Outdoor Nation said on its website. “Green spaces in urban areas are either unsafe or non-existent. Families, schools, and media have failed to engage and excite youth about the benefits of the outdoors.”

Judy Brady, a licensed clinical social worker in Salt Lake City, said being outdoors is especially important for a child’s development because it fosters self-esteem.

“One of the ways in which we gain self-esteem is through task mastery,” Brady said. “When a child is outside, he or she gains personal self worth by problem solving, by completing new and challenging tasks.”

A series of studies published in a 2009 edition of Journal of Environmental Psychology found that being outside in nature makes people feel more alive.

“In vital states people demonstrate better coping and report greater health and wellness,” the study reported. “Being outdoors has been proposed to be good for health and well-being because when outdoors, people tend to both interact more with others and get more exercise.”

The sunlight also triggers serotonin and dopamine production, neurotransmitters that help maintain positive feelings in the brain, Brady said. Cases of seasonal depression are seen more often in the winter months because there is less sunlight and people spend less time outdoors.

“When we are surrounded by all man-made objects and man-made ideas — products of our own society — we become dysfunctional,” Crowson said. “We forget how to respond. We are alienated from each other because we are constantly around each other. When you are in the outdoors and there’s nothing but organic sounds, it gives you a chance to really bond with other humans.”

Allison Librett — a lawyer and fitness instructor in Salt Lake City — said that exposing her children to the outdoors at a young age has helped them establish and maintain relationships.

Librett has a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old, both of whom spend their summers at outdoor camps with children of diverse abilities and backgrounds.

“Fresh air, exercise, mental stimulation — these are all such important things for child’s development,” Librett said. “My kids have had the opportunity growing up to interact with the world around them, to know what their imprint is and that they have a purpose.”

Librett said that when her children spend long periods indoors — especially when they are on the computer or playing video games — she notices that they are much more anxious, emotional and frustrated.

Those emotions disappear when her children are engaged in outdoor activities.

Harrison said he hopes that today’s youth will realize what adventuring outdoors has to offer.

“Kids should be excited to get out, to be outside, to breathe fresh air, to see a full moon and a bunch of stars, and hear the coyotes,” Harrison said. “That’s the sickest thing to me: just hearing and seeing and feeling the world as it is. ”

And if Harrison’s convictions about the benefits of nature aren’t heartfelt and persuasive enough, then perhaps a passage marked in his copy of “Walden” is:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

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A far cry from what they once were, Real Salt Lake is no longer an afterthought

Posted on April 17, 2012 by comm5775

by TODD PATTON

On a recent Saturday night 21,000 fans slowly stream out of Rio Tinto Stadium after a Real Salt Lake match against Chivas USA.  Before a sold- out crowd, it’s apparent Real Salt Lake has come a long way since it’s inaugural season in 2004.

Just eight years ago Real Salt Lake found themselves without a stadium and little support.  That is, until the new and picturesque $110 million Rio Tinto Stadium opened in 2008. The stadium was funded half by private donations and half by public funds.  The city of Sandy took the brunt of the responsibility for financing Rio Tinto and its investment seems to be paying off for the local economy. Restaurants, bars and hotels all benefit from the 25-plus home games each year and off-season concerts at the 23-acre complex.

“I think the only reason Jim’s Diner is even still there is because of Real Salt Lake games,” said Brandon Craft, Real Salt Lake Fan Relations Coordinator.  “The amount of fans that come to games really do impact the surrounding businesses.”

The stadium has drastically changed the atmosphere of Real Salt Lake games, something that didn’t exist when the team played in the much larger Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah for its first four seasons.

“I’ve been going to games since they were played at the U and I can’t express how much better the atmosphere is here at Rio Tinto,” said fan Cristiano Pesci, as he cheered on RSL from the upper deck. “It’s a beautiful stadium. It rivals going to Jazz, BYU, Utah games in my opinion. It honestly might be the best sporting event you can attend in the state of Utah.”

Building an atmosphere is something that all sporting events need and that atmosphere can now be seen at every Real Salt Lake match.  La Barra, RCB, and Salt City United are the main supporter groups for RSL. They wave flags, throw streamer and beat drums for an entire match.

It’s the personality of each group that builds on those generic characteristics seen at most soccer matches around the world.  Whether it’s the shirtless drummers of La Barra or the tattooed, vulgar chanting RCB and Salt City United, the atmosphere thrives in the uniqueness of RSL fans.

Fan support is the lifeblood of professional sports teams and the RSL fan base has steadily increased recently, Craft said.

“The last three seasons we’ve seen our season tickets increase each year. We have 1,200 more season tickets this season than last. Last year was the first time that we’ve [RSL] broken even in any season. I think three years ago our revenue was $6 million, the next was around $6.8 million, and this year were on pace to be about half a million dollars above that.  So yeah, it’s certainly a growing sport and organization here in Utah.”

Television viewership is another important aspect of professional sports, an aspect that Real Salt Lake has recently improved.  In the first few years of the team’s existence finding a game on television was a daunting task.  But after signing a long term, high-definition contract with the KTVX, the local ABC television affiliate, Real Salt Lake games can now be routinely seen on basic cable television.  And Craft  points out that the number of viewers has already jumped dramatically.

“We got a report that ratings have nearly doubled from last season. We used to just have casual fans but people are slowly becoming just as invested in RSL as any other sport.”

That fan investment has morphed into a full-blown culture.

Branden Steineckert, former drummer for the punk band The Used, and current Rancid drummer, is one of Real Salt Lake’s biggest supporters.  Steineckert’s YouTube anthem “Believe RSL” became popular with fans just before the season and became the theme song for the team and fans. Sung before each home game in 2012, it’s also shouted in a march to the stadium by dedicated supporters.

If you believe then stand up on your feet and shout it loud Real. Here at the RioT the battle hymns begun, we’re here for RSL, the anthem rings throughout the stadium.

While Real Salt Lake has been hailed a “minor” league team by organizations such as the Utah Jazz, and continually thought to be the little brother to BYU and Utah games, much has changed in the eight years of the organization’s life.

RSL is no longer borrowing a university stadium meant for football and threats of leaving the state no longer exist. It’s now a fan-base that prides themselves on being loyal and above all else, believing.

So if you believe just stand up on your feet and shout it loud Real, the anthem echoes on a suddenly brisk and clear Saturday night in Utah.

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Field of dreams: Sometimes a triple is a great shot

Posted on April 5, 2012 by comm5775

by LEWIS WALKER

What if you got paid to do what you love and have grown up doing your whole life? This is the life of Keenyn Walker, who by the age of 20 was drafted twice before signing a contract to play professionally in major league baseball.

“I thought he was crazy not to leave once he was selected out of high school. Not many people are that blessed,” said Jeff Myaer, head baseball coach at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City.

Of all the odds and breaks in life, Walker has been blessed with his share.

Walker who is currently a part of the Chicago White Sox farm league in the Single-A organization is stationed in Kannapolis, N.C. playing for the Intimidators. His journey before making it there may have been a whirlwind to most folks.

As a senior at Judge Memorial, Walker was drafted by the Chicago Cubs, but he turned down that deal and moved on, choosing instead to attend Central Arizona College( CAC) in Coolidge, Ariz., one of the powerhouses for college baseball. After his freshman year at CAC, Walker was drafted again, this time by the Phillies. “It was crazy when I was in high school and got drafted, but then again just a year later is humbling,” Walker said.

Denying the offers from the big league left Walker, a center fielder, wondering if he would get another chance. “After my freshman year of college was over and I turned down another chance to play baseball, my dreams kind of became a blur,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone else would draft me again because I had turned down two teams already.”

Some doubted Walker might get another chance at his dream. “I was drafted when I was in college. I know how hard it is to have that opportunity come your way, but three times is out of this world,” Myaer said.

With many people watching from the outside, few stood strong in his corner, Walker said. Except for one. “My mom has been a huge part in this whole journey,” he said. “When I doubted myself she had the right words to put me back on track to complete what I had set out to do a long time ago.”

“Keenyn is someone who just loves to play baseball,” said his mother, Lori Walker, of Salt Lake City. “In baseball you have ups and downs that come easily and it can transfer over to life as well.”

June 6, 2011 is a day Walker will always remember. “That day I was just at home with my family watching the draft,” he said. “Teams just kept calling me and saying they may take me at this pick,” he said. Nervously walking around waiting for his name to be announced, Walker continuously ate snacks to calm his nerves, as well as talking and joking with the few family members who were present.

“It was a family thing,” Walker said.

After all the hoping and waiting, Walker’s blurry dreams have finally become a reality. Now 21, he was selected as the first overall pick in the 2011 MLB draft for the Chicago White Sox.

“I wake up and I feel like it’s a dream,” Walker said over the phone while training in Phoenix. Being a professional athlete comes with a lot of responsibility, as well as temptations.  “I have more money than my mother does now,” said Walker, laughing. But his mother thinks he’s doing just fine.

“I am proud of the decisions he made. Even though they were hard to make, he made the correct ones,” said Lori Walker. “It is crazy seeing my son become something he has wanted to become his whole life.”

“My schedule has been hectic, kind of,” Walker said. He wakes at 8 a.m., goes for a run and then heads to batting practice. He does interviews between ball games. There seems to be an endless number of items to autograph, such as rookie cards, helmets and photos. “Each day I sign about 500 items for people I don’t even know,” Walker said.

“I am so fortunate and blessed to be where I am right now,” Walker said. “This is so crazy. It still hasn’t hit me yet, even though I have already played six minor league games, moved my way up to the single A organization, and now in spring training.”

Although the process to the big leagues is a long bumpy road, things seem to be falling in place for Walker. “I guess the third time is a luck charm,” he said.

Photo credits: Clockwise from top left, Megan Wallo: Keenyn Walker: Central Arizona College, Athletics: Jim Shipman.

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Same game, different treatment? Title IX questions still linger in Utah athletics

Posted on April 5, 2012 by comm5775

by: Zachary Arthur

Cheyenne Wilson, a freshman small forward on the University of Utah women’s basketball team, gets frustrated with inequity on the court. “If I go to the gym on my own wanting to shoot and there are men’s players wanting to shoot, they basically kick me off or I have to wait until they are done.”

The 2012 U basketball season showed people that the women’s team had a better season than the men’s team. The treatment of the two programs shows that although the women’s team might be better, the men’s team is treated like they are better.

The women’s team went 16-16 and made the Women’s NIT, a postseason invitational tournament. The men’s team went 6-25 and failed to make any of three postseason invitational tournaments that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) offers.

The women’s team has had one player transfer in two years. In contrast, 11 players members of the men’s team moved to other programs.

All signs point to the women’s team running a better basketball program, but they don’t get the same treatment as the men’s team in several areas.

Forty years have passed since Title IX went into effect, a federal law that mandated equal treatment between men and women in high school and college athletics, but it looks like there might still be some differences.

Division One sports programs are federally funded meaning they fall under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which states:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Title IX ensures that both men’s and women’s athletic programs are treated equally and receive the same opportunities. This is the real issue when it comes to the U’s student basketball programs.

Wilson talked about inequalities in getting gym time, but it also goes to the weight room. “Lifting is another issue I have experienced. Lifting at the same time as the men just does not happen, but they seem to be in there quite a bit more than us which makes me think.

Rachel Messer, a junior shooting guard on the women’s basketball team, shares the same frustration. Messer said, “It is just unfortunate because the only difference between the two teams is that one of the teams is made up of men and the other team is made up of women,” Messer said.

Another issue that Wilson brought up was that the two teams were not promoted on an equal level.

Media promotion matters in a game of fan numbers, like NCAA athletics. Some critics say the typical lack of fans in the stands at the women’s games has everything to do with poor advertising.

The men’s games saw around 7,000 people at every home game and the team went 6-9 for season.

By contrast, the women’s games filled 10 to 15 percent of the Huntsman Center for home games. Last season the women’s team went 12-4 at home. The women’s team plays better at home, but the lack of screaming fans in the stands seems to suggest otherwise.

This is where media exposure becomes so important. The more media coverage a team receives, the more people across Utah will get to see what the team has to offer. Could this be the fundamental reason as to why some think the men’s team getting more publicity is wrong?

Nate Cordova, a member of a men’s team that practices against the women, chalks up greater press coverage of the men’s team as the reason for stronger fan support.

“The women get no advertising. I mean the men are garbage but like you go to their games, you always hear about them. Their advertising is way more publicized than the women, but the women are actually kind of good and the men suck so that’s interesting.”

Whether they are television commercials, signs around campus, or most importantly newspaper ads and articles, the men’s team is getting the majority of the media.

Cordova suggested that maybe the difference in male and female physical abilities is the reason for such wide gaps in fan interest and attendance.. “The [women’s] team brings us in to practice against them because we are bigger, faster and stronger than them and it helps prepare them for games. The men’s team does not need to bring anybody in because they are already very athletic and maybe that is why people like to watch them”.

Changing how a group of people are treated has been something this country has battled for hundreds of years. The lingering concerns over athletic inequities under Title IX could be evidence that this battle has yet to be won.

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