He Was Right on Time

I discovered from reading another blog the other day that one of my heroes, Buck O’Neil, was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. O’Neil passed away back in October at the age of 94, after being involved with baseball for over 70 years.

Having already played some semi-pro ball, Buck O’Neil broke into the Negro Leagues in 1937, 10 years before Jackie Robinson would integrate the Major Leagues. His best years came with the Kansas City Monarchs, where he won two batting titles, played in four East-West All-Star games, and won several championships.

O’Neil was past his prime by the time that Robinson suited up for the Dodgers, so he never got the chance to play in the Major Leagues, but he remained very active in organized baseball, taking over managing duties for the Monarchs and leading them to two more championships.

After leaving the Monarchs, O’Neil became a successful scout for the Chicago Cubs (he signed future Hall of Famer Lou Brock), and in 1962 became the first black coach in the Major Leagues (also with the Cubs). He stayed with the Cubs a long time, and later scouted for the Kansas City Royals.

I first heard of Buck O’Neil the same way that most of the world did, when he appeared in Ken Burns’ 1994 documentary, Baseball. In the film, O’Neil gleefully recalled his days in the Negro Leagues and introduced America to a side of its national pastime that it had mostly forgotten about. And as he described his life as a baseball player who was systematically excluded from the Major Leagues because of the color of his skin, he did so graciously, without a hint of bitterness.

In 1994, O’Neil’s tireless work led to the creation of the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri, and also to the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans’ Committee voting in many Negro Leaguers that would have otherwise been forgotten.

Despite all this, O’Neil was himself forgotten on too many ballots back in July, when he missed being elected to the Hall of Fame by a single vote, on what was widely rumored to be the last vote on which Negro Leaguers would be inducted. It appeared that Buck had missed out again.

But you wouldn’t think so to hear his reaction:

“God's been good to me. They didn't think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That's the way they thought about it and that's the way it is, so we're going to live with that. Now, if I'm a Hall of Famer for you, that's all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. Don't weep for Buck. No, man, be happy, be thankful.”

Maybe that’s not such a surprising statement from a man that Ken Burns described this way, in O’Neil's autobiography, I Was Right on Time:

“John Jordan O’Neil is a hero, not in the superficial sporting sense of a man who homers in the ninth to win a game, but in the human sense of a man we all should look to and strive to be more like. His life reflects the past and contains many of the bitter experiences that our country reserved to men of his color, but there is no bitterness in him; it’s not so much that he put that suffering behind him as that he has brought gold and light out of bitterness and despair, loneliness and suffering. He knows that he can go farther with generosity and kindness than with anger and hate…He is my hero, my friend, my mentor; he is, like Abraham Lincoln and Jackie Robinson, what human progress is all about.”

It seems like Buck O’Neil was always coming at the wrong time: he was too old to make it to the Majors, missed out on the last HOF induction for Negro Leaguers by a single vote, and was awarded the Medal of Freedom after he had passed away.

But as Buck himself would be quick to point out, he was right on time. He was right on time to play alongside some of the greatest baseball players in history. He was right on time to witness and take part in the changing of millions of hearts and attitudes. He was right on time to keep the memories of the Negro Leagues alive and to pass its heritage on. And he was right on time to remind us, like Ken Burns said, that we can go farther with generosity and kindness than with anger and hate. Thanks Buck, for being right on time.

Thanks for signing that baseball I sent you too.

Back to School Time…

Well, I finally got the official news yesterday: I have been accepted to Graduate School at the University of Arkansas. I will start taking Spanish classes in January.

I actually started the application process back in September, but it has been a long string of problems, delays and red tape. But, I am finally in, so I won’t complain too much.

I’ve been a Razorback fan my entire life, but for the first time ever, I will actually be one myself. Woo pig.

Think Outside the Bun? No Thanks.

This may come as a shocker to many of you, but apparently, Taco Bell has been using some Less Than Top Notch ingredients.

The number of possible E. coli cases related to Taco Bell restaurants has passed 200 and has ranged across several states, causing many people to think twice before making a “run for the border”, and the share price of parent company Yum! to fall 5.6% over a three-day period.

Jeff Omohundro, a Wachovia analyst in Richmond, Virginia suggested that the E. coli outbreak could lead to a “short-term, although potentially significant negative sales impact at Taco Bell.”

Although Mr. Omohundro is certainly more qualified to give an opinion on this than I am, I agree with him: people do generally try to avoid ingesting potentially lethal bacteria.

On top of the bad publicity and the drop in stock prices, Taco Bell will also undoubtedly suffer from legal expenses as well, as many of the victims have already filed lawsuits.

I might personally feel some sympathy for Taco Bell, if it wasn’t for the fact that they tried to bump me off last week with a tainted chicken quesadilla. I’m virtually certain that my week-long illness had nothing to do with the E. coli cases, but I’m still bitter. After all, I felt so bad that I haven’t been able to update my blog.*


*For those of you about to mention that I rarely update anyway, bite your tongues.

It's (Past) Time to Make a Change

From the very beginning of the Razorbacks’ surprisingly good season, I’ve been a big Mitch Mustain fan. Sometimes when he plays, he looks like an 18 year old kid (which he is) but every now and then you see the flashes of brilliance that made him the top high school quarterback in the nation last year and the biggest recruit Arkansas has landed in a long time.

Despite having a record of 7-0 as a starter, Mustain was inconsistent, and after a bad game against Louisiana-Monroe, was pulled after throwing an INT on his first passing attempt against South Carolina.

Casey Dick, who went 2-2 as a freshman starter at the end of last season, came in to replace Mustain, and had a big game, throwing for 228 yards and a touchdown, as Arkansas held on to win the game. Dick played well, and Mustain had been struggling, but I thought pulling Mustain, undefeated as a starter, after one pass (albeit an INT), was possibly premature.

Although, Arkansas won the next two games under Dick, who played well against Tennessee and poorly against Mississippi St, they lost to LSU today, thanks in no small part to an absolutely inept performance by Dick. Dick started bad and got worse as the game went on, but was left in for the entire game, despite proving time after time a complete inability to throw to his intended receiver. For the game, Dick was 3-17 for 29 yards, 1 TD (on a remarkable catch and run by Marcus Monk) and one back-breaking INT.

When you compare the two quarterbacks, it seems clear to me that it’s time to go back to Mustain:

1. Experience: This has always been one of the main reasons given as to why Dick replaced Mustain as a starter. What kind of experience are we talking about here? Most college games watched? Because if we're talking about starts, Mustain actually has more, and certainly had more at the time when he was pulled for Dick. Besides, most of Dick’s starts were last season, and while they were all against SEC opponents, they weren’t exactly in pressure situations, as Arkansas was 2-5 when Dick took over the helm, with no real expectations for the end of the season.

That being said, Dick has had more practice reps than Mustain, and since he did play last year, is more familiar with the Arkansas offense than is Mustain.

Even if Dick was much more experienced than Mustain (which he really isn’t), in some ways this is a stupid argument. After all, the older guy will always have more experience until the younger guy actually gets to play.

2. Performance: As a starter, Mustain is 8-0. Dick is 4-3. Even if you take away the South Carolina game (which is fair; Mustain started but Dick was the one who helped win the game), Mustain is 7-0 and Dick is 5-3 (3-1 this season).

Their season statistics are fairly similar. Both are completing just over 50% of their passes (Dick has completed 51.7%, Mustain 52.5%). Neither is amassing a great deal of yardage: Dick is averaging 8.37 yards per pass attempt while Mustain is at 6.99. Dick has a better ratio of touchdowns to interceptions (he has 8 TDs and 3 INTs, Mustain has 10 and 8), but none of Mustain's picks on the season was as bad as the one thrown by Dick today.

When at their best, the two are similar, though Mustain is a little better. In the Hogs’ SEC opener on the road at Vanderbilt, Mustain earned National Freshman of the Week Honors by completing 13 of 20 passes for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 21-19 victory over the Commodores. In Dick's breakout game in the 26-20 victory over South Carolina, he completed 11 of 19 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Both of these were big SEC road victories for the Razorbacks, but Mustain's performance was really the more impressive of the two, as Heisman candidate Darren McFadden ran for 219 yards in Dick's big game against the Gamecocks, but he had one of his worst games of the season against Vandy, running for just 71 yards on 19 carries. This means that Mustain had his biggest game at a time when he needed to, while Arkansas’ top player was struggling.

Both have big wins on their season resumés; Mustain played solidly, running the team well in a 27-10 upset at #2 ranked Auburn, and Dick had a good performance in a 31-14 trouncing of Tennessee.

Both Mustain and Dick have been inconsistent, and when they’ve been bad, they’ve been really bad. Against Alabama, Mustain was 7-22 for 97 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions. Dick’s worst game was today against LSU, when he was 3-17 for 29 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Of course the big difference here is that during his worst game, Mustain still played his best when the game was on the line, giving the Hogs the win with a touchdown pass on 4th down in double OT. On the other hand, Dick eliminated any chance of winning that Arkansas had against LSU by throwing four consecutive incomplete passes to end the game.

It seems that Mustain has performed better over the course of the season, and this is even more impressive when you realize that he is running an offense which is completely different from the no huddle, pass-oriented offense he ran last year at Springdale High School. On the other hand, Dick is running a very similar offense to what he ran last year; why isn't his “experience” paying off?

3. Potential: This area goes to Mustain, pretty much hands-down. Picked by some publications as last year’s High School Player of the Year, for Mustain, the sky is the limit. Dick is a solid back-up quarterback, and has done some good things for Arkansas over the last two seasons, but anyone who thinks that he is more of a talent than Mustain in the long term is just plain nuts.

4. Intangibles: I saved this area for last, because I think it is the most important. When it comes down to it, Mustain is simply a winner. Since he was in 8th grade, Mustain has a record of 60-2 as a starter. 60-2. He is a guy who finds a way to win, and as I mentioned before, even in his worst game of the season when he couldn’t complete a pass to anyone, he throws the big touchdown in OT to win the game.

Dick has shown himself to be a gritty player and really helped out Arkansas last year by giving up a year of eligibility and taking the helm from an overwhelmed Robert Johnson, but as a starter, he has lost more games over the last 13 months than Mustain has since he was 13 years old.

Conclusion: Mustain should have replaced Dick during the 3rd quarter today; Dick certainly was given more leeway than Mustain ever got. Arkansas deserved to lose today, because Casey Dick couldn’t run the offense, and Houston Nutt refused to do anything about it. Houston, it's (past) time to make a change.