The above video is a call that went against my favorite team to end a game. And I don’t care too much. Because I understand the umpire’s perspective and the difficulty of his job.

Baseball is my favorite sport. I understand that people are sometimes bored by its slow-pace. But I love it nonetheless and I know many other do as well.

Recently talk has surfaced about the role of replay in MLB. And I am against it all. Replay in all sports is great in helping to get calls right. But it also causes games to drag on, and regardless of what is said there is a business/entertainment aspect of sports. Games need to keep moving to keep fans entertained.

The worst part about replay in MLB is the time it will take umpires to leave the field. In football and basketball, at least there is a booth or scorer’s table for officials to check replay monitors. Do we really want to wait at an already slow-paced baseball game for umpires to jog into the locker room for 10-20 minutes and then return to make a call. And then a manager to argue or seek an explanation for the final decision. I don’t think so.

I’ve grown up playing a lot of baseball. I’ve had a lot of lucky calls go my way. I’ve also had a lot of bad calls go my way. I’ve also umpired myself. It isn’t easy. The human error of umpiring is part of the game. There aren’t scandals, there are mistakes but not enough to damage the reputation of the game.

Take a look back into baseball history. Aside from the Derek Jeter home run I can’t think of many game-altering calls that have hurt the league. You win some, you lose some. I recognize we have the technology to probably eliminate umpires all together. In 50 years we might not need human officials in any sport. But is that really the point?

All humans make mistakes. And I heard during a Mariners broadcast last year that umpires actually have the highest correct-call percentage of officials in all the major sports. They really are very talented and good at what they do. So why remove the human element of the game and make games even longer with the use of technology?

As we get into the heart of the NBA Playoffs, a familiar face has gone missing.

Russell Westbrook has not been playing. Wait, did we hear that right? This is Russell Westbrook we are talking about. The three-time All-Star and insanely athletic point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

As a Sonics/Thunder fan, I was a little skeptical when the Sonics took him 4th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. Playing at UCLA, I remember when he played the Huskies and I didn’t think he was top-five talent after being named to the all Pac-10 Third Team his sophomore year. But after quickly seeing what he has done in OKC, I couldn’t be more happy with the pick.

This dude is unreal at the point guard position. If you dont believe me, watch the highlights above. He was 5-8 140 lbs entering high school. And after growing to 6-3 his senior year the athleticism has blossomed. Westbrook and Derrick Rose are in a league of their own when it comes to point guard athleticism. I’ve heard broadcasters describe Westbrook as a freak of nature. His quickness, power and touch at the point guard position is a rare combination.

All this athleticism is also durable too. So often great talent in sports is limited or diminished because the player is injury-prone. I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I saw a couple years ago that Westbrook has never missed a game since before high school. Or maybe ever. But I know for sure that ever since attending UCLA for two years and then playing 394 consecutive games in the NBA, Westbrook has never sat out a game. Not for suspension, or injury or anything. That is flat out remarkable for the rate tha athletes get injured, and especially for Westbrook with the high-flying pace of his game.

Westbrook was injured in the first round of the playoffs against the Rockets and in his absence the Thunder have not been the same team. That is in part why I do this post. Analysts have criticized Westbrook for his decision-making. The media have tried to say that there is a feud between Durant and Westbrook. Someone please show me legit proof of that because as a close follower of the Thunder I haven’t seen proof of the feud.

I don’t know how much longer the Thunder can last without Westbrook. He fuels the team alongside Durant, and is simply irreplaceable  Derek Fisher and Reggie Moore are quality players, but they aren’t Westbrook. And knowing the type of intense competitor Westbrook, you know that sitting out for the first time ever is eating him up inside.

So here’s to whatever playoff run the Thunder can muster without Westbrook. Here’s to recognizing an outstanding stretch of games without an injury. And here’s to a speedy recovery.

I have a fascination with names of athletes. Does an athlete name have anything to do with anything? In all seriousness, no. Nicknames are a big part of sports. I mean, you get 36 nicknames from Google alone for Shaquille O’Neal when you google “Shaq nicknames”. Names also help with marketing athletes sometimes. But for whatever reason, I just like unusual names. So, I’ve decided to rank my top 10 names in sports.

In all truthfulness, I could probably make a lot of different lists. And year-to-year that list would vary. For my list, I am going with current players. Well not exactly current, but either current or in recent memory from the last decade or so. Using older athletes would make these decision a lot harder. And also, let it be known that I don’t even know what it is about names that intrigue me. It doesn’t impact the way a player plays. But right now, here are my top 10.

10. Fred

I’ll admit, I’m not very familiar with soccer names. But this one stands out to me. There are great one-name players in soccer. Ronaldo, Ronaldihno, Pele, etc. But this one stands out because it’s one syllable. His full legal name is Helbert Frederico Carreiro da Silva. But he goes by Fred. That’s awesome!

9. Uche Echefu

I first heard this name reading a high school magazine about top high school basketball players in the nation. The remarkable fact about Echefu is that he only started playing organized basketball in high school. His senior year at Florida State was in 2009. I just remember seeing his name in a magazine and thinking how great it was. A great name and a great one for the PA announcer to say as well.

8. Milton Bradley

A classic. A character on and off the field as a baseball player.But you can’t ignore the fact that his name is the exact same as the famous board game brand. The only major difference of course being the board game Bradley died in 1911 while the recently retired baseball player was born in 1978. You have to wonder if his parents were aware of the board game maker or not when naming him.

7. Picabo Street

Picabo is a retired alpine race skier. But what a great name! She also put out an autobiography called Picabo: Nothing to Hide. Is that a a play on her own name? She even appeared on a Sesame Street episode and Elmo was searching for Peekaboo Street but instead found the actual Picabo Street.

6. Pierre-Marie Altidore Cespedes

I first heard about Cespedes when he played basketball for Gonzaga in 2004. What a great name! Long names in sports always fascinate me, especially when the public adress announcer or broadcaster had to call his name. Such a mouthful, but at the same time so great. Cespedes transferred to Marshall after playing at Gonzaga but I’m unsure of whether or not he still plays basketball today.

5. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

Hard to rank Cespedes and Mbah a Moute. For me, Mbah a Moute goes ahead in part because of longevity in the game. Mbah a moute played at UCLA, which was when I first heard his name. And now he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, and is an outstanding defender. From Cameroon, Mbah a Moute has a father who is a government official for Cameroon and Mbah a Moute is actually the prince of a village in Cameroon. A pretty cool success story getting to the NBA, and a pretty cool name.

4. Chief Kickingstallionsims

I head about Kickingstallionsims when he played for Alabama State in the NCAA Tournament a few years back. The dude is 7-foot-1 and weights 265 lbs. Although his team didn’t make it far, his story and name was a talked about a lot while the team was in the tournament. I’m pretty sure he know plays professionally in Europe.

3. Longar Longar

Longar played basketball collegiately for Oklahoma. I remember reading his name somewhere and having to reread. A first name the same as a last name! He was a senior in 2008, and may be out of basketball by now. Originally from Sudan, I found his full name is Longer Salvatory Longar. I wish I could have been at an OU game to here the PA announcer call his name when he scored.

2. Andrew Andrews

Probably a little biased ranking Andrews up so high. But a current basketball player for UW, I remember seeing that the Dawgs were going to sign Andrews. At first I was like, “Cool his first name is the same as mine…but wait is last name is too!” I found out Andrews changed his last name after his aunt adopted him and helped raise him. So it was actually somewhat of a choice? A great choice by my judging. It’s great to hear an announcer call the name “Andrew….Andrews!” in the starting lineup introductions.

1. Vander Blue

A current player who recently finished his career with Marquette and will now enter the NBA draft after his junior year. I hope he has a good NBA career. That name can sell some t-shirts or something, I know it. The rare first name combined with one syllable last name is great. Here’s a highlight video of Blue in tribute of his name and spot on my countdown list.

As a professional athlete you’re going to be on the good end of some plays and the bad end of others. You will be the. You will be the posterized. Granted, the best and most popular athletes avoid being posterized, it happens to almost every athlete.

However, this year does not seem to be Brandon Knight‘s year. Don’t get me wrong, Knight is a very talented basketball player. He is younger than I am by about 6 months and was a two-time Gatorade High School National Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He is still a young player, with a bright future in the NBA. But this year, oh my.

Searching Brandon Knight on YouTube is not a favorable search if you’re Brandon Knight.

The above photo is a screenshot of what happens when you just search Brandon Knight on YouTube, without typing anything after his name or pressing search. The Internet media have not been kind to Brandon Knight. Of course, there are highlights and great videos of Knight, but the overwhelmingly popular videos are either Knight getting dunked on by DeAndre Jordan or crossed up by Kyrie Irving.

Here’s the thing that makes me feel bad about Knight on the Jordan video. He’s not even supposed to be guarding Jordan! The poor guy, at 6 feet 3 inches tall, is trying to play backside help defense on Jordan who stands at 6 feet 11 inches. Who didn’t pick up Jordan on transition defense? Not Knight’s problem, he just got there a little late. And the ball went through the hoop and happened to hit him in the head. Poor guy. Luckily, Knight wasn’t hurt on the play. But my, was that an impressive dunk by Jordan. This dunk is so popular, you can watch it happen repeatedly for five straight minutes. The next day, the play, which was only a two-point dunk, was discussed for a long while on ESPN.

On a less severe scale, we also have Kyrie Irving crossing up Knight repeatedly in the NBA Rising Stars game. This is a little more acceptable if you’re Knight, as players try out their best moves and the defense is not by any means strong. But still, the NBA posted a video of you getting crossed up on their Twitter. I’m a big Irving fan, but I feel bad for Brandon Knight.

With the YouTube, Facebook and other social media outlet powers of today, any play, good or bad, can be ridiculed and examined in a matter of hours. Here’s to hoping Brandon Knight’s career as a YouTube sensation switches from the posterized to the posterizer.

Below I have linked a story I did for my JMC-325 Reporting for Mass Media course. The disparity between college athletics classifications has always interested me. I see value in different classifications of collegiate athletics, but I think it is worthwhile to take a closer look at these differences which I have attempted to do with this story. Enjoy.

By Andrew Forhan

A look at the Whitworth athletic budget and role of athletic fundraising

University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian’s coaching contract guarantees him $2.5 million in 2013, according to a report from sportspressnw.com.

The salary total of all Whitworth head coaches combined in the last fiscal year was about one-fifth that amount at $503,100, according to the U.S. Department of Education website.

Fundraising for collegiate sports plays an important role to the athletic budget at Whitworth University. As a Division III private school with fewer than 2,500 undergraduate students, Whitworth works on a different athletic budget scale than larger schools such as Gonzaga University or Washington State University.

“We don’t make any profit,” said Jo Wagstaff, associate athletic director and athletic budget reporting officer. “We spend everything. We are right around $2.8 million for everything [full athletic budget], where probably the WSU football team alone is a $4 million plus operation, so we are pretty small potatoes compared to Division I.”

The Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool, available online at ope.ed.gov/athletics/index.aspx, provides athletic budget totals from collegiate athletic institutions that receive Title IV funding. The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act requires that schools must annually report athletic budgets to the U.S. Department of Education.

Using the website to compare the Whitworth athletic budget from the last fiscal year to other larger schools shows how Whitworth functions at the Division III level.

Division I private school Gonzaga University had a total athletic department revenue of $22.8 million and Division I public school Washington State University had a total athletic department revenue of $47.9 million. Whitworth’s total revenue was $3 million, according to the EADA website.

At Division III schools, budgets are smaller and funds are designated for needs of athletic teams such as traveling to contests rather than additional luxuries said Helen Higgs, head women’s basketball coach at Whitworth.

“We aren’t trying to get our 15 styles of uniforms like [University of] Oregon football,” Higgs said. “We are doing it because we need to travel out of region and the school is giving us everything they can.”

The overall athletic department budget was about $80,800 in the black last year, Wagstaff said. Last year, the athletic department fundraised $97,800 for all sports combined.

The university allocates money for the athletic department to use, which is spent each fiscal year. Fundraised money can be carried over into the next fiscal year, whereas allocated funds from the university cannot, Wagstaff said.

“On June 30 [end of fiscal year], everything is spent and gone,” she said. “If one sport has $200 left, I’ll put it into a sport that needs $200. There’s never enough.”

Some teams spend fundraising money within the fiscal year while others save money for future years, which explains why the overall budget total was less than the amount fundraised in the fiscal year, Wagstaff said.

The athletic budget is composed of 15 to 20 percent fundraised money. The allocated budget, called the operating budget, composes 80 to 85 percent of what the athletic department spends, Wagstaff said.

Whitworth’s total revenue minus total expenses from the last fiscal year was $339,064, according to the EADA database. That total was higher than any other school in the Northwest Conference. Pacific Lutheran University had the second highest total with $203,233.

“We have our fundraising budget, which is called restricted funds,” Wagstaff said. “That is the figure you’re seeing [in the EADA report] if there’s money left over at the end of the year—it looks like profit.”

As Whitworth’s EADA reporting officer, Wagstaff annually reports the athletic budget, but she said the Department of Education computes values that can be misleading because fundraising values are not included in some computations.

Whitworth’s $339,064 total could suggest success with athletic fundraising, but Wagstaff cautioned the interpretation of that value.

The database also requires some values to be double-reported from multiple fiscal years and so the revenue value of $339,064 is misleading, she said, adding that the $80,800 in the black value is a truer representation of fundraising money left at the end of the fiscal year than what is reported on the website.

“The EADA report is great—it serves its purpose,” said Aaron Leetch, Whitworth director of athletics. “I don’t put a lot of stock into what they say. I think they’re valid but it’s not a perfect science.”

The EADA can still serve as a comparison tool between schools, Leetch said. He also emphasized the importance of athletic fundraising in the big picture of the athletic department.

“It’s an essential part of what we do,” Leetch said. “We are very blessed to have a supportive institution and a supportive administration, starting with President [Beck] Taylor. They understand the importance and the role that intercollegiate athletics plays within higher education.”

Corporate sponsorships and private fundraising are the two primary categories of fundraising at Whitworth, Leetch said.

The two methods often come in the form of letter writing to alumni and asking for sponsorships from local businesses. Other forms of fundraising include selling T-shirts and other team apparel, but the bulk of fundraising profit comes from the corporate sponsorships and private fundraising, Wagstaff said.

Fundraising from sponsorships benefits athletic teams in some ways that are not direct cash transfers, Higgs said.

“Sponsorships are a big thing, we have Diamond Jet Parking [as a sponsor] so when we get to the airport we can park in Diamond Jet Parking [for free],” Higgs said. “Some of our fundraising isn’t actually visible cash, but getting sponsorships and those types of things.”

Sponsorships also benefit Whitworth for hosting tournaments. Through fundraising partnerships Whitworth can often offer free hotel rooms to visiting teams, Higgs said.

Aside from sponsorships, the key for fundraising is to go out and ask, Leetch said. The amount of donations to athletics without asking is very slim.

“We used to joke when I was at Baylor [University] that the University of Texas folks, they had the best job in the world,” Leetch said. “They come on Monday morning at 8 a.m., they get their cup of coffee and newspaper, they go sit down at their desk and they wait until the mail comes in [with money].”

But most schools don’t have the benefit of unprompted financial gifts, Leetch said.

“Everywhere else [aside from UT], most all of us—WSU, Gonzaga—people don’t send money,” Leetch said.

Higgs saw fundraising differences between school classifications after playing collegiate basketball at the University of Oregon and coaching at the Division I level. At larger schools, there are often alumni and donors with more money to give than at the Division III level, Higgs said.

“We may have to find 20 people to give $100 rather than one person to give $2,000,” she said.

Division I schools use benefit-driven fundraising, Leetch said. The incentive for donating money is the benefits given to donors upon supporting the athletic budget.

“What that means is if I’m a donor it’s all about what seats I get to buy, what parking spot I get to park in, what donor room I have access to—you’re selling benefits,” Leetch said.

The philosophy differs at Whitworth. The strategy more closely aligns with true philanthropy and asking others to support the mission of the athletic department. The department values donor gifts and makes sure the donated money stays within the athletic department and serves its intended purpose, Leetch said.

“The industry term is donor-driven philanthropy,” Leetch said. “If someone wants to give X amount to a program the money will go to that program.”

Alumni connection and philanthropy are important components for athletic fundraising said Jael Hagerott, head women’s soccer coach at Whitworth.

“We love it when we have players in the program and we hope to maintain that good relationship even after they graduate,” Hagerott said. “And even after they graduate, if they have a few years [away from the program], they’re able to give back to us.”

At schools not classified as Division III, scholarships are part of the budget must be taken into account, and scholarships can potentially persuade students to attend a school. Athletic scholarships present a new area of the overall athletic budget. The value of fundraising serves a special purpose for Whitworth, as a Division III school that cannot give athletic scholarships, Wagstaff said.

Without scholarships, fundraising for athletic facilities and uniforms that can attract athletes to come to a school becomes important. Fundraising can creatively give Whitworth athletics an edge and Whitworth fundraises better than other schools, Wagstaff said.

“I think we are pretty aggressive with fundraising,” Wagstaff said. “Division III restricts scholarships, so we all think of ways to enhance the program because there is no limit to how much money we can raise.”

Wagstaff commended Leetch’s ability as athletic director to distribute money among different Whitworth athletic teams. Whitworth has a reliable base of alumni that can be relied on for funds, but the donor money isn’t given evenly.

In one particular case, Leetch was given a car to auction off and he designated it to be auctioned by the women’s basketball team, which does not generate as much money as teams such as football and men’s basketball.

“Especially football, and men’s basketball, it seems to be easier for men’s sports to raise money,” Wagstaff said. “It’s just a reality that the good old boys network donates to men’s sports, so I think that’s going to change eventually but we’re still kind of stuck in that.”

Two-sport athlete and Whitworth junior Dustin McConnell is one of many athletes to benefit from fundraising. As a member of the men’s basketball team and men’s tennis team, McConnell said he sees the way fundraising differs among sports.

“Definitely a difference between basketball and tennis,” McConnell said. “Football and basketball are more spectator-oriented with more fans at those games and more booster club money.”

The benefit for fundraising with men’s basketball shows in part by the way the team travels. McConnell said that the basketball team flew to all games this last season, including Northwest Conference contests, except for a trip to Whitman College and a road trip to Tacoma.

“That [flying] goes back to when [former men’s basketball coach] Jim Hayford was here,” Higgs said. “So he really worked on fundraising to be able to do that.”

In many cases, the drive and fundraising goals of an individual coach determine the benefits the sport will obtain, Higgs said.

Although Hayford left Whitworth, the basketball team continues to fly to contests because of his fundraising methods and the importance of flying as an area of spending for the team’s budget. Some coaches put more emphasis on fundraising or ask for more money from the athletic department than other coaches, Higgs said.

The women’s team does not fly because the team has put less emphasis on flying and fundraising in general compared to Hayford, she said.

Hagerott echoed Higgs’ comments about a coach’s control over budget spending.

“We pretty much have full autonomy in our budgets as long as we manage them well and wisely,” Hagerott said. “As a coach I’ve been very blessed with what I’ve been given.”

Generating funds for coaches to spend comes as a result of asking others to join the athletic department in the quest for achieving the vision and goal, Leetch said.

The athletic department strives to provide the best possible student-athlete experience, and holds student-athlete experience as its top priority. Giving athletes the best possible experience often means building or improving facilities such as the renovated Merkel Field or upgraded speaker system in the Fieldhouse, Leetch said. The money for the recently renovated baseball field, a renovation cost of roughly $800,000, was a 100-percent fundraised project, he said.

If the department can communicate a shared vision with donors and provide upgrades that benefit the student-athlete experience, then the fundraising process is doing its job, Leetch said.

“It’s about helping people find what they’re passionate about,” Leetch said. “Helping them understand your goals and what you’re trying to accomplish. [Show] how their money and their investment can help young people. At the end of the day for me it’s all about—this career and this job—is about making a difference in young peoples’ lives.”