Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
August 31, 2001, Washington Post

Three Sad Tales

Maybe I'm just bummed out that summer is ending, but I seem to be noticing more sad stories in the sports section these days. At the risk of giving everybody the summertime blues, here are just a few.

The Herminator

Hermann Maier, the man known as "the Herminator" and probably the best skier in the world, broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. Maier likely won't compete in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and he might never ski again.

That's a real shame. But if anyone can come back from this kind of setback, it's the Herminator. Maier is about the toughest athlete around.

During the 1998 Olympics, Maier flew off the downhill course at 70 miles per hour and tumbled head over heels through two restraining fences. The terrifying crash barely fazed him. Maier dusted himself off, walked back up the hill and won the gold medal in another race on the same course a few days later.

A great athlete such as Maier will be missed at the Olympics in February. Here's hoping that the Herminator is back on the slopes before too long.

Women's Soccer

I saw the television ratings for the new Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). They don't look so good.

The new women's soccer league scored only a 0.4 Nielsen rating for the Saturday afternoon games on cable. A rating point represents about 1 million households. So that means that about 400,000 households tuned into WUSA games. That sounds like a lot, but not when you think about how big the country is. By the way, the women do better than the men's Major League Soccer games. The MLS had only a 0.26 rating

Kids love to play soccer. And parents love to watch their kids play soccer. But so far it seems that not many folks in this country want to watch professional soccer on TV.

That's too bad, because people are missing some good soccer. In the first WUSA title game, the Bay Area CyberRays edged the Atlanta Beat in a 4-2 shootout after the match ended in a 3-3 tie. Still, if the TV ratings don't get much better, there may not be many more WUSA title games for anyone to watch.

Little League World Series

Man, I must be in the dumps to grumble about the Little League World Series.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to be happy about with the LLWS. I love the exciting games, the big crowds and the teams from all over the world battling to win a championship.

So what's so sad about the LLWS? (I mean besides the question about how old Bronx pitcher Danny Almonte is.) Just this: Every game I watched, I saw 12-year-old kids snapping off curveballs like big leaguers.

Kids that young should never throw breaking pitches such as curves or sliders, because those pitches increase the chances that the kids will hurt their arms. If you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe Tommy John, a pitcher who won 288 games in the major leagues. John said in "The Complete Baseball Player" that kids should wait until they are "at least 14" until they throw curveballs and only then under the guidance of an experienced coach.

So why do the kids throw the curves? I suspect it's because their coaches put winning a championship in front of what's best for the kids.

And that's the saddest story of all.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company