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No this entry doesn't have anything to do with Aubry Huff.
It actually has to do with a few of you who were upset by my comments a few days ago about the way players prepare themselves for the season and some games in particular.
To bring the rest of you up to speed, durning a past broadcast, I remarked on the preparation of a player who suffers a hamstring injury early in the season; one fan commented on my last entry, suggesting that what I said was unprofessional and inapropriate.
Well if I was just commenting on what happened to Adam Jones and three other players with an off-the-cuff remark, I can almost understand your response and might have even second guessed it; however, I have been saying these things for a long long time.
Going back to my first days as a Oriole coach, we had meetings to voice our opinions of what we felt about the club. When I had my say about the way we were preparing players for a season in Baltimore, I was told by the manager then (do the math) that I should keep my comments to myself.
I have been involved in a great deal of pennant races during the course of my career, and I realize how important it is to stay healthy.
In the 27 seasons that I played professionally, I was on the disabled list only two times, both with broken bones.
I never had a pulled hamstring or quad or an oblique problem.
I worked at it for 365 days out of the year because I couldn't afford not to be ready. It was my own personal responsibility to be ready to play every day.
That's what they paid me for and that's what you as fans pay to see. Every organization depends so much on their players to be ready for every game.
The Orioles are turning the corner in this division and are beginning to field some great talent. If we are ever going to compete in this division, we have to be better prepared than the other teams; and that takes a lot of hard sacrifice.
We have the best trainers and conditioning coaches in the business, but it's ultimately up to the players to push themselves above and beyond if they want to be the best.
Based on what I have observed, I've made predictions and statements concerning players' preparation, and most of them are dead on. I don't want to see us lose because we can't field our best team, and it kills me when every year we seem to have the same rash of injuries.
Based on my experience, I consider myself a very qualified judge of preparation and performance; so I hope that helped to clear up something I had said on air and gave you a better idea of where my comments were coming from.
