minnesotacubsfan

Maybe you could think about it like this: all major leaguers are clutch. To stay in the bigs, it takes an insane amount of talent, and an insane amount of concentration. Hitting major league pitching is just really hard. Everyone knows that. If you can concentrate any more, you will use that. And if you want to talk about stressful, I expect a rookie season in the bigs would be at the top of the list. Not the playoffs when you are 31 and an established player. However, part of the reason that some people wash out, might be mental. They are prone to lapses in concentration, or their game lowers under stress. If you care about the game and making a career out of it. If you have that self-interest to set yourself and your family up financially, then all of the at-bats are going to be big until that happens. I'd usually assume this kind of thing is a matter of talent, but whatever, sometimes there's a grey area on what's what exactly. This is just another one of those things were the level of play is so elite that you are going to have weird findings. Like DiPS or catcher ERA. Stuff that people don't want to believe, but it's true because you have to have so much of whatever that "stuff" is or you never get your cup of coffee. I can fully agree with that, but none of it takes into account situational hitting, and I would argue people who use the term "choke" only use it in refernce to situational hitting. Nobody says a player "chokes" when he stirkes out to make the first out of the top of the second inning.

I think it depends on the level of spite.

I might be the ONLY one on this board who thinks Cuban has a fair shot at the Cubs. If the Mitchell report is REALLY taht damgaing, why wouldnt MLB want something to distract from that? IDK.

lol wow he has 30+ years of karma ready to bite him in the ass I guess I dont know much about Csonka (sp?), is he a a-hole? He probably wasn't originally, but the obsession with being the only undefeated NFL team has turned all those '72 Phins players & coaches into smug jerks. there is a disputed claim that the '72 Dolphins throw a party every time an undefeated team loses late in the season. they think they're the greatest team ever, despite going 17-0 with a schedule that featured, what, 2 teams with winning records? ooo IC. so its the '72 fins team (and celebration) you dispise. I can understand that. I thought you just hated Larry.

lol wow he has 30+ years of karma ready to bite him in the ass I guess I dont know much about Csonka (sp?), is he a a-hole?

lol wow

um, if anything it would have been offsetting interference calls on the final hail mary, as one of the Ravens WR's totally powerslammed one of the Patriots safeties right, but why didnt they replay the down? dont they replay the down in that instance? yeah replay the down so kyle boller can throw another super-low percentage pass and not reach the end zone with it. why not, thems the rules, right Tom?

um, if anything it would have been offsetting interference calls on the final hail mary, as one of the Ravens WR's totally powerslammed one of the Patriots safeties right, but why didnt they replay the down? dont they replay the down in that instance? yeah, i don't know. just correcting what the blown call was thats what burned me, the Patriots were allowd a second chance because of their f-up, but the Ravens aren't given the same oppertunity. I dont know, I guess it never should have came down to it, and I feel the holding call was ticky-tack.

um, if anything it would have been offsetting interference calls on the final hail mary, as one of the Ravens WR's totally powerslammed one of the Patriots safeties right, but why didnt they replay the down? dont they replay the down in that instance?

lets see, a false start, then a holding call, but no pass interference on the last hail mary throw? nice officating. way to be consistant. Ravens got screwed.

um..no its not, and that is the dumbest analogy I have read on this board to date. cancer isn't a performance under stress. I hope this helps: Not that I necessarily agree with this but here it goes, Clutch is simply performing at "typical" levels in "pressure situations". The player doesn't get better, he simply performs at or near expected levels Anti-clutch is the player performing at significantly worse levels in "pressure situations". I don't know how they would measure drop-off and how to control for opportunities, but I think that is the logic. It makes sense at some level. ok, I can buy that, but then there is neither "clutch" nor "choke", simply performing at expected levels and not performing at expected levels.

see how that works both ways? you cant have "choking" in baseball w/o "clutch". why? please explain this to me. Yeah, that's just not true. It can't be explained. It’s very simple. If stress of a situation can drain a player’s ability and concentration, then it can also help them to elevate it. You cannot claim in a reasonable argument that stress only takes from a player’s ability. (well you could, but you aren’t being reasonable). Some players may have the ability to elevate their game in a situation that they recognize it to be critical. Another poster mentioned that a "critical" situation is subjective, and can depend on the player (critical to his career, to his batting ave, etc etc etc.) I could buy this argument, but if that is the case it can also be said for "choking". I cannot accept someone claiming there is such an event of choking with out its antithasis, clutch.

um..no its not, and that is the dumbest analogy I have read on this board to date. cancer isn't a performance under stress.

see how that works both ways? you cant have "choking" in baseball w/o "clutch".

HENDRY IS AN IDOIT. WE ALL KNOW THIS. BUT SOMEHOW, HE JUST OUT-DOES HIMSELF AND SURPRISES THE LIVING #### OUT OF US. AWESOME.

I guess what bothers me on this arguement is why cant they do better? If they can do better, why can't they do that all the time? Why are they doing worse than they should a majority of the time. maybe they are unaware of how it happens-the same whay some onw who is a "chock-artist" is unaware of how not to choke the flaw in the anti-clutch arguement for me is that it can only happen one way-that a player can only get worse then their typical/average, but never better. statistics are based on average, but lets face it, NO ONE give 110% every day every second.

I guess what bothers me on this arguement is why cant they do better?

Explain why. if you cannot have the ability to focus, concentrate, and adjust your approach/skill set in a "pressure" situation, you cannot have the ability to loose focus, concentaration, and ability to adjust youre approach/skill sets and thus "choke" I do believe ther is somthing to being "clutch", although I think it is overblown by mainstream media

jimbo likes him some K very much, thank you.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/659087,hawk112007.article

the guy had ONE ARM! The only reason he was playing anyways was because all the real players were fighting in the war. I am amazed at how fast he his glove-to-throwing hand transfer was

Maybe Jimbo is looking at trading Marquis

I'm beginning to come around to this thought as well. At first, I wanted nothing to do with Kobe, buuuut, if Kobe can get his way, the Bulls could have a very very good team for a long time w/Kobe, Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni, etc....

thats interesting

screw it lets give him ownership