The Daily Fix

    A Life Column, with a Sports Problem

The players are still filing in for a Wednesday evening practice at Levine-Fricke Field on the campus of the University of California-Berkeley. The tings of batting practice from some of the early arrivals ring in the cages. Once rounded up in the dugout of the tree-shaded diamond, the team hustles down to a lower turf field to begin warm-ups as preparation for their weekend postseason games.

The top-ranked softball team in the land is in mostly a chipper mood, with young women singing and cracking jokes, and why shouldn’t they be? They just finished one of the finest regular seasons in program history with a 50-4 record, won the inaugural Pac-12 championship, and will host their first NCAA regional since 1993.

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Alright, boys and girls, it has been a little while since I posted something. So today, I’m coming at you in a big way, with a piece currently making waves in The Atlantic! Enjoy.

For much of the NBA’s history, dating back to its formation in 1946, the league has been dominated by centers. Legendary big men like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were nearly unstoppable: players with the height and reach to block shots, capture rebounds, and score nearly at will. Since then, contemporary names like Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Yao Ming have taken their place. Lately though, these impact centers have all but vanished. Duncan is at the end of a distinguished career, while O’Neal and Yao retired last year. Today, only two players—the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Lakers Andrew Bynum—among the league’s 30 teams are widely viewed as conventional bigs. And the numbers are not improving.

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Courtesy of Oregon State Athletics

Fred Thompson was 18 when I met him, and I had never seen a body so large move so fast, and with such agility. He was what makes quarterbacks wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.

Sunday would have been his 20th birthday.

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Make no mistake, the NCAA is in the midst of an identity crisis, and this will eventually lead to a dramatic overhaul of how the organization functions to fix this ongoing quagmire.

To its credit, college sports’ governing body adopted a handful of changes two weeks ago, most notably allowing individual conferences, if they choose, to provide an additional $2,000 to each athlete. The annual stipend is designed to help cover the incidental costs of attending school that scholarships do not cover. NCAA president Mark Emmert remains steadfast that this move is not a step toward the so-called pay-for-play model.

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University of California outside hitter Tarah Murrey said more about her mentality and makeup with one action during a short break in play at Haas Pavilion than anything she could ever do in a match.

The preseason All-American already does everything else they could humanely ask of their top star, their captain, their emotional leader. So it was this one act that revealed more with less, and helped exemplify why Murrey was recently named one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, given to the player that exhibits excellence in the classroom, community, competition and character.

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It’s the age-old question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Though the man who the question is attributed—the aptly named 18th century philosopher George Berkeley—could have never imagined its contemporary, less existential application, it actually helps address the issue of low attendance at the University of California women’s volleyball matches. Because ironically, when a tree falls—the rival Stanford Cardinal, to be exact—it is the only time when fans turn out in droves to make sound.

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For Michael Lewis, the book will always be better than the film, especially when the former is his.

Lewis, author of best sellers such as “Liar’s Poker,” “The Blind Side” and “Moneyball,” called the movie industry “flaky” and the process of book to silver screen “distortive.”

Also a contributing editor of Vanity Fair magazine, Lewis said that the writer’s insights are not openly welcomed on the movie’s set.

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Senior captain Tarah Murrey continues to lead the way for the No. 1 in country California women’s volleyball team, taking down the University of Utah in conference play Saturday night at Haas Pavilion, as the team improves to 13-0 (3-0).

The southpaw from El Cerrito, Calif. via St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley recorded 17 kills in the blowout three-set sweep, her second highest total of the season. She previously hit her season high with 21 versus Sacramento State on September 10 in the annual Cal-hosted Hilton Garden Inn Classic. Murrey also laid down an impressive 15 kills in the victory over No. 2-ranked Stanford on September 13.

“There’s times I’m sure she feels all by herself out there,” said coach Rich Feller last week. “I think she’s handling it pretty well. She’s matured right along with that increased responsibility.”

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Spotty, sporadic and flat.

That’s how California’s coach Rich Feller described the play of his No. 1 in the nation women’s volleyball team following a conference win over unranked Colorado at Haas Pavilion on the campus of UC Berkeley Friday night. Cal defeated the Buffaloes three sets to none.

“Even though it was 3-0, which is good, and a win, which is good, I felt like it wasn’t as clean as it could have been,” said Feller after the match. “We didn’t raise our game to Cal level. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen against anybody.”

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For Trinity Wilson, the phone calls and emails have not relented since July 1, the beginning of college recruiting season.

The rising senior at St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, Calif., is without a doubt one of track and field’s most highly coveted stars after yet another stellar season. The attention to Wilson, a 5-9 speedster who specializes in the hurdles, should come as no surprise though, because she has been setting age-level world records each year since she was 13.

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