Contributor: Taylor Engel
With hockey and basketball ending, and the NFL still months away, June was, as it always is, a downtime for many sports fans. Baseball was in the middle of it’s season, and thus, was not expected to be terribly intriguing. At this point in the season, there are no pennant races being decided, and no new faces at any ballparks. That is, until, the Los Angeles Dodgers, faced with injuries to All Star outfielders Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford, decided to call up Yasiel Puig.
The Dodgers signed Puig in June 2012, to a seemingly ridiculous seven year, 42 million dollar contract. They were widely ripped for the deal, as their scouts had only seen Puig play for approximately a week. He was widely forgotten for the remainder of the year, though, as he only played 23 games, at the rookie and A levels. However, Puig became a baseball wide phenomenon during spring training, where he hit just over .500, a remarkable feat, even if it was just spring training. Puig, though, was sent back to the Dodger’s Double-A affiliate in Chattanooga, as their outfield was already full. He performed well in 40 games there, hitting to a tune of .313 with eight home runs. It was after these 40 minor league games that the major league Dodgers were woefully under-performing, and were 10.5 games back of the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks. At this point, faced with high expectations, low performance, and even worse health, that the Dodgers decided to call up Puig.
As much of a baseball cliché as it is, Puig sparked the Dodgers. Since his call up, the Dodgers have gone from 10.5 games back of the division lead, to 5 games ahead of the second place Diamondbacks, in a span of just 55 games. He has been absolutely crushing the ball, to a tune of a .373 batting average, with 11 home runs and 25 runs batted in. However, as Puigmania took over the Dodgers faithful, slowly but surely, the young Cuban began to make exponentially more enemies than friends, both within the league and amongst it’s fans. After an incident versus the Diamondbacks on July 9 in which Puig ran through the stop sign at third base, and was out by about 10 feet at home, only to try to run over the catcher to score a run, Arizona catcher had the following to say about Puig: “He’s got so much talent, it’d be bad if he wasted it doing the stupid things he’s doing … I really don’t appreciate it. It’s immaturity.” Arizona starting pitcher Ian Kennedy agreed, saying, “[Puig] plays with a lot of arrogance” This was a sentiment that was not echoed by any other players, but quietly agreed with. The anti-Puig brigade, though, had it’s shining moment after he hit a walk off home run to beat the Cincinnati Reds on July 28. The ball was annihilated, and Puig knew he had just won the game, and thus, performed in the following manner:
It was at this point that the anti-Puig freight train was boarded by any and all, with fans saying that Puig has shown a lack of respect for the game, that he needs to learn to play the game the right way, and that he needs to calm his emotions. What these people surely must not realize is that Puig does not know any better. This is a 22 year old kid who has been in America for just over a year, speaks little English, and grew up in a place where the “right way to play” is simply different. However, his detractors believe that he needs to assimilate to the way baseball is played in America, with a cold professionalism and with little to no enthusiasm.
How does this tie into mixed martial arts? Because it is the complete opposite, and it is beautiful. Dana White catches a significant amount of flack, and rightfully so, for not acting in a professional manner. However, what he doesn’t do is restrict his athletes. Speaking purely of the way they act, many of the UFC’s great performers are not like baseball’s. While baseball is led by men with a business like approach, such as Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen, and Justin Verlander, many of the UFC’s best-sellers are men with no filter, both in the manner they speak and present themselves. Men such as Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping, Chael Sonnen, Alistair Overeem, who have never been UFC champions, are capable of carrying a card purely based off of the way that they present themselves. They are loud, arrogant, brash men, who have no issues showing their love for the sport and love of the spotlight. Instead of being robots whose actions are dictated by an unwritten code, they are open, compelling characters, which gives fans who have never seen them compete a reason to be interested in them. Fighters such as these are terrific for broadening the sport’s viewership.
Now, is there a place for professionalism in mixed martial arts? Absolutely. Fighters such as Georges St. Pierre, Benson Henderson, and Cain Velasquez are terrific ambassadors for the sport, as they, for the most part, wear suits to press conferences and interviews, are incredibly mindful in their word choice, and act in a way that lends credence to their sport. But, the thing that these fighters have in common with the previous, more brash, group, is that their persona is not dictated. Neither their peers, nor their employers expect them to behave in a certain manner. That is not to say that there are no expectations in place, there certainly are, (right, Nick Diaz?) however the way that fighters carry themselves on a microphone and in both victory and defeat is permitted to be emotional and bold. One of the men widely regarded as the kindest, most professional men in mixed martial arts, Junior dos Santos, celebrated his first UFC win by sprinting face first into the cage. Had this been baseball, or another sport with similar standards, he would’ve been raked over the coals for not having acted in a classier manner. However, the UFC and it’s fans loved the raw emotion of dos Santos, and love the way he has reacted to his knockouts since then.
And this is where the “major” sports can learn from mixed martial arts. It is not wrong to be the person one is, it is only wrong to hide it. If who Yasiel Puig or Junior dos Santos is is the person who reacts in a visceral, raw manner to their success, their employers should take that as a positive and embrace their enthusiasm for the sport they love. And if who Mike Trout or Georges St. Pierre is is someone who expects success, and does not celebrate in a provocative when they achieve it, then their professionalism should too be appreciated and embraced. No longer should men and women have to change who they are to be respected, they should garner their peer’s respect purely for their abilities and achievements.
-Taylor can be reached @tcengel13.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
