ALL SPORTS: WALKING THE LINE // MLB: SPRING TRAINING & THE COLORADO ROCKIES

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            “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

ALL SPORTS:   Maybe the settings of American sports are "a saint and sinner cycle," no-one knowing when either will downgrade the other, an example of the saint side being Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin taking center stage because of their potential greatness as athletes and that they seem to be centered, uncomplicated, good role models for our kids, men that Dads and Moms hope their daughters would bring home for dinner instead of that skinny sniffler with funny odors floating on his breath.

For a lot of fans, the Tebow promise, or illusion, is that there could still be an American future dominated by right-minded, respectful and responsible persons, and perhaps the Lin story is that there are no limits to performance-skills evolving from hope, patience, hard work and good behavior. Overall, there’s a nice feeling about American sports whenever a Tebow or a Lin leaves the bench and then excels, allowing us to believe that high expectations can be met and that the good won’t fade away.

Then along comes the bad and the ugly, and it's recall time: we no longer deny that there are snakes, rats and broken glass in American sports, the latest scandal that of NFL players paying bounties for actions that have caused the league to seem more seedy than clean and correct, and more dangerous than it needs to be, a league for corruption and for the concept of winning at any price.

Last year, it was the Penn State mess, university recruiting scandals, use of performance-enhancing drugs, and not long ago a study revealed that seven percent of America’s college athletes have criminal records. A few years back, a top NFL quarterback went to jail for having competed his dogs in death-dueling events. It’s hard to remember a year when an American athlete hasn’t been accused of cocaine or heroin use, rape, attempted murder or having beaten a drunk at a bar or been that drunk at a bar, or having received successive DUI’s.

BUT---hard facts about the number of nasty doings among America’s professional athletes lean toward the saint side. Of the more than 20,000 athletes, coaches and staff in the NFL, MLB, the NBA, NHL, USTA, boxing, wrestling, training for the Olympics, and in our schools, "less than one percent comprise the alleged and proven corrupt."

SO---the buttwipes in American sports, those who choose to dance dirty, they are the exception, a small bunch. Of course, the more Internal Affairs-work conducted by our sports leagues and schools, the less crossing over from the good.

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MLB:   Spring training isn’t just for determining who will be on that 25-man roster, it’s also to sweat away three sets of problems, One, getting rid of the kinks that developed among players during the off-months, Two, resolving the issues that in the previous year may have held a team from reaching a post-season billet or that allowed the team to be whacked under an October sky, and Three, once the 25-man roster is selected, there's choosing the A team, the top eight + man-on-the-mound out of a chosen rotation, + relievers and a closer. All this is a lot to accomplish in a month’s time, meaning that decisions have to be made hastily, but then, not too hastily.

Some MLB clubs have it easier than others when it comes to organizing for fixes and implementing them, and for building the best possible game-day rosters. The Colorado Rockies are one of those teams, in that the team’s manager, Jim Tracy, is in his third year with the team and several veteran players have his back, among them, first baseman Todd Helton, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler, and designated hitter and alternate infielder, Jason Giambi., neither of these vets of the lone wolf syndrome, that is, each has been coachable in his career and a willing helper when it comes to working with newcomers. And there's Jamie Moyer, now the oldest pitcher in professional baseball (he’s 50), reportedly a willing adviser to the younger hurlers.

Tracy’s big issue will remain the lift that all MLB club managers see as an overarching objective and seek to develop during spring training, knowing that it may not exist until around late May or sometime in June, that of the players selected for his line-up reaching and exploiting favorably their potential as hitters, base-runners, fielders or hurlers, preferably to a max point and it staying there. Now add developing the teamwork component, a player being able to instinctively serve the needs of his team afield, which amounts to “hey, bunt when you’re supposed to.”

Last season, with pitcher Jorge De La Rosa out, and pitchers Jiminez and Huston failing to meet expectations on the mound, also Carlos Gonzalez getting injured, and Chris Iannetta unable to fulfill his promise at the plate, the Rockies couldn’t get to where scoring was easy even against lesser clubs. The team’s poor starts from the mound and its lack of extra-base hitting when such needs to result in "runs," such led to a low end-of-season finish. So, an improved leading hitter (Fowler), and Helton having maneuvered his batting skills for the double and triple, plus Gonzalez and Tulowtizki as the duo-blasters, this has to make the difference starting April, meanwhile the newcomers need to offset the weaknesses of the players that they will be replacing, e.g., Charlie Blackmon in for the traded Seth Smith. And, back in the rotation will be De La Rosa and others for a reportedly improved rotation, and epectations that Rafael Betancourt will be the team’s successful closer.

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