Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Aussie Open: Murray's career might have come to an abrupt end

At Wimbledon in January 2008. One of my favorite photos
from the trip to London.
Winter is not my favorite season. That may seem strange, considering how much I enjoy watching and covering hockey, but it's true. I could do without the snow, icy roads and sub-freezing temperatures. A mild winter with temps in the 30s and 40s would actually do just fine.

Still, one of the highlights during the doldrums of the winter months comes in mid-January when the tennis season starts with the first Grand Slam of the year: The Australian Open. Unlike Wimbledon, this tournament fits my night-owl ways a little bit better so I can stay up late (or just stay up until my normal, late-hour bedtime) to watch some tennis. The toughest part might be curbing my jealousy as the ESPN commentators discuss things like severe heat warnings and then the camera cuts to shots of the sunny Australian setting or players dripping with sweat.

At any rate, it's always a fun way to kick off tennis season and have a little variety in sports viewing. This time around, there was news even before the tournament started. Andy Murray held a tear-filled news conference announcing that this Grand Slam could very well be his last, saying he will retire in 2019. The 31-year-old and former No. 1 player has battled an injured right hip.

Murray mentioned in the presser how he's been struggling for a while.

"I've been in a lot of pain for probably about 20 months now," Murray said during the news conference. "I've pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better. ... Still in a lot of pain. It's been tough."

He added that he's not sure he can play through the pain for another four or five months. Obviously, playing Wimbledon one last time would be a goal. If he's able.

As the matches got started in the first round Sunday night, I thought about hitting the record button for the four overnight hours when Murray was scheduled to play. Nah, I thought. He'll get through the first round.

Spoiler alert: He did not. Despite playing well and taking the match to five sets after losing the first two, Murray was defeated by Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-2.

The could very well be the last time tennis fans seem Murray in a Grand Slam tournament. If that's the case, it's the end of a solid career and one cut short. A career with immense pressure as Murray was the pride of Great Britain. He won three Grand Slams, two Olympic gold medals and is a Davis Cup Champion.



I still remember listening to the end of the 2012 Wimbledon final when Murray came up short in four sets against Roger Federer. I can't imagine the disappointment he felt, finally getting oh-so-close to a Grand Slam but still unable to grab one, especially on the home grass. Let's face it, Federer is no freakin' slouch. I felt similar to when Andy Roddick lost at Wimbledon to Federer in 2009, that Murray might not ever see his dream of a grand slam realized, especially in front of his home fans.

For me, while the women's tennis world has been a combination of flashes in the pan, upsets and not much consistency at the top unless your name is Williams, the men's game over the past decade or more had a top crop of players. It was always Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Murray as the big four.

Murray's first grand slam title came at the U.S. Open in 2012 when he defeated Djokovic in a five-set thriller, 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2. It was the first time in 76 years that a British man a grand slam singles title. So yeah, there was some pressure there. Murray finally got his day in the sun at home, too, winning at Wimbledon in 2013 with a straight-set victory over Djokovic, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

Announcing his retirement prior to the Australian Open this year had to be particularly difficult because Murray has never won the tournament in Melbourne, despite making it to the final five times in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. With the three grand slam titles to his name, it's fitting that two of them came on the grass at Wimbledon as he won it for the second time in 2016.

Murray had a successful 2016 season, making it to the finals of the Australian and French opens along with winning Wimbledon. He was also ranked No. 1 in the world.

But after that, it was a different story. He lost in the fourth round in Australia, then in the second round at Indian Wells. He suffered an elbow injury. He also dealt with the hip injury that just kept hanging around and made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. He also missed some other tournaments and ended up losing the No. 1 next to his name, because of the hip injury. Causing a little controversy, he waited until just days before the U.S. Open to withdraw.

It was the same story for the 2018 Aussie Open, with the hip injury keeping him out. This time, he underwent surgery. He wasn't ready to come back and also withdrew from Wimbledon that year. Murray's career since the hip injury has been a waiting game to see if he'll play or withdraw because his body just wasn't ready to play in five-setters. He made it back for the U.S. Open last fall but lost in the second round.


I'm sure Murray would love to come back for Wimbledon, but playing a hard-fought, five-set match in the Australian Open is also not a bad way to end his career. It has to be tough knowing that this wasn't his decision, in the sense that his injuries and his body were dictating things. Still, a three-time Grand Slam champion, and one who had such immense pressure on himself, offers a lot for Murray to be proud of as he retires in his early 30s.

It will be different not seeing Murray as part of the top-tier men's tennis game, but taking care of his body for the long-term has to come first.

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Monday, December 31, 2018

That's a wrap on telling the stories of 2018

Mom and me in KC.
I'm always one of those sentimental types that remembers meaningful dates, posts inspirational quotes and photos, and reflects on accomplishments at the end of the year. The 2018 calendar year wasn't always easy, but it was solid from a professional perspective between my fourth season as an in-game social media coordinator with MLB/Minnesota Twins and my work as a freelance sports writer.

The Twins didn't have the success of the 2017 season, but it was another fun year keeping up with the score updates on Twitter. The biggest deal, of course, was Joe Mauer's final game on the last day of the season and then his retirement in the fall. Other than that, I once again traveled to the Twins series in Milwaukee, over the Fourth of July this year. My mom and I also had a fun mother-daughter road trip for a Kansas City series over the summer as well, which was a lot of fun.

I wrote nearly 200 stories, sent thousands of Tweets and posts on social media, wrote two more children's books. I didn't post as much on my blog as I would have liked, but maybe that can be part of my resolutions for 2019! Here are some of my writing experiences from the past year, with linked text to specific stories.

As baseball season rolled into hockey season, I received the opportunity of an expanded role as a Minnesota Hockey Magazine contributor. I'm the primary Minnesota Wild/NHL beat writer for the magazine. With that, I'm credentialed for the season for Wild games and write a few stories a month for both the print magazine and online site.

In the spring I finished up two more children's books through Abdo Publishing that will be out soon: College Basketball Underdog Stories and the Ultimate NASCAR Road Trip.

It's been fun to have access to practices at the Wild's new facility, TRIA Rink in St. Paul. Being able to talk with players and ask questions of coach Bruce Boudreau has been another way to get my feet wet as a journalist and write about the team. I've written features about Zach Parise, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Joel Eriksson Ek and even former Wild player-turned front office employee, Ryan Carter.

Minnesota Whitecaps at TRIA Rink.

My role with The Athletic was a little slow for a while, but I found a niche with Minnesota's newest professional team when the Minnesota Whitecaps joined the National Women's Hockey League this fall. The team has been around for years but played its first professional game as part of the NWHL at TRIA (their home rink) on Oct. 6 against the Metropolitan Riveters. I attended both sold-out games and talked with players, fans and the coach to document the inaugural weekend with a feature for The Athletic.

With a 16-game season, the NWHL format is a little different than the NHL. The Whitecaps were the first expansion team to join, making it a five-team league. It's been fun to follow them - most of the players have some kind of connection to Minnesota - throughout their first season, which has been successful so far.

In December, I wrote another piece focused on Whitecaps player, Olympic gold medalist and Hill Murray graduate Hannah Brandt after she practiced with the Wild at TRIA as part of the third annual Girls Hockey Weekend festivities.

Like the past couple of years, I'm still part of the Zone Coverage team. I write weekly about the Wild, plus I branch out here and there. I wrote about the Indianapolis 500 qualifying and race (from home), which was a nice way to write about one of my favorite events and have an outlet to publish.

With the 2018 Winter Olympics, I also wrote a couple of pieces for Zone Coverage about the Team USA women's hockey team and Andover native, Maddie Rooney. Don't forget to subscribe to Zone Coverage using my promo code, HeathWrites.

Mahtomedi Zephyrs - section champs.
My work with the Star Tribune continues, helping out with high school sports coverage including the state girls' hockey tournament, state tennis, state swimming, volleyball, football, basketball and even a fun feature last spring about a sibling track-and-field duo from Osseo High School. With the success of the Gophers women's basketball team last season, I also had the opportunity to cover a bunch of their games and write preview features. I also covered a very exciting section final in boys' basketball last spring, always a good matchup between DeLaSalle and Orono.

I added another couple of newspapers to my byline collection this fall. First, an editor I worked with at the Chicago Tribune moved on to a paper in Indiana - the Northwest Indiana Times - so I picked up a weekly assignment there, putting together a notebook focusing on different local graduates and their accomplishments as collegiate athletes.

Though my work with the Chicago Tribune-Pioneer Press was scaled back as part of other changes within the paper, I still had a couple of bylines with it this year. One was a fun feature where I got to talk with tennis player Caroline Dolehide, originally from the Chicago area and playing on the pro tour.



The NCAA regional volleyball tournament at the University of Minnesota Pavilion presented another opportunity - writing gamers for the Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore. The paper didn't have a reporter make the trip, so it was in need of a local freelancer to help out at the tournament in early December. I covered the regional semifinal between lower-seeded Oregon and home-team/favorite Minnesota. An Oregon upset of Minnesota meant I got to come back the next night and cover the regional final between the Ducks and Nebraska. I covered the NCAA volleyball tournament a few years back, so it was nice to be back again. Plus, the atmosphere during the Gophers match was really fun to witness.

It's been another year of growth and new opportunities, along with the usual routine of watching plenty of sports. Thanks so much for anyone who's followed along with my work on social media or read my stories. I always appreciate it.

Happy 2019!
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Monday, November 12, 2018

It's really the end: Joe Mauer announces his retirement

Cardboard-cutout Joe Mauer with me. 
I was just about done visiting with my parents in the Target Field concourse prior to the 2018 season finale for the Minnesota Twins. Naturally, the discussion of the day - and really the past week - focused on Joe Mauer. My often jaded and pessimistic mind went to this as I was about to leave:

"I hope he doesn't go 0-for-4 or something."

That prediction was actually pretty close, as Mauer went 1-for-4, but that simple statement didn't even come close to what was in store for Twins faithful that Sunday, Sept. 30, during the final game of the regular season against the Chicago White Sox. It was a storybook day for Mauer, one we all know now (though there were strong hunches then) was the final time he suited up in his Twins uniform to play a Major League Baseball game.

It still seems surreal that it's over.

This past Friday, news broke that Mauer has decided to retire, based on a note he wrote addressing Twins fans with a full-page ad in the local newspapers. In September, word got around with a couple weeks left in the season that Mauer was still deciding on this, with his eight-year, $ 184 million contract set to expire at season's end. He wanted to take some time after the season to make up his mind, officially.

But really, after all the pomp and circumstance during his final game, it would almost be awkward to have him return next season. And heaven forbid the St. Paul native and Cretin-Derham Hall grad choose to sign some one-year deal with another MLB club.

Mauer decides to call it quits
I was just like other Twins fans waiting to see when Mauer would make his announcement. The Twins already had a big personnel change with the firing of manager Paul Molitor at the end of the season and then the hiring of new manager Rocco Baldelli. But Friday I wondered aloud to my parents, asking when Mauer was going to announce his retirement. A few hours later, the answer was out there. I swear I'm not psychic.

The tributes and well wishes have rolled in for Mauer over the weekend, and he's set for an 11 a.m. press conference Monday at Target Field for the official announcement. Despite all the ups and downs of his career as an offensive catcher and defensive first baseman, with the concussions issues that went along with it, Mauer will go down as one of the greatest Twins to ever put on the uniform.

I've seen a few posts on social media from people saying they've never known a Twins team without Mauer. In my ripe old age, I can say that my memory goes back a bit further than that. Hello, days of A.J. Pierzynski with Tom Prince as a backup. Still, those other people have a point. Mauer made his major league debut with the Twins in 2004 and played for 15 seasons.

His career drips with success
One of the points that I don't think gets stated enough is the fact that he'll have played his entire career with the same ball club. Playing for his hometown team is just the whipped cream on top (I don't like cherries, so it's whipped cream.). It's a point I learned about early on in my sports fandom as part of my education learning about sports and how it's a business, too. My parents would tell me about players who played most of their careers with one team before going to another for a year or two at the end of his career. Today, it's not very common for a guy to stay in one spot.

Fans know the numbers and honors by heart by now. Mauer is a three-time Gold Glove winner, six-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger winner and an MVP as a catcher in unprecedented territory. The now-35-year-old gave up a football scholarship to play baseball and was selected as the first overall pick by the Twins in 2001.

He finishes his career with 1,858 games, 7,960 plate appearances, 6,930 at-bats, 1,018 runs scored, 2,123 hits, a .306 batting average, 143 home runs, 939 walks, 428 doubles, 30 triples and 923 RBI. As the negative nancies like to point out, Mauer had less success in the small sample size of 10 postseason games. The Twins never won a postseason series with Mauer on the team.

It's almost hard to pick out some of the memories of Mauer's career. He was a guy that wasn't known for hitting for power. He could give you an RBI double and could smack a base hit to left with regularity to drive in runs. He set a new high bar for catchers to produce at the plate instead of just crouched behind it. He hardly ever swung at the first pitch, and his watchful eye at the plate got him on base plenty of times.

A final season to remember
For the entire 2018 season there was speculation here and there about Mauer, since everyone knew it was the last year of his deal. The good news for fans as they could get distracted by some of the milestones Mauer reached this season, firmly setting his place deeper in Twins history.

He reached 2,000 career hits. He moved into third on the Twins all-time list in runs scored trailing only Kirby Puckett (1,071) and Harmon Killebrew (1,047). No Twins player has hit more doubles than Mauer, once he hit the 415 mark. He's second on the Twins all-time list in hits in between Puckett (2,304) and Rod Carew (2,085). He started on Opening Day for the 14th time, the most in Twins history.

The last home run Mauer hit for the Twins was a grand slam against the Yankees at Target Field on Sept. 11. When he hit it that night, I had a special feeling knowing that it very well could be the last home run for him. What a way to go out. And we thought it would be hard to top his pinch-hit three-run homer to deep center in a 5-4 victory over Detroit on Aug. 17. Both warranted curtain calls, which were very un-Mauer like.

Then there was the final series, a rare four-game weekend finale with a doubleheader on Friday against the White Sox to make up the last blizzard-out game from April. Mauer played all four games when in normal circumstances he might have played two. He went 2-for-4 in the first three games, getting ovations from fans for even the smallest feats.

Storybook ending in the finale
Sunday will always be such a special game. His two twin girls ran out to him at first base as part of the kids starting lineup. That was enough of a moment right there. Then more ovations and helmet tips each time he stepped to the plate. He grounded out to second to lead off the first and grounded to short to end the third. He hit a deep fly ball to center field in the 5th. I'm telling you the place would have exploded if he would have smacked that ball to the grass beyond the center-field wall.

He stepped to the plate in the 7th with anxious fans knowing this could be his final at-bat. So he hit a line drive to left field and hustled for a double. Because of course he did. The 0-for-4 was avoided.

Mauer's final hit.

Then in the top of the ninth with the Twins leading, there was a delay in the Twins taking the field. Mauer walked up the dugout steps and emerged wearing his catcher's gear for the first time since 2013.

There aren't many words to describe the moment and the lengthy ovation that followed as fans, teammates and the opposing dugout applauded No. 7. Mauer showed his appreciation through teary eyes and waves to the crowd. He caught one final pitch before being removed from the game. Straight-up chills.

And now he's retiring. The thing is, he can still play the game. His ability is there, and he loves it. But the risk of concussions is too much for him to continue when he's already had a great career and is a soon-to-be father of three. It's completely understandable and almost fitting that he's finishing his career now.

Maybe it will sink in one of these days that the Twins won't have one of their best players in the lineup anymore.

Cheers, Joe. Thanks for the memories.
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