By Michael Kelley ’14 & Mick Kowaleski ’14

The 2013 MLB season is underway and predictions are required:

Kowaleski: I was so close last year with my Yankees vs. Braves World Series prediction. The Bombers made it until the AL Championship before getting overpowered by the Tigers, and Atlanta was ousted in the one-game playoff against the Cardinals. If a couple calls went their way, they could’ve made a run.

I can’t go with my Yankees this year. They’re too old and too beat up for me to expect much. Instead, I’m doing what I should’ve done last year, and picking Detroit to win the American League pennant. The Tigers, who made it to November last season, actually improved over the offseason. Torii Hunter, one of my all-time favorite players, has replaced the disappointing Delmon Young. Victor Martinez is back, and they’ve got a deep rotation. The Angels, Rays, and Rangers should be tough, but the Tigers will maul the competition.

The National League is a tougher call. The Nats and Dodgers look good on paper, the Giants are defending champs, and I really like the Reds. But you know what? I’m going to keep picking the frickin’ Braves. Why? Maybe I like Heyward, Simmons, and Teheran’s upside. Maybe I like their rotation. Or maybe I just really like rooting for Atlanta.

Tigers over Braves in the 2013 World Series.

Baseball enthusiast Ben Brown ’14 is pinch-hitting for Kelley this week. 

Brown: It’s going to be a heavenly season for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

For the second year in a row, the Angels picked up the top free agent bat. Their lineup will be hellish experience for opposing pitchers as it boasts former MVPs Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols, reigning AL Rookie of the Year Mike Trout, and home run threat Mark Trumbo. Pitching is a concern, however. The Angels will count on staff aces Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson and a renaissance season from Tommy Hanson to help them rise to the top of the AL pack.

Get out of the way, NL! The Los Angeles Dodgers are coming at you. After shelling out money typical of the Yankees, the Dodgers boast one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. Former Cy Young Award winners Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke, Korean import Hyun-jin Ryu, and the fiery Josh Beckett look poised to navigate the powerful lineups of the Nationals and Giants. Unlike their crosstown rivals, the Dodgers have offensive questions. Hopefully a change of scenery will benefit Boston castoffs Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.

If both teams stay healthy, we’re looking at a SoCal Showdown. Good pitching beats good hitting, so Dodgers in 6 games.

A video of Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice went viral last week. Rice was hurling curses, slurs, and basketballs at his players. He was fired on Wednesday.

Kowaleski: Some readers familiar with the column might remember our take on the whole Mike Montgomery-Alan Crabbe shoving incident. I defended the coach for using a little physicality to motivate the listless Crabbe. I didn’t mind it, it was at its core a pretty harmless motivational tactic.

That’s not what you see with Mike Rice. With Rice, you get straight abuse, both physical and verbal. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s almost as tough to watch as Kevin Ware’s broken leg. But while that injury was an accident, Rice is downright menacing. When Rutgers first heard of this incident, their first reaction was to suspend Rice—for three games. That was the entire punishment.

I don’t mind coaches getting into their players’ faces to motivate them. But not to this extent. I hear Bobby Knight, famed coach for Indiana University, used similar methods, albeit not as brutal. If Mike Rice had the same amount of success, maybe America could look the other way. As Tiger Woods famously claimed, “Winning takes care of everything.” But Mike Rice was under .500 and never made the NCAA Tournament. The ends certainly don’t even begin to justify the means.

Mike, it seems every other week, we’re covering sports organizations covering some scandal up. The thing is, there isn’t always a guy with a camera that’s going to capture these abuses.

Kelley: Shoving his players, forcefully grabbing their jerseys, hurling basketballs at their heads, and taunting them continuously throughout practice was not what caused Mike Rice to be fired. He is only terminated because this video exists and it’s a PR nightmare.

Rutgers had their chance in December to do the right thing, when athletic director Tim Pernetti first watched the video. But as it always seems to go these days, the right thing was passed up in favor of a three-game suspension and a $50,000 fine that was announced with very few details of the reason behind it. Pernetti opted to choose rehabilitation over termination, a mistake that will forever stain his reputation.

Part of the rehabilitation Pernetti organized was anger management classes and an independent monitor to oversee practices. According to several players that transferred from the program, Rice’s fiery style changed only the tiniest bit and the independent monitor was a secretary from the athletic department.

Rice was Pernetti’s big hire and both had a vested interest in making the hire work. But for Pernetti to ignore glaring video evidence of physical, mental, and emotional abuse to young adults is just downright terrible. And Wednesday’s announcement that his job is safe is even worse.