San Jose State Spartans football headed to the Cure Bowl

Photos by Kavin Mistry

The San Jose State Spartans football team is headed to its first bowl game since 2012, when quarterback David Fales led them to the Military Bowl.

The Spartans will take on the Georgia State Panthers in the AutoNation Cure Bowl on Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. in Orlando, Florida.

SJSU boasts an all-time record of 6-3 in bowl games, including victories in its past three appearances. This will be the first bowl game for head coach Ron Caragher.

This will also be the first bowl game for the Georgia State program that began in 2010.

Scoring wise the Spartans and Panthers are nearly identical in their per game output on offense and defense.

The Spartans averaged 28.0 points per game on offense, while its defense surrenders 28.2 points per game.

Meanwhile, the Panthers averaged 27.8 points per game, and surrender an average of 28.4 points.

However, the offensive identities of the two teams are vastly different; the Spartans offense runs through senior running back Tyler Ervin, while the Panthers offense flows through the arm of quarterback Nick Arbuckle.

Ervin, who earned First Team All-Mountain West honors, rushed for 1,469 yards and managed 2,410 all-purpose yards for the season, ranking him second in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Arbuckle finished the season with 4,160 passing yards, 32 total touchdowns (26 passing), and averaged 346.7 passing yards per game for Georgia State.

As a compliment to their quarterback, Georgia State’s wide receivers Penny Hart and Robert Davis propel Georgia State’s aerial attack.

Hart led the Panthers with 71 receptions for 1,095 yards and eight touchdowns, including seven receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown in the team’s regular season finale against Georgia Southern on Saturday.

Davis added 60 receptions for 979 yards and six touchdowns.

The matchup to focus on will be the explosiveness of the Panthers receivers against the grit of the Spartans secondary.

SJSU’s defense held opponents to 153.6 passing yards per game this season, second fewest in the FBS.

Jimmy Pruitt and Cleveland Wallace III lead the Spartan secondary with three interceptions a piece.

The Spartans path to the Cure Bowl was unconventional; they were surprised that they were even being considered for a bowl after their final loss to Boise State clinched a losing season.

However, there were only 75 teams in the FBS that had at least six wins this season (which is the minimum to be considered for a bowl game) and there needs to be 80 teams to fill all the bowls.

Georgia State’s path to the Cure Bowl was through their emphatic upset victory over their rivals Georgia Southern in the final game of the season that propelled them to a 6-6 finish. Which was surprising because they started the season 1-5, but then hit their stride and won five of their last six games.

The inaugural AutoNation Cure Bowl will take place in the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

Roger Goodell, there is still an issue

SPORTS OPINION

An estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions, whether they’re related to sports or recreation, occur each year in the United States according to protectthebrain.org.

Most of the sports teams here at San Jose State have the risk of a student athlete suffering from a concussion.

Concussions or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) are becoming a much larger issue and are putting athletes in serious life-threatening situations on the field.

Whenever a player during a game suffers a blow to the head, or any other head or neck injury, they are taken to the team doctor and put through the “concussion protocol.”

This consists of a baseline determination diagnosis during a neurological exam performed by a doctor, a gradual exercise program on the sidelines (such as stationary bike, light aerobic activities and before being allowed to check back into the game, they must be cleared by a doctor and an independent neurological consultant.

Today more than ever we see reports of plays showing “concussion-like” symptoms during football games and the NFL is not taking this issue seriously enough.

According to an article on pbs.org, in 2007 NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called for the first ever concussion summit, which included league doctors and outside sources.

The outside sources presented their findings about the dangers of concussions and were promptly dismissed by the league officials. In a press conference following the summit, Goodell sold to the media the “accomplishments” that have been made by the NFL doctors with this issue despite the fact there were none.

St. Louis Rams receiver Wes Welker, who was signed to the team a few weeks ago, was absent from the field for the past 10 months because of multiple concussions.

Welker has suffered three concussions in the NFL which made his comeback to the field all the more puzzling, as he is putting his life in danger and the league is allowing this to happen.

“I don’t think you’re courageous. Or tough. I think you’re f—ing stupid,” said prominent sportswriter Jeff Pearlman in an ESPN article. “Wes, you’re a young guy, and you need to retire right now.”

The NFL is not doing anything to stop him from continuing his career. There needs to be a rule implemented to stop players from re-entering the game after multiple concussions, it is just stupid that they are condoning this.

The other problem is the issue of playing for a paycheck. Football players have stated that if they notice they have a concussion, they will try to hide it because they need to make money and put food on the table for their families.

Clearly the concussion protocol is either not implemented enough, or it needs to be improved, because these players should not be putting their lives at risk to play a game.

According to an article on concussions by CNN, 87 of the 91 former NFL players who donated their brains after death to science, tested positive for CTE.

San Francisco 49ers player Justin Smith said in an ESPN report that players know what problems can occur by playing with a concussion, yet would risk further damage for the money.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out if (you have) a concussion … Yeah I’d still play through it, It’s part of it. It’s part of the game,” Smith said in the ESPN article.

The most frustrating thing Smith said was when he talked about how the NFL handles these concussion situations.

“I think if you are noticeably messed up, yeah, they’ll take you out. But if you’ve just got some blurry vision, I’d say that’s the player’s call. And most guys – 99 percent of the guys in the NFL – are going to play through it,” Smith said.

After hearing these professional players speak about the danger they are putting themselves in just to play football, it makes you step back and look at the big picture.

We are here at SJSU, we have a football team and it almost beckons the question, are they doing everything in their power to protect these athletes?

The switch has been pulled on the Kaepernick era

SPORTS COMMENTARY

After weeks of telling the press that Colin Kaepernick is the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, head coach Jim Tomsula has pulled the string and announced Blaine Gabbert will now be replacing Kaepernick under center.

The patience of coach Tomsula and his staff has reached its boiling point, resulting in their need to try a new signal caller as the team sits in the bottom tier of the league at 2-6.

The team has been in free fall since the departure of former head coach Jim Harbaugh this past offseason and the future of the franchise is in jeopardy.

This has become the low point of 49ers owner Jed York’s tenure as CEO of the franchise, exposing his inability to construct a winning team and a positive image for himself in the eyes of fans.

Since the on-field altercation between York and Harbaugh at the end of last season (when the two reached a breaking point in their relationship) contributed to the firing of Harbaugh, the team has been in constant shambles.

On ESPN’s “Mike and Mike,” one of the hosts said, “the 49ers organization deserves this. Their quarterback who he turned into a superstar has now forgot how to play,” Mike Greenberg said. “The organization deserves this because they had one of the two or three best coaches in football in any level and they threw him out as soon as possible. And now they went from being in the Super Bowl to being the worst team in football.”

With this level of fallout, it will be difficult for the 49ers to salvage anything at this point. Nobody in the 49ers front office nor coaching staff knows what to do.

They took one of the smartest coaches in football, who took a team that for years nobody wanted to watch and turned into a perennial contender.

The Niners made the NFC Championship game three out of four years when Harbaugh was the head coach.

After he left, players such as Patrick Willis, Justin Smith and Chris Borland jumped ship.

The mass exodus combined with questionable moves made by the front office, such as not resigning Pro Bowl guard Mike Iupati, had Niner fans shaking their heads.

Adding more salt to the franchise’s wound was Sunday’s 27-6 loss to the division rival St. Louis Rams. It was another dismal performance by the offense that failed to score a touchdown for the second straight week.

“This is a quarterback that this team has lost faith in,” said Adam Schefter on SportsCenter. “This benching effectively ends the tenure of Colin Kaepernick with the 49ers.”

The benching came at an interesting point of Tomsula’s reign as head coach because each week prior to now he assured everyone he had Kaepernick’s back.

The timing of the benching comes one week before the 49ers’ bye week and opens the door for speculation as to whether the team is finished with Kaepernick.

It is worth noting that a part of Kaepernick’s six-year $110 million contract includes an opt-out clause, which allows the Niners to cut him at the end of any season in the contract time.

It should come as no surprise that the Niners are struggling as much as they are.

The team has shown no signs of real leadership. The offense struggles to score points and the defense, which used to be one of the most powerful units in the league, seems unable to stop anyone.

The Niners will look to try and salvage their season this week with their new starting quarterback Gabbert against the Atlanta Falcons.

Check out the full published article in the Spartan Daily

Infographic by Kavin Mistry

Brown people can't play baseball

OPINION

“And the winner, based on his speed and accuracy, is Rinku Singh! He's won $100,000 U.S., a trip to America and a tryout with a Major League Baseball team!” according to an excerpt from the movie “Million Dollar Arm.”

These guys got the opportunity to play baseball without even knowing what a strike or ball was.

Yet here I am, knowing more about baseball that someone probably should and just because I didn’t live in India, I have to fight each day to get a coach to turn his head.

Nobody understands what it’s like to be an Indian baseball player growing up in America. Singh got the opportunity because he was one of the only boys in India to throw a strike.

I have dealt with so much unnecessary criticism being an Indian man trying to play the game of baseball.

I may not have the strength of the white player on my right; I may not have the talent level of the Mexican player to my left and I may not fit the bill of a baseball player in the eyes of the coach, but that doesn’t mean I can’t challenge that player for his spot on the diamond.

Rinku Singh became the first person of Indian descent to play for an American team when he signed to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league team in 2009.

"If I continue to do what I'm doing right now, just believing in myself, believing in my work ethic, believing where I'm going from, it's gonna happen one day," Singh said in a CBS report in 2013.

According to MLB.com, only two Indian people have made it onto a minor league roster in the long history of baseball. The first was in 2009.

I have spoken to many people who said they enjoyed the movie “Million Dollar Arm,” and think it was an inspirational story about bringing Indian players into baseball.

Yet many people fail to understand how difficult it is to be an American-born Indian player attempting to have a career in the game.

I have loved baseball for as long as I can remember. I used to go to San Francisco Giants games as a kid and tell my dad, “I am going to be on that field someday.”

He would say, “I believe that you will be. I have no doubt.”

I stepped away from the game in sixth grade because I couldn’t handle the mocking. I didn’t want to let people tell me whether or not I can play the game I love.

I can’t describe the number of times people have said, “hey! This isn’t a cricket field! Why are you here?” or “there is no way that guy is Indian; he must be black. Indian people don’t play baseball.”

But none of that compared to the worst experience of my baseball career.

I was batting in the last game of the little league season in 2006 against a white pitcher who always told me I didn’t belong in baseball. He hit me in the neck with the first pitch.

I gave up on baseball after that. I thought it wasn’t worth the ridicule I received because I wasn’t like everyone else.

In my sophomore year of high school, I dreaded physical education class. I hated having to run around the track while I watched the baseball team practice on the field next to me.

I decided it was enough and I worked as hard as I could to get my arm back in shape to try out for the team. And I made it.

I went on to play for the varsity team as a junior and senior.

I was still ridiculed by teammates and people on campus, but I knew what I was capable of and what I needed to do to get there.

Unfortunately, my coach didn’t see my dream the same way. I received little to no playing time in the first half of the season.

My first appearance as a pitcher after four years off was with the bases loaded and nobody out.

My coach basically threw me into the fire, but I got out of it without giving up a run.

I told myself that I wasn’t going to get many opportunities to pitch so when I did, I knew I had to force the hand of my coach to let me.

Sometimes in life you need people to tell you can’t do something. Proving them wrong only fuels you.

I continued to grow as a pitcher and a person in my three years of playing in high school. As a senior, other teams thought I was black because they didn’t think Indian people could do what I did.

Coaches and other people told me my career was over after high school, that I had no chance to play at a higher level despite the success I had in my senior year.

I made the team at De Anza College in Cupertino in spite of the backlash I received for even trying out. I spent two years there as a pitcher and now I’m trying out for the team at San Jose State.

Before leaving De Anza, I had an exit meeting with my coach.

After telling him I was headed to SJSU, he said, “hmm … wow, OK. Well, good luck trying to get on that team. It might be hard for someone like you.”

I have lived my life and baseball career by telling myself that it’s not about what people say you can’t do, it’s all about how you can show them they’re wrong.

My dream of making the major leagues is still alive.

Robotic umpires will ruin America’s greatest pastime

OPINION

Baseball is moving further into the 21st century after implementing instant replay, and is now considering putting robot umpires behind the home plate.

Major League Baseball will use these robotic umpires to call strikes and balls during every game. Players have argued that umpires now control the outcome of games more than the players themselves, and they are in support of the robots.

This problem became evident in a huge game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night in their battle for first place.

Giants batter Alejandro De Aza was called out on a pitch that was unhittable and clearly out of the strike zone. This had a direct effect on the outcome of the game because the umpire took away San Francisco’s chance to tie the game.

According to a tweet by Alex Pavlovic, Giants insider for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, manager Bruce Bochy said it was the “worst call at the worst time.”

But it is unfair for the blame to be placed solely on the umpire because the Giants could have scored in any of the other eight innings.

As a college baseball pitcher myself, I hope to never see a robot umpire on the field. They would give the hitters an unfair advantage, knowing exactly what would be called a strike and what would be called a ball.

Pitchers have an unspoken relationship with umpires. When the game begins, the umpire reveals how the strike zone will be called for that game and the pitcher adjusts his game plan accordingly.

This is something that hitters have to figure out for themselves during the course of the game, along with trying to understand the pitcher.

If there were robot umpires, hitters would only have to worry about what pitch is going to be thrown. It takes away strategy in the mind of the pitcher.

By putting in robots to call the game, it takes away from the human aspect of baseball, including the ongoing battle between hitters and pitchers to outsmart each other.

If I had to deal with robot umpires there would be added pressure on how to throw strikes. If the pitches are close, but not in the clear-cut computer strike zone, it would be frustrating.

Despite the negative effects of having these robot umpires, the movement has already begun to take shape.

According to csnbayarea.com the Bay Area was the first to ever test out this system on July 28, 2015 during an Independent league game in San Rafael.

The system was run by a computer that calculated if the pitch was a ball or a strike and an announcer told the players and the crowd if the result.

It seems inevitable that this new system might make its way to the major leagues and then in time to the college level as well. If it does, it will change the whole dynamic of baseball and the sport will lose a lot of the game within the game between the pitcher and the hitter.

- See more at: http://spartandaily.com/143133/robotic-umpires-will-ruin-americas-greatest-pastime#sthash.0QBE6KPb.dpuf

Check out my other articles in the Spartan Daily.