It's not all numbers

Many of you blog followers know this about me, though some might not: Although I am a Track Coach and a Running Guy, I'm not a huge fan of our sport.

While that might seem weird, here's what I mean: I do not follow the elite levels of the sport religiously. I'm a huge fan of all the athletes I coach, and as part of that I do keep tabs on the teams against which we compete. And of course, I keep tabs on high school track since that is where we recruit.

However, I do not follow the sport closely on a national level. I do not check www.letsrun.com nearly as much as I should -- because it's an awesome Web site. If you pressured me, I probably could not name more than a half-dozen national or world record holders in track and field/road racing.

But ... the one sport I DO follow religiously, the one that I am passionate about as a fan ... well, that would be baseball. Again, if you know me, you know that.

So ... rather than checking www.letsrun.com as I should, instead you'll find me fervently checking in at the LoHud Yankees Blog several times per day.

Since this is sort of a "down time" for baseball, the folks at the World's Best Blog have been using "pinch-hitters" to do guest posts. Today's guest post, written by a Harvard student, is really excellent and I would strongly encourage that you read it. It is linked here.

The guy discusses the overabundance of statistics in baseball (I love 'em, I eat them up! Ask me about VORP sometime) and how you still cannot dismiss the "human" element of the sport.

Aside from being an extremely well-written piece, I really liked the point he was making and I feel it is relevant to what we as coaches do in recruiting potential future Running Red Foxes.

I always brag to other coaches that I do not need to see videos, go to meets (although I like to and will continue to do that) or talk to high school coaches about recruits. Numbers are numbers. If a high school boy can run the 3200 in 9:40 or 9:30 or 9:20 (or faster!), I want him. Case closed. I don't care if his form sucks, he has purple hair in a Mohawk, or his tongue is pierced. We'll take him, and he'll more than likely help our program for years.

However, that does not mean the human element is not important. I'm not gonna commit to a kid sight unseen. He's got to do an overnight visit. I have to meet with him and get to know him. He's got to meet the team and make sure he likes it here.

As one coach once told me: "You recruit PEOPLE first." True story. Especially in our sport, we'll be spending pretty much every day for 9 months with these athletes. Better make sure it's a good fit both ways.

But the bottom line is what it is. The numbers do not lie. In baseball and in track and field.

How many days till pitchers and catchers?