Last night Minnesota Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox. Interestingly, in a professional career that has spanned over ten-years, Liriano had never thrown a shutout or even pitched a complete game. It was the first no-hitter since the Philadelphia Phillies Roy Halladay threw one against the Cincinnati Reds in last year’s National League playoffs. It could not have come at a better time for Liriano because despite being named last season’s American League comeback player of the year, he was rumored to be on the verge of being sent to the bullpen.

I wrote about The Mental Side of Pitching a No-Hitter following the one pitched by Halladay last season and figured now would be a good time to review it here.

Also last night, the Miami Heat took a 2-0 lead on the Boston Celtics in their play-off series after having gone just 1-3 against the Celtics during the regular season. At one point of the season the Heat was 0-3 against the Celtics and speculated that the Heat had a mental block about Boston. I wrote an article titled: “The Heat’s Losses to the Celtics Not a Mental Block…Yet” and figured now would be a good time to review that one here.

Finally, the Oregon Ducks spring football game was televised on ESPN2 last Saturday and towards the end of the telecast Brent Mushberger and Urban Meyer were asking players on the sideline questions. Suddenly, in the middle of their questioning they were interrupted by Oregon head coach Chip Kelly who wanted to ask those players a few questions of his own. After they answered his questions, Kelly good-naturedly alluded to how he has been criticized for his treatment of sideline reporters. I wrote about that last Fall in an article titled: “Little Things Reveal a Lot: Chip Kelly Halftime Interviews” which can be reviewed here.

Make it a great week and Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s out there.

Posted in The Mind Side Blog