As this season of challenge and change approaches, Astros radio analyst Steve Sparks is working his way through three days a week of cardiac rehabilitation work after suffering a heart attack in mid-December.
And as he recovers, Sparks promises that at least one thing about Houston baseball will remain constant.
“Sparky will always get wet, you can rest assured,” he said.
Getting wet is part of Sparks’ schtick as the on-air host of Astros clubhouse celebrations, which he expects to continue despite the offseason departure of key faces and the myriad challenges that await in the wake of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
“I’m anxious to celebrate another really good season,” Sparks said this week. “This is a great team and an exciting team to watch. Being able to watch this team and celebrate in their winning culture is always going to be fun and exciting, and I will try to relay that as much as possible.”
Sparks said he had just completed a workout Dec. 11 when he began experiencing what his wife, Michelle, recognized as the symptoms of cardiac distress. She drove him to a hospital in Sugar Land, where he said he suffered a heart attack one minute after his arrival.
“My cholesterol and blood pressure always have been good, so there were no symptoms leading up to it,” he said. “I was very lucky.”
Doctors inserted a stent to treat a blocked artery, and Sparks said he continues to make progress toward recovery. He said he won’t miss any time at a job that, despite the occasion rigors of travel, he describes as therapeutic.
“When you talk about heart issues, a lot of times it is stress-induced,” he said. “The game involves no stress for me because I love it so much. It’s relaxing and therapeutic to talk about something I love. I think I’m where I need to be.”
No ignoring the obvious
That being said, Sparks and Astros radio partner Robert Ford are about to witness what promises to be a season of maximum stress for the Astros, particularly when they take to the road before fans who are certain to shower them with abuse in the wake of the cheating scandal.
“I’m going to talk about it,” he said. “I don’t want to avoid the subject. I don’t want to go into Safeco Field and have fans hearing chants through their radios while we ignore them. Something could happen during the ballgame that may be relevant to what led up to it, so I want to stay in front of it.
“A healthy conversation about what is going on is good. My job is to relay how it might affect the players and their mindset. I think it will be loud early, but I think it will dissipate and they will get through it. As a unit, they’ve always come together nicely, and they will have to lean on each other a lot and on the people who are put in place to help them guide them through these times.”
Sparks said the nature of competition can be a sanctuary for players, allowing them to compartmentalize matters.
Geoff Blum, who calls games on AT&T SportsNet Southwest with Todd Kalas, said the cheating issue will have to be addressed up front during telecasts but said to do so in each game throughout the season would be overkill.
“I will continue to do what I do, which is to call the game as I see it on the field,” he said. “We will reference the 2017, 2018 and 2019 teams when appropriate and when it needs to be said.”
That being said, Blum said every team was attempting to steal signs when he was a player, “and they’ve continued to do it. I think it’s a little narrow-minded to say that just the Astros were doing it, and it’s naïve to say that it gave them such a competitive edge. Saying that just because I know which pitch is coming means that I’m going to hit it every time is ludicrous.”
"come" - Google News
February 07, 2020 at 01:20AM
https://ift.tt/374hAcL
Astros voice Steve Sparks expects more celebrations to come - Houston Chronicle
"come" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2S8UtrZ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Astros voice Steve Sparks expects more celebrations to come - Houston Chronicle"
Post a Comment