The Yips

[HedleyLamarr]

As sports fans, we always tune in for at least one of three reasons: To see our team/guy win, to possibly see something we've never seen before, and to see the best-of-the-best perform and marvel at their talents.  As for that last reason, there are also times where we also witness that moment where the talent just disappears, whether it's just for a moment, or perhaps just one game, or it could last for a lengthy stretch, including forever.

 

In golf, the term for when your game heads south all of a sudden is called "a case of the yips".  Your normal strikes wind up slicing or hooking.  It affects your entire game.

 

Today, in Day 1 of the Masters, I present to you: Ernie Els.  Pretty significant golfer, was once considered a chief competitive rival for Tiger Woods.  Dude can play.  Well, he had a rough round today...it happens, no sweat.  But the manner of his day starting is what was pretty off-kilter.  On the very first hole....he 6-putts a ball that began less than three feet from the hole.  This is a professional golfer, not some duff like myself that's been drinking the better half of a 6-pack by the time we reach the turn.  It's amazing yet sad at the same time.  Video of Ernie's inauspicious start to the 2016 Masters

 

What are your examples of where you witness an athlete's sudden inability to perform the simplest of tasks in a sport?  Don't be Johnny Kill-the-thread by listing every example...limit yourself to one or two stories of a pro athlete that went awry.....

[chcarlson23]

Patrik Stefan's whole career went south after this. (Good thing it was for Dallas too... )

 

 

[HedleyLamarr]

To be fair, Stefan's career didn't have much of a north to begin with!  Saw that waste of talent way too much....

[chcarlson23]

41 minutes ago, HedleyLamarr said:

To be fair, Stefan's career didn't have much of a north to begin with!  Saw that waste of talent way too much....

Is that a play on the North Stars/Stars franchise? 

[dfwabel]

I'll do the big golf ones:

Scott Hoch missing a two foot putt to win the 1989 Masters to start, "Hoch as in choke".

 

 

 

1999 Open Championship when Jean van de Velde needed a double bogey on the final hole to win, but shot a 7 and lost in a playoff.

 

 

 

2012 LPGA Nabisco (a Major) had I.K. Kim missed a one foot putt to win and lost in a playoff:

 

 

 

Also: Hale Irvin missed the ball when putting in the final round of the 1983 Open Championship, took a stroke penalty, thus lost by a stroke.

 

TC Chen had a real meltdown in the final group of yhe 1985 US Open which included him hitting the ball twice during one chip from the fringe.

[HedleyLamarr]

No, it's a play on "How could a #1 overall pick and the first significant on-ice personnel decision in team history be so lackluster?".

 

Drafting an 18-year-old that already had a history of concussions was a risky move.  I never felt the hype of Stefan, and I tried to like him....but he just wasn't that good.

[2001mark]

Not a biggie but a memorable one for me... John Daly's one & only playoff with Tiger Woods, & he coughs his shortie.  Even Tiger looked deflated cuz excited to play it out.

[Discrim]

I remember a couple seasons ago, Packers kicker Mason Crosby had the yips to the extent there was a lot of talk about releasing him.  Given he's rebounded quite nicely the last two seasons, naturally said talk has largely been forgotten.

[tp49]

I remember Chuck Knoblauch not being able to throw to first base when he was with the Yankees and my personal favorite Mackey Sasser who as a catcher couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.

[FiddySicks]

31 minutes ago, tp49 said:

I remember Chuck Knoblauch not being able to throw to first base when he was with the Yankees and my personal favorite Mackey Sasser who as a catcher couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.

 

I remember that as well. It was a case of the long-term yips, and it was brutal to watch. A somewhat similar case was when Rick Ankiel basically lost his ability to pitch mid-game and never recovered. 

 

 

 

Still crazy that he ended up bouncing back and playing in the field for a few years.

 

[2001mark]

58 minutes ago, tp49 said:

I remember Chuck Knoblauch not being able to throw to first base when he was with the Yankees and my personal favorite Mackey Sasser who as a catcher couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.

 

I've played 2B & hated not being able to throw 100% speed to first.  It feels like pulling a punch, so unnatural.  

I could always pitch pretty well... except to a batter.  I couldn't stand that because mind over matter & I lost.

[sc49erfan15]

10 hours ago, tp49 said:

Mackey Sasser who as a catcher couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.

 

The 30 for 30 Short on Mackey Sasser is pretty good.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

15 hours ago, HedleyLamarr said:

To be fair, Stefan's career didn't have much of a north to begin with!  Saw that waste of talent way too much....

To be fair to Stefan, that 1999 draft outside of the Sedin brothers, didn't produce a whole lot as a whole. There was a few productive players like Havlat but overall was a trash draft. 

[OnWis97]

11 hours ago, tp49 said:

I remember Chuck Knoblauch not being able to throw to first base when he was with the Yankees and my personal favorite Mackey Sasser who as a catcher couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.

This is the first one I thought of.  He could still hit, still run, and play a serviceable outfield.  But one of the simplest parts of his job just could not get out of his head.  It was weird.

 

The next one I thought of was Ian Baker Finch.  I recall seeing a story about him years ago stating that he "forgot how to golf."  It makes Tiger's downfall look like nothing by comparison.

 

A lot of the above are guys just doinking one put or missing one open net.  One choke job is not necessarily "yips."  I view "yips" as allowing your head to get in the way and totally derail your ability to compete as you used to in total (Baker Finch) or regarding one aspect (Knoblauch).  Knoblauch and Ankiel fit that better than, say, Russel Wilson, who after choking on on play, came back still able to perform.

 

Joel Stave, who just ended his 10-year QB career at Wisconsin, spent some time sharing the job with an unqualified DB, reported because of the yips.  While never a spectacular quarterback, he got over it. 

 

 

[sc49erfan15]

12 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

I remember that as well. It was a case of the long-term yips, and it was brutal to watch. A somewhat similar case was when Rick Ankiel basically lost his ability to pitch mid-game and never recovered. 

 

Still crazy that he ended up bouncing back and playing in the field for a few years.

 

 

Rick Ankiel is one of my favorite baseball stories. It's also great evidence to debunk the "pitchers can't hit" BS theory, as well as a testament to how GD talented the 40th guy on a MLB roster really is.

[T-ROY]

Jonathan Cheechoo. He had 56 goals in the 2005-06 season, then 23 in 2006-07, then 12 in 2007-08, and then 5 in 2008-09. I have no idea what happened to this guy. It seems like a couple other Sharks players from that time went south (Heatley & Setoguchi) and there really isn't any reason for it.

[tp49]

Speaking of second basemen (and former Yankees) how could I forget Steve Sax who also had a nasty case of the yips lest we remember "Steve Sax syndrome."

[vicfurth]

Mike Vanderjagt comes to mind. Went from the best kicker (percentage wise) of all time to one of the worst. Within a game. Never was the same either.

[2001mark]

David Duval.

 

 

[Crabcake]

Two words:

Fernando. Torres.

 

Dude went from the most expensive transfer in the history of English football (a whopping £50 million move, roughly $71 million) to a laughingstock in a year or two. He's somewhat revived his career back with Atletico Madrid, but he still will be remembered as the guy who went from great to awful in a matter of years.