mw 41pw- 91r w lar-- s I B TeMchgniy- Wednesday, October . 0 25, 2006I Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - The Michigan Daily 5B EMMA NOLAN-ABRAHAMIAN/ Daily Since Harden arrived at the University, the use of sports psychology has grown in both men's and women's sports. The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts presents a public lecture a PSYCH From page 7B people who are still learning a lot about the world and about themselves, we want to help them to work through that constructively in every way we can," Courant said in a phone interview this month. Many athletes consider Harden the ideal pathway to that growth. But he many never have even come in contact with the University had he not said "no" to a legend. Saying no to Bo Greg Harden was working in a nearby hospital- based alcohol therapy program. His work involved counseling of patients. He had never worked specifi- cally with athletes before and never intended to do so. One day, out of the blue, Harden received a call from the University football team's physician. The coaches and administrators were concerned with alcohol abuse on the team and wanted Harden to come in to deliver a presentation on the dangers of alcohol. In Harden's mind, such an approach would be plain- lyunsuccessful. "To make a long story short, I convinced them that doing a 45-minute lecture was not the most effective approach to 18 to 22 year olds," Harden recalled. "So (Former football coach Bo) Schembechler wanted to know who the heck it was who had the nerve to say 'No,' so that's howI began." Seeing Harden wasn't about to budge, Schem- bechler asked what he would do differently. Harden's suggestions must have been convincing, because he soon became a regular consultant for both football and basketball. His relationship with the Athletic Department remained strictly as an outside consultant until the early 1990s when Joe Roberson, who would soon become Athletic Director, was impressed by one of Harden's presentations for coaches and administra- tors. "Before I became director, I attended a substance abuse meeting that was being managed by Greg," Rob- erson said. "It became very clear to me that Greg had other talents and that there were other things he could contribute to the department just from that experi- ence." After that presentation, Roberson invited Harden back to his office and they talked for a long time about the Athletic Department's resources for student ath- letes. For Roberson, it wasn't enough that student-ath- letes had access to first-class training facilities and academic instruction. Roberson and Harden agreed a better support network needed to be put in place to help student athletes get through the toughest part of their Michigan experience: being a college student and an athlete simultaneously. The conversation so impressed Roberson that he was convinced that Harden could be an even more important resource for the department. Initially, Roberson had Harden exclusively educat- ing student athletes about drug and alcohol abuse, but it soon became clear that Harden could offer the department many other advantages. "I think we started with him working for us SO percent of the time and then moving up to 75 percent before I left (in 1997)," Roberson said. "He was play- ing a very significant role in a lot of ways in the depart- ment" Once he was an official employee, Harden based his program off of the corporate employee assistance pro- gram he was familiar with from his past work consult- ing corporations. In the system, the coach focuses on performance and the support group is attentive to the daily living problems athletes might encounter. "So, what I'm suggesting is your athletes turn out to be - my God -like humans," Harden said. And so, under that simple belief, Harden set up his shop of mental magic and began transforming those athletes who struggled with the pressures of college athletics on top of college life into the performers who win national championships in maize and blue. Harden made a difference in the life of athletes, but according to Roberson he also helped change the cul- ture of the Michigan athletic department. One of Roberson's fondest memories of working with Harden came from their collaboration on the department's first substance abuse policy for athletes in the early 1990s. Prior to that time, coaches had delineated their own rules for their individual teams and some had done a better job than others. "Part of the problem was becoming one of 'This coach doesn't enforce this and that coach does,' "Rob- erson recalled. "It was Greg's role to try to bring it all together (to form the department's substance abuse policy)." It was in forming the policy that Harden forced the department to take a stand against serving alcohol at department events. "We stopped serving alcohol at athletic sponsored events," Roberson said. "We did it as a symbol. We were telling our student-athletes, 'you can't drink,' or 'if you get in trouble because you're drinking it's a Once athletes accept the fact that they can only control their own performance, the dif- ference can be stun- ning. much worse problem.' "It didn't seem right that we'd use the money that was being generated by athletics to buy booze." Roberson was impressed with the way Harden dealt with individual athlete's issues, too. Before becoming the athletic director, Roberson had read an NCAA study that alarmed him and led him to consider Harden a necessary resource for the department. The report stated that college athletes had lower GPAs, more psychological and social problems and substance-abuse problems than other students. "Greg played a significant role in helping these young people avoid those tendencies," Roberson said. According to Harden, the key for an athlete to beat those potential downfalls is to control the mind. To do that, athletes must win the battle that rages within their own head. Winning the competitionbetweenthe ears Once athletes accept the fact that they can only control their own performance, the difference can be stunning, Harden said. In recent years, swimmer Chris DeJong, golfer Amy Schmucker and tennis player Kara Delicata have been some of Harden's most prized successes in controlling the controllables. In 2003, Harden's guidance returned diver Jason Coben to his expected level of performance. Following his breakout junior season in which he won a share of the NCAA Championships in platform diving, Coben struggled with the added pressure of being the best in the land. "I was getting really angry at myself and my coach s the old baseball proverb goes, "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying." That's just the way it is. It's the way it's always been and the way it always will be. Forget Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, the hidden ball trick - pretend- ing the throw the ball back to the pitcher only to lure the base runner of the bag for an easy out - corked bats, steroids and pine tar are the real legends of Major League Base- ball. Baseball is a game that has been plagued by the likes of these per- formance-enhancing tools since it was first played. And most recently, Tigers' veteran ace has joined the esteemed group of players taint- ed through the assistance of said tools. The 41-year-old Rogers entered this year's post-season with the Tigers boasting the highest earned run average of any picture in the majors (and for those of you who don't follow baseball, that's not something to brag about). He had never won a playoff game before this post-season where he has been, essentially, the most domi- nant playoff pitcher in the past decade. This had to come from some- where. How can a smooth-tossing, 41-year-old completely turn around his career and become so dominant in a sport that praises power in all the game's aspects (power hit- ting and most importantly, power pitching)? And so the investiga- tions began. Maybe it was his veteran atti- tude: His role as mentor to a pri- marily young and inexperienced pitching staff led him to up his game to an extraordinary level. It's possible, but it seems highly improbable. Or maybe these young guns finally taught an old dog some new tricks. Again, unlikely for a 200-plus win pitcher. Next the speculation turned to the primal scream therapy Rogers seems to go through every night on the mound. He's frequently said that he decided to use his emotions rather than restrain them on the mound. This seems rather plau- sible. A player finally pumping all By Chris Gaerig of the adrenaline into his pitchers rather than snuffingit out. But then again, it's a long stretch to get from this to his absolute dominance over the teams he's played this October. But then a solution finally pre- sented itself Sunday night when Fox cameras found a glossy, amber- colored blotch on Rogers' pitching hand. It was obvious that the pitch- er was using pine tar: a banned sub- stance that gives pitchers extra grip and the ball extra movement. And unless you've been under a rock for the last three days, you've heard all about how it played out and all of the speculation. So there's really no point in discussing all of the sur- rounding circumstances. What's more interesting, is looking at why baseball has such a history of cheat- ing and performance-enhancing drugs. No matter what anyone tells you, baseball is the most difficult sport to play. Hitting a ball about the size of your palm, with a bat equally as thin, traveling 90-plus MPH from 60 feet away is near impossible. On pitches thrown in the upper 90s, the batter has to decide whether he will swing before the ball has left the pitchers hand. If the hitter manages to get the ball on it, they have eight players in the field wait- ing to throw him out. There's a rea- son hall-of-famers only hit three of 10 times. So players have been pumping themselves full of steroids for years and corking their bats (to reduce the weight of the bat and give it extra spring). It's obvious why the hitters will need these drugs and aids. But why do the pitchers need them? Think about it: If a hitter does manage to put the bat on the ball, it's going to go sailing. Hitting a pitch back from home plate at more than 100 MPH is going to do some damage - either to the pitcher him- self or the scoreboard. So the pitch- ers have decided to even the score and give themselves the advantage again with the aid of pine tar and scuffed balls (also adding move- ment to the pitch). And not only is this cheating (by hitters and pitchers) widespread in the baseball community, but it's simply accepted as part of the game. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, everyone does it. The only reason the baseball com- munity gets so upset when scandals break out about Barry Bonds or this recent Rogers debacle is because it tells everyone how the game actu- ally works. Everyone who didn't know these things occurred now knows they occur. America's favor- ite pastime is a game built on false pretenses - sort of, anyway. So Kenny Rogers might have used pine tar. But it's nothing all the other pitchers haven't been doing all along (there was defi- nitely a reason Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa didn't want Rogers inspected ... his pitchers employ the same techniques). But again, all of this is speculation. Because as Rog- ers's teammate Todd Jones said "it could've been chocolate cake." For all anyone knows, it could've been. No one ever challenged Rogers about it. One thing we can be sure of: Rogers definitely looked like he was trying. Cheating isn't easy anymore 0 0 6 0 KEMAL DERVIS Administrator United Nations Development Programme IM - The Ch allenge o Multila Political andelEconom ic N, October 25, 2006 4:00 pm Joan and Sanford Weill Hall ww ordL Annenberg Auditorium 735 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI Reception to follow This lecture is made possible by a generous gift from the Citigroup Foundation I19URU fAOCIOBER 6.2006 4:30 PM EAS1 HAI LLAUDUTRIUM#1324 *aosP , FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL (734) 615-6449 Images Courtesy of Photoshare