Yips

"If we could have just screwed another head on his shoulder, he would have been the greatest golfer who ever lived.”  (Ben Hogan, 1912-1997)

Rick Ankiel had an amazing arm.  He could throw a baseball accurately and on-the-fly from deep right field to home-base.

Before playing right field, Ankiel had been a young, hard-throwing Cardinal’s pitcher. In the 2000 postseason, in a series against the Braves, Ankiel was the game-one starter.  For the first two innings he did well, not allowing a run.  Inexplicably, in the third inning he gave up four runs on two hits, four walks, and five wild pitches.  He was pulled from the game.  In his next start, he threw 20 pitches, 5 of which went to the backstop. He didn’t get past the 1^st inning.

I was living in St. Louis at the time, and I was an enthusiastic Cardinal’s fan.  This was a calamity. As both fan and psychiatrist, I felt I owed it to the Cardinals to share a little advice.  I was aware of other performers, mostly actors and musicians, who had severe performance anxiety.  There was a medicine called propranolol that was effective in relieving their tremors and shakes without causing any sedation or cognitive impairment. Maybe it’d work for Ankiel. I thought I’d pass that bit of information along to the Cardinal’s organization just in case their doctors hadn’t already thought of it. Big mistake.

A few weeks later, I received a rather curt letter from the sports medicine department at Washington University, where I too worked.  They informed me of their affiliation with the Cardinals. In effect, the letter told me that I was out of line and to mind my own business.

In retrospect, Ankiel had the yips.  Under playoff pressure, something happened to his mind and body. Performance went out the window. He choked.  After several unsuccessful years pitching in the minors, unable to regain his control, Ankiel shifted from the mound to the outfield.

Fast-forward approximately 20 years, to the recent Chiefs-Bengals playoff game.  For the first two quarters, Patrick Mahomes played near perfect football, until the last play of the half when the Chiefs failed to score from the 2-yard line.  Chiefs got the ball back to start the 3^rd quarter and couldn’t move the ball, nor could they for most of the remainder of the game.  Mahomes looked bewildered, maybe even panicked.  Was this a case of the yips?

I’m over being upset about the game.  The good news is I don’t feel compelled to listen to two weeks of sports commentary leading up to the Super Bowl.  And I learned my lesson.  I will not pass along any of my suggestions to the Chiefs' organization.  I will assume that they have a competent team of sports doctors and psychologists to help Mahomes get his head screwed on right.

I am nervous.  I wonder how Mahomes will respond to the pressure next season.  Once you’ve got the yips, they’re awfully hard to get rid of.  Patrick Mahomes has an amazing arm.  But in football, right field is not an option.