I guess it's true what they say; all good things must come to an end. This is the last year that the College World Series will take place in the historic Johnny Rosenblatt Ballpark in Omaha, Nebraska. Out of nearly 300 division 1 teams, only 8 will make it on the field at Rosenblatt for its final year, and only 1 team will be left standing on June 30th.
The road to Omaha is paved with phenomenal teams, but also with a fair amount of luck! It takes more than a great team to get to the College World Series, it relies on when a team peaks and which regionals and super regionals they are sent to. In 2008, a four seed, and the last team chosen in the field of 64 won the championship. Fresno State played well down the stretch and the team clicked on all cylinders which enabled them to beat teams that were essentially better than them throughout the regular season. They were the ultimate underdog that no one would have predicted to win, yet they did.
There is much anticipation around the 2010 college baseball season which will begin shortly on February 19th. Of course there are the usual favorites and perennial powerhouses in Cal-State Fullerton, Texas, North Carolina, and Arizona State University, that will continue their dominance, but there are also some solid newcomers in the likes of Virginia, East Carolina and Florida State that are sure to make a splash again this year.
Here are my predictions for the eight teams I feel are bound for Omaha in no particular order.
-Cal-State Fullerton – Sticking with the school’s tradition, the Titan’s are back at the top this year. Though they lost some seniors, those roles appear to be filled adequately. With ample pitching, a strong infield led by Colon as well as a strong offense coupled with true West Coast style “small ball”, the Titans are a force to be reckoned with in 2010.
-UC-Irvine – For UCI, pitching will not be an issue as they welcome back their whole staff in Bibona, Bergman, Slaught and closer Pettis. Though there are a few holes to fill defensively with some integral seniors leaving, they are deep enough to fill those areas. Last year this team was knocked out in their own regional by a red hot Virginia, but this year they come back just as talented, more experienced and with a drive to make it to Omaha.
-Louisiana State University – As much as I hate to have LSU as one of my picks for Omaha, I just have to include the returning champions. The past 2 years, they have had exceptional teams, and this year will be no different. They welcome back a large portion of very impactful players such as Gibbs and Landry. Along with the players, Alex Box Stadium draws the most fans of any college baseball team in the country and they create a hostile enviroment for visiting teams.
-Virginia – I had the opportunity to see Virginia play last year in the Regional at Irvine, and they were impressive. They played a flawless brand of baseball. This season they welcome back nearly everyone who played a role on the team last year. With a great young pitching staff led by Hultzen, solid defense and offense, this is a team I see going a long way.
-Florida State – Florida State is a great young team that impressed many last season when they swept their regional. In 2009, they had exceptional pitching and will return their entire staff. On the offensive front, they also return four of their five biggest contributers led by McGee. They should win the ACC with Boston College and Clemson in their footsteps.
-Texas Christian University- TCU won the Mountain West Conference last year and made it all the way to the Super Regionals. This year I have a feeling they will go all the way to Omaha. They return 10 pitchers as well as three all conference members in Appleby, Holaday and Featherston. Texas is a state full of great teams such as Baylor, Rice and the Texas Longhorns, but I see TCU being the dominating force in Lone Star State.
-Arizona State University- Though ASU lost many influential players such as Leake, they welcome back a stud pitcher in Spence who will contribute immensely. Like Fullerton, they are a solid team that knows how to win and to get to Omaha. With Pat Murphy no longer head coach; this team, however good they are, will need to adjust to the new coaching staff in order to make it far in the post season.
-University of San Diego – This might be my West Coast bias speaking, but I have a good feeling about USD this season. They have a great coach in Rich Hill, and do some exceptional recruiting which is hard to do at such an expensive private school on only 11.7 scholarships. They are favored to win the WCC and welcome back the conference player of the year, senior Meador to lead the Torreros.
What teams are you betting on?
Who is your dark horse pick of this season?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Love Loss in Sports
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, let’s focus on love and heartbreak; in particular, the teams that we love and the teams that have broken our hearts. Passionate sports fans can surely relate to shedding more tears over crushed championship dreams, devastating losses and terrible calls than to fictional romance novels, I know I can. Sports are real, non-fiction, and true fans live and die with their respective teams.
I grew up an Angel fan, and I have certainly cried many times at their World Series aspirations being put out. Especially in 2004 when the cursed Red Sox swept the Angels in a dominating fashion and went on to win their first championship since 1918. That pain and subsequent losses can be relieved by their magical 2002 season and the hope that another ring is in store.
On that note, I don't know how Cubs fans still continue to come to Wrigley to watch their team fall short season after season. Talk about resiliency and unconditional love! Who knew The Curse of the Billy Goat would last 65 years!
Since I'm living in San Diego, I would like to acknowledge all the grieving Charger fans. I feel your pain. To have such a good team, to be going into playoffs looking so strong, and to have Kaeding miss three field goals. On a positive note, at least you're not a Raiders fan.
By far the most heartbreaking loss I have faced occurred in the 2008 college baseball season during the Super Regionals in Baton Rouge. LSU, the heavy favorite, played UC-Irvine. UCI, a team that I have followed the past 5 years and greatly favor came out of the gate into the historic Alex Box stadium strong winning the first game 11-5. If UCI wins game 2 they will advance for the second year in a row to the College World Series. Things are looking good with UCI up 7-2 in the top of the eighth. At about this time I was booking tickets to Omaha. UCI then gives up 2 runs in the eighth. The momentum changed and LSU scored 5 runs in the ninth. The wheels fell off, and LSU won 9-7. Game 3 is something that I would love to forget. UCI lost 21-7. Let's just say that was a rough following week.
What are some of the teams, games or situations that left you with tears in your eyes?
Happy Valentine's Day, and here's to all of our favorites getting it done this year.
I grew up an Angel fan, and I have certainly cried many times at their World Series aspirations being put out. Especially in 2004 when the cursed Red Sox swept the Angels in a dominating fashion and went on to win their first championship since 1918. That pain and subsequent losses can be relieved by their magical 2002 season and the hope that another ring is in store.
On that note, I don't know how Cubs fans still continue to come to Wrigley to watch their team fall short season after season. Talk about resiliency and unconditional love! Who knew The Curse of the Billy Goat would last 65 years!
Since I'm living in San Diego, I would like to acknowledge all the grieving Charger fans. I feel your pain. To have such a good team, to be going into playoffs looking so strong, and to have Kaeding miss three field goals. On a positive note, at least you're not a Raiders fan.
By far the most heartbreaking loss I have faced occurred in the 2008 college baseball season during the Super Regionals in Baton Rouge. LSU, the heavy favorite, played UC-Irvine. UCI, a team that I have followed the past 5 years and greatly favor came out of the gate into the historic Alex Box stadium strong winning the first game 11-5. If UCI wins game 2 they will advance for the second year in a row to the College World Series. Things are looking good with UCI up 7-2 in the top of the eighth. At about this time I was booking tickets to Omaha. UCI then gives up 2 runs in the eighth. The momentum changed and LSU scored 5 runs in the ninth. The wheels fell off, and LSU won 9-7. Game 3 is something that I would love to forget. UCI lost 21-7. Let's just say that was a rough following week.
What are some of the teams, games or situations that left you with tears in your eyes?
Happy Valentine's Day, and here's to all of our favorites getting it done this year.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Pac-10 Who?
If you were to be asked what the premier conferences are, I would put money down that your answer would look similar to this: the SEC, Big 12, ACC, and the Pac-10. The Pac-10 is arguably the most overrated conference in college sports, and it has no right to be recognized as one of the elite. Though The history of the Pac-10 is grand, it is not of nearly the same caliber that it was in its glory days.
Currently there is not one Pac-10 team in the Top 25 for college basketball and there hasn’t been for the past 5 weeks. Not Cal, not Washington, not USC, not even the historic powerhouse UCLA. Now we’re talking about schools with all the recruiting tools and they can’t get one team in to the top 25. At the top of this conference sits Washington (16-7), Arizona (16-8), and Cal (15-8). Granted, it is likely the Pac-10 will have these 3 teams in the tournament in March, but I highly doubt that any will go very far. The Pac-10 as a whole has suffered some very surprising losses this season. Starting off UCLA lost to Cal-State Fullerton, an unranked team from the Big West, Washington lost to a mediocre, unranked Texas Tech hailing from the Big 12, and USC suffered a loss to LMU, just to mention a few of the upsets. I guess, on the basketball front, there is always next year for these schools to recruit, rebuild and start living up to their respective reputations of athletic greatness. But I guess we’ll have to wait, because it is clear that this just isn’t the year for basketball in the Pac-10.
Now, let’s not stop at basketball. It is not one of college football’s top conferences. Now don’t get me wrong, Pac-10 teams played well this year. None of the teams though were dominant by any stretch of the imagination. Oregon was undoubtedly the best team with 10 wins, and lost in the Rose Bowl to Ohio State 26-17. Once you get past Oregon though, this conference is mediocre. Yes, six teams did garner 8 wins apiece; consider their strength of schedule though versus other conferences. I’m not saying that the Pac-10 is a bad football conference; I’m simply saying that it has no business being mentioned among the likes of the SEC, Big 12 or the ACC.
For the past four years, Pac-10 baseball teams, with the exception of ASU have kept with the overall trend and have also been severely underperforming. One could even argue that after the loss of Pat Murphy, even ASU’s distinguished baseball program will suffer. Preseason rankings come out, and year after year UCLA sits very close to the top. Year after year UCLA finishes the season unranked. This year in nearly every preseason poll, UCLA is within the top 20. I will put money down that UCLA, within the first month of the season will fall off every poll’s radar. No matter the recruits, or how good their pitching staff, they just can’t string any wins together. Oregon State won the College World Series in 06’ and 07’ but failed to make a regional last year, just another example of this conference fading away. USC, I don’t even know what to say. They are located in a prime location, surrounded by a hot bed of talented players in sunny Southern California and they managed an even 500 record last year. Unimpressive.
There are certainly players on each of the teams in the Pac-10 that are great and will have careers as professional athletes. As of now though, this conference is not living up to its name and does not deserve to be mentioned among the likes of other top conferences.
Currently there is not one Pac-10 team in the Top 25 for college basketball and there hasn’t been for the past 5 weeks. Not Cal, not Washington, not USC, not even the historic powerhouse UCLA. Now we’re talking about schools with all the recruiting tools and they can’t get one team in to the top 25. At the top of this conference sits Washington (16-7), Arizona (16-8), and Cal (15-8). Granted, it is likely the Pac-10 will have these 3 teams in the tournament in March, but I highly doubt that any will go very far. The Pac-10 as a whole has suffered some very surprising losses this season. Starting off UCLA lost to Cal-State Fullerton, an unranked team from the Big West, Washington lost to a mediocre, unranked Texas Tech hailing from the Big 12, and USC suffered a loss to LMU, just to mention a few of the upsets. I guess, on the basketball front, there is always next year for these schools to recruit, rebuild and start living up to their respective reputations of athletic greatness. But I guess we’ll have to wait, because it is clear that this just isn’t the year for basketball in the Pac-10.
Now, let’s not stop at basketball. It is not one of college football’s top conferences. Now don’t get me wrong, Pac-10 teams played well this year. None of the teams though were dominant by any stretch of the imagination. Oregon was undoubtedly the best team with 10 wins, and lost in the Rose Bowl to Ohio State 26-17. Once you get past Oregon though, this conference is mediocre. Yes, six teams did garner 8 wins apiece; consider their strength of schedule though versus other conferences. I’m not saying that the Pac-10 is a bad football conference; I’m simply saying that it has no business being mentioned among the likes of the SEC, Big 12 or the ACC.
For the past four years, Pac-10 baseball teams, with the exception of ASU have kept with the overall trend and have also been severely underperforming. One could even argue that after the loss of Pat Murphy, even ASU’s distinguished baseball program will suffer. Preseason rankings come out, and year after year UCLA sits very close to the top. Year after year UCLA finishes the season unranked. This year in nearly every preseason poll, UCLA is within the top 20. I will put money down that UCLA, within the first month of the season will fall off every poll’s radar. No matter the recruits, or how good their pitching staff, they just can’t string any wins together. Oregon State won the College World Series in 06’ and 07’ but failed to make a regional last year, just another example of this conference fading away. USC, I don’t even know what to say. They are located in a prime location, surrounded by a hot bed of talented players in sunny Southern California and they managed an even 500 record last year. Unimpressive.
There are certainly players on each of the teams in the Pac-10 that are great and will have careers as professional athletes. As of now though, this conference is not living up to its name and does not deserve to be mentioned among the likes of other top conferences.
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