{"id":485,"date":"2010-06-19T09:31:03","date_gmt":"2010-06-19T14:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=485"},"modified":"2010-06-25T16:47:45","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T21:47:45","slug":"welcome-to-summer-the-college-world-series-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/485","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Summer: The College World Series begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>After watching the USA claw back into a draw with some tiny Eastern European country this morning, I\u2019m feeling a little proud to be an American.\u00a0 With the College World Series<\/a> set to begin tomorrow and Ron Ron\u2019s single<\/a> apparently dropping sometime in the near future, it\u2019s a pretty fun time in sports.\u00a0 The best part about this time of year for me, though, is that the sports world only has baseball to follow (and US soccer every 4 years) until the damn NFL season starts.\u00a0 I personally hate football and don\u2019t really care for basketball either.\u00a0 Hockey is not a sport in New Mexico, but from what I gather, other places unfortunately seem to care about it.\u00a0 To me, these other sports are simply a massive distraction to the public and divert conversation and concentration away from the one game that actually deserves to be followed.\u00a0 What I am getting at here is that for folks who primarily\/only care about baseball, get ready for the best 2 months of the year.<\/p>\n

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And what better way to kick it all off than the College World Series?\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty unique field this year.\u00a0 No LSU<\/a>.\u00a0 No Texas<\/a>.\u00a0 No Miami<\/a>.\u00a0 No Fullerton.<\/a> No Stanford<\/a>.\u00a0 Well, who the hell actually got in?\u00a0 ASU<\/a> and FSU<\/a> obviously.\u00a0 Clemson<\/a> did.\u00a0 Florida<\/a> too.\u00a0 South Carolina<\/a> beat Coastal Carolina<\/a> on the road unfortunately; it would have been nice to see a small school represented next to these small countries.\u00a0 The rest of the field is comprised of Oklahoma<\/a>, UCLA<\/a>, and TCU<\/a>.\u00a0 TCU<\/em>.\u00a0 A Mountain West team<\/em>.\u00a0 Unfortunately it\u2019s not UNM.<\/p>\n

I always tend to root for the team I am geographically closest to, so that means go Sun Devils.\u00a0 They won in extras against Arkansas twice in Tempe last weekend in a couple of truly nail-biting games, in front of a packed Packard<\/a>.\u00a0 They are the obvious favorites to win it all after a spectacular season that saw them climb to the top seed in the tournament.\u00a0 It\u2019s the College World Series, though.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty tough road.\u00a0 Once, Fresno State won it all.\u00a0 Truly, any team that gets in has a very realistic chance to go the distance.\u00a0 The best pitching staff in the country in UT was knocked off by TCU last weekend.\u00a0 The best hitter in the country, and obvious top talent in next year\u2019s draft class, Rice\u2019s Anthony Rendon, is not in attendance.<\/p>\n

I think for us baseball fans, the lack of superstars may be a portion of what we love so much about the College World Series.\u00a0 Amateur baseball may never provide us with consistently well-located pitches, reasonable strike zones, wood bats, average or above defense, or good commentating, but it does provide us with the reasons we love baseball in the first place.\u00a0 The faces of the players in the CWS express urgency, excitement, brotherhood and fun.\u00a0 Barry Bonds<\/a> was the best hitter of all time for a decent chunk of his career.\u00a0 Did any of us ever see a single one of these attributes from him during those years?\u00a0 Of course not.\u00a0 We saw a self-entitled, childish, indifferent, and pompous piece of shit that morally never deserved a single gift he was provided.\u00a0 The College World Series reminds us that guys like Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez<\/a>, and Roger Clemens<\/a> are not the norm and should not be regarded as the standard.\u00a0 I like to believe that the players fighting for the NCAA title every year in Omaha are the standard.<\/p>\n

There exists a purity to the amateur game and even within the minors that often escapes the Bigs.\u00a0 What do you want to bet that we don\u2019t see any of the CWS shortstops loaf toward a grounder after they kick it a la Hanley<\/a>?\u00a0 What do you want to bet that we won\u2019t see any fat guys waddle as close to a walk as possible after clubbing a massive bomb a la Papi<\/a>?\u00a0 What do you want to bet that every few minutes a player actually smiles or laughs or sprints out to their position between innings?\u00a0 We will see guys dive, slide, jump, twirl and the like when it probably is not entirely necessary.\u00a0 We will probably see a guy or two chuck a throw over the first baseman and into the stands.\u00a0 We will see botched sacrifices, balls lost in the sun, and consecutive walks.<\/p>\n

Remember when you are watching these mistakes and unnecessary hustle that you are watching kids, sometimes terrified, attempt to play at the highest level they ever have (barring those fortunate players who have played overseas with the national team).\u00a0 They will make mistakes every game, but the mistake will certainly not be the same mistakes we expect from A-Rod or Bonds.\u00a0 Their crime is that of indifference and entitlement.\u00a0 Compare these guys to the ace of the TCU staff who led the Frogs to their first World Series through the gates of hell: Disch-Falk Field in Austin.\u00a0 Everything about this place is designed to make the visiting team hate every second they are there.\u00a0 Well, TCU freshman ace, Matt Purke<\/a>, went there, tossed 7.2, allowed 4 baserunners, and struck out 11.\u00a0 Brettsta wrote a cool piece<\/a> on Purke for www.youbeenblinded.com<\/a> recently.\u00a0 Purke turned down $4 million to toss for TCU.\u00a0 I grit my teeth as I say this, but it\u2019s really tough to say the kid made the wrong decision.\u00a0 He carried his friends all year and now he finds himself ready to take the ball for TCU\u2019s first CWS game with a realistic shot at being the most talented player on the field.<\/p>\n

Enjoy these games.\u00a0 They happen once a year and have never disappointed.\u00a0 This is the last CWS at Rosenblatt, and many folks think that collegiate athletics are becoming more and more commercial to the point that progress becomes dangerous.\u00a0 Football is clearly to blame.\u00a0 I firmly believe that every negative aspect of sports is elicited most vividly by NCAA football, but expanding on this would lead me into a very extensive tangent.\u00a0 Regardless, these next two months are baseball, and only baseball, season.\u00a0 It\u2019s really sweet for us fans to have the College World Series to welcome us to summer.
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After watching the USA claw back into a draw with some tiny Eastern European country this morning, I\u2019m feeling a little proud to be an American.\u00a0 With the College World Series set to begin tomorrow and Ron Ron\u2019s single apparently dropping sometime in the near future, it\u2019s a pretty fun time in sports.\u00a0 The best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,15,6,10,14],"tags":[150,522,98,530,524,527,518,525,523,521,348,519,520,528,273,526,446,448,447,529],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}