Tonight was the last college baseball game played at Omaha's iconic Rosenblatt Stadium. The College World Series, CWS for short, has called it home since 1950. As is the trend in baseball, a new downtown stadium is being constructed in Omaha which will signal the end of Rosenblatt. Like most iconic sports stadiums of the past it will not live on, it will be torn down in the name of progress. The unjust ending for Rosenblatt is that is will be turned into, acccckkkkkkkkk, a parking lot for the zoo next door. Personally, I think this is a major injustice. There is something about college baseball and those red, yellow, and blue seats that just go together like a hot dog and a coke.
The last game was a gem. A classic pitchers duel that went into extra innings. In the end, the South Carolina Gamecocks won their first ever NCAA baseball title with a 2-1 win in 12 innings over UCLA with a walk off hit. It was a fitting ending to the College World Series' time at Rosenblatt.
I am sure that the new stadium, TD Ameritrade Park, will serve the CWS well in the coming years. I have my fingers crossed that it will have those sweet red, yellow, and blue seats but I am not holding my breath.
Here is my list of the best names in college baseball for 2010. I didn't watch as much baseball this year as in the past. There just wasn't as much coverage with the friggin' World Cup going on. Don't worry, I haven't watched even 1 second of World Cup soccer action and never well. I am much too strong to be drawn to the Dark Side of the force.
The same rules apply as my original list in 2009.
* Only one player from any team can make the list
* You can only make the list once
The Best Names In College Baseball 2010:
Starting Pitcher: Boogie Anagnostou, Rice
Relief Pitcher: Jason Fuqua, Arkansas
Catcher: Yasmini Grandall, U of Miami
1st Base: Blake Dean, LSU
2nd Base: Cody Regis, UCLA
3rd Base: Nick Vickerson, Mississippi State
Shortstop: Caleb Bushyhead, Oklahoma
Left Field: Rand Ravnaas, Georgetown
Center Field: Matt Den Dekker, Florida
Right Field: Yoandy Barroso, FIU
Designated Hitter: Russell Moldenhauer, Texas
Coach: Jim Schlossnagle, TCU
Mood: Nostalgic
Song of the Day:
"I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down."
- Bittersweet Symphony
The Verve
It's Ironic: That my bank sends me a paper confirmation each time I set up an electronic funds transfer.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
E Tu Vuvuzela?
I am a big believer in Karma. I think if you do something good for someone you will be paid back at some time down the road. Of course this also means that the converse is true. If you act like a douchebag, it will come back to bite you in the ass. Karma got some revenge on me last night. Here's the back story.
On August 23, 2008 I went to a Potomac Nationals game with my buddy Drew. We were celebrating his birthday and had, let's just say, "a few" beers. On my way back from one of many trips to the bathroom I passed by the concession stand and right on the counter were those plastic horns you often see and hear at sporting events. I now know they are called "vuvuzelas" thanks to the 2010 World Cup, but I didn't know that in 2008. Anyway, my wallet gets a little loose after "a few" beers so I whipped out a Hamilton, plunked it on the counter, scored 2 vuvuzelas, and proudly strolled back to my seat with them.
What I didn't know then is that it takes a little bit of talent to get the vuvuzelas to make that excruciatingly annoying noise they are so famous for. You don't just blow air into the damn things. There is a definite technique involved. My buddy Drew knew what he was doing and had his vuvuzela humming in no time flat. Me, not so much. I would blow and nothing would happen or blow and a weak, feeble sound would limp out the vuvuzela. Drew gave me some lessons, luckily for free or perhaps for beer. I distinctly remember him saying "you have to parse your lips," not that I knew what to do with that information.
Eventually, after lots and lot of practice and a whole bunch of loud, obnoxious and sometimes odd noises I got the hang of the vuvuzela. By the end of the game I had it down and could make a long, loud vuvuzela note that would make any 10 year old proud.
Apparently our impromptu vuvuzela music lesson and concert was not well received by the surrounding baseball fans. We were of course oblivious to this fact and kept those bad boys humming right along all game long and even during the post-game fireworks display. That is until some guy came over and threatened our lives if we kept playing them. Yes, this seriously happened. This is all too stupid to make up.
Flash forward to June 19, 2010. As you may have heard "revenge is a dish best served cold." I got my payback for the "Vuvuzela Incident" at the Bowie Baysox game last night. Big time! My buddy Jerome and I took his daughter to the game to celebrate Father's Day. We had sweet seats - 2nd row, 1st base side, right behind the Baysox dugout.
Unfortunately, these seats were smack, dab in the middle of little league central. We were surrounded by a sea of little dudes in bright blue "Cubs" attire. I will admit, they looked pretty sporty in their unis. They even had uniform numbers and their names on the back just like the big leaguers. But they were 7 and 8 year olds. They were more interested in consuming mass amounts of sugar and being super annoying than watching the game.
We lasted 6.5 innings in our original seats before relocating to the far opposite side of the ballpark. It really did seem like the little cub bastards were multiplying as the innings went on. The wildcard was their coach, luckily I have already forgotten his name. He was super-crazy-obnoxious and wouldn't shut up for more than 2 or 3 consecutive seconds all night long. And he was of course, sitting right behind me. I seriously wonder if he was on speed. No one should be able to run at that gear for 3 hours straight. I am pretty obnoxious at sporting events (ask Drew about the "You can't do that chant" at the Frozen Four) but this guy made me look like a deaf mute. He was wayyyyyyyyyy over the top.
The Baysox lost the game, Orioles style. They were winning 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th inning and promptly gave up 2 runs to the Harrisburg Senators to make things way too interesting. The Baysox had the winning run on 2nd base in both the 9th and 10th innings but couldn't push it across. The Senators smacked not one, but THREE solo home runs in the 12th inning to steal the game and silence the crowd. It was a fitting end to the game and the evening.
Mood: Humble
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?"
-Bubble Boy
Red Sox Stat of the Day:
The Sox were 23-4 in 2009 when Big Papi hit a home run.
On August 23, 2008 I went to a Potomac Nationals game with my buddy Drew. We were celebrating his birthday and had, let's just say, "a few" beers. On my way back from one of many trips to the bathroom I passed by the concession stand and right on the counter were those plastic horns you often see and hear at sporting events. I now know they are called "vuvuzelas" thanks to the 2010 World Cup, but I didn't know that in 2008. Anyway, my wallet gets a little loose after "a few" beers so I whipped out a Hamilton, plunked it on the counter, scored 2 vuvuzelas, and proudly strolled back to my seat with them.
What I didn't know then is that it takes a little bit of talent to get the vuvuzelas to make that excruciatingly annoying noise they are so famous for. You don't just blow air into the damn things. There is a definite technique involved. My buddy Drew knew what he was doing and had his vuvuzela humming in no time flat. Me, not so much. I would blow and nothing would happen or blow and a weak, feeble sound would limp out the vuvuzela. Drew gave me some lessons, luckily for free or perhaps for beer. I distinctly remember him saying "you have to parse your lips," not that I knew what to do with that information.
Eventually, after lots and lot of practice and a whole bunch of loud, obnoxious and sometimes odd noises I got the hang of the vuvuzela. By the end of the game I had it down and could make a long, loud vuvuzela note that would make any 10 year old proud.
Apparently our impromptu vuvuzela music lesson and concert was not well received by the surrounding baseball fans. We were of course oblivious to this fact and kept those bad boys humming right along all game long and even during the post-game fireworks display. That is until some guy came over and threatened our lives if we kept playing them. Yes, this seriously happened. This is all too stupid to make up.
Flash forward to June 19, 2010. As you may have heard "revenge is a dish best served cold." I got my payback for the "Vuvuzela Incident" at the Bowie Baysox game last night. Big time! My buddy Jerome and I took his daughter to the game to celebrate Father's Day. We had sweet seats - 2nd row, 1st base side, right behind the Baysox dugout.
Unfortunately, these seats were smack, dab in the middle of little league central. We were surrounded by a sea of little dudes in bright blue "Cubs" attire. I will admit, they looked pretty sporty in their unis. They even had uniform numbers and their names on the back just like the big leaguers. But they were 7 and 8 year olds. They were more interested in consuming mass amounts of sugar and being super annoying than watching the game.
We lasted 6.5 innings in our original seats before relocating to the far opposite side of the ballpark. It really did seem like the little cub bastards were multiplying as the innings went on. The wildcard was their coach, luckily I have already forgotten his name. He was super-crazy-obnoxious and wouldn't shut up for more than 2 or 3 consecutive seconds all night long. And he was of course, sitting right behind me. I seriously wonder if he was on speed. No one should be able to run at that gear for 3 hours straight. I am pretty obnoxious at sporting events (ask Drew about the "You can't do that chant" at the Frozen Four) but this guy made me look like a deaf mute. He was wayyyyyyyyyy over the top.
The Baysox lost the game, Orioles style. They were winning 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th inning and promptly gave up 2 runs to the Harrisburg Senators to make things way too interesting. The Baysox had the winning run on 2nd base in both the 9th and 10th innings but couldn't push it across. The Senators smacked not one, but THREE solo home runs in the 12th inning to steal the game and silence the crowd. It was a fitting end to the game and the evening.
Mood: Humble
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?"
-Bubble Boy
Red Sox Stat of the Day:
The Sox were 23-4 in 2009 when Big Papi hit a home run.
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