The Love of the Game Part II....

Well well, 2 columns within a couple of days of each other. That’s something that has been a long time coming. A column on playing for the love of the game could not be better timed considering what I have been witnessing in the College World Series over the last few days. I know, what you are thinking: who watches the College World Series? Well, how about an alumnus of the upstart UC Irvine Anteaters. The Anteaters run into the CWS has been truly remarkable. The school shut down the baseball program in 1992 due to lack of funding. For nearly 10 years the program lay dormant until a student referendum that would add about 100 bucks to each student’s tuition (meaning, yes I did contribute to the revival of the program) in order to revive the baseball team, passed in 2001(you’ll have to check me on the exact date). From then on, Irvine slowly gained respectability and finished with a school record number of wins this season. Still, no one gave them much of a chance at advancing out of the Round Rock Regional, where they would have to beat the Regional’s number one seed, Texas, twice in order to move on. Which they did. They then beat Wichita State on the Shockers’ home field twice in a row before making their first CWS appearance ever, and it has the nation's attention as evidenced by this brilliantly written piece on ESPN.com outlining the love of the game these Anteaters have.

The CWS is a funny creature in that its played at a neutral site (Omaha, Nebraska) and it features two brackets in a double elimination tournament until the finals. Irvine lost by one run in the first game to the vaunted Arizona State Sun Devils who feature the most potent offense in the NCAA this year, averaging nearly 9 runs per game. Faced with elimination on Monday, the Anteaters played their archrivals and 2004 CWS Champion Cal State Fullerton in the longest game in NCAA history. For 13 innings and 5 hours and 40 minutes the two Orange County teams battled tooth and nail. What made the match up even more intriguing was the fact that Fullerton’s coach basically is a second father to Irvine’s coach and taught him everything he knows about the game. Both coaches knew each other’s game plan inside and out and foiled each other’s moves time and again. Just when it looked like it would be over in the bottom of the 13th, as UCI first baseman Taylor Holliday rounded third and headed for home on a single to left, a bullet from Fullerton’s left fielder gunned Holliday down at the plate. The play seemed to take all of the momentum out of the Anteaters until Irvine’s Bryan Peterson singled up the middle to win the game. His second game winning hit in as many games. There was pandemonium on the field. Tears shed on both sides as the coaches embraced and the rivals showed unwavering support for each other.

Fast Forward to yesterday’s game, where Irvine had to play Arizona State again, thanks to the aforementioned double-elimination system of the CWS. I should mention now that the Sun Devils play power baseball. They hit three home runs in their first meeting against Irvine and feature a player who, if his stats were pro-rated over an MLB season, would have about 210 RBI’s. They are a team full of mashers. This is a stark contrast to the Anteaters’ style of play. Irvine plays small ball. Their leading Home Run hitter has all of 13 (and counting) home runs on the season. They have a player who has 31 sacrifice bunts in the 60 games he’s played in. That number is astounding. So how did Irvine make it this far with that offense? Well they have their version of Shilling and Johnson circa 2001 (Diamond backs WS winning team). Scott Gorgen and Wes Ethridge combined to go 25-7 with 227 strikeouts and an ERA of about 2.90 on the season. Gorgen even threw 4 straight complete games to close out the season. But after that 13 inning ball game (started by Ethridge), neither one was ready to go against Arizona State. So Irvine started a freshman pitcher who somehow kept them in the game long enough to allow the Anteaters to forge a 3-2 lead going into the 6th. Then all hell broke lose. After ASU took a 4-3 lead heading into the 7th, Irvine brought in NCAA saves leader Blair Ericsson to stop the bleeding. Ericsson left the game at the end of the 7th with Irvine trailing 7-3. So much for that strategy. With a small ball offense facing a nearly unhittable closer, no one, myself included, gave UCI any chance of a comeback. But that didn’t stop them from loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 8th and then tying the game on a double to center. The game went to extra innings and in came Scott Gorgen (who got lit up by ASU in the previous meeting) on one days rest to somehow keep the team in the game. He did, and with the near record Omaha crowd of almost 30,000 adopting the Anteaters as their own, light hitting Center Fielder Ollie Linton hit a single up the middle to drive in a runner from third, and UCI became the first team ever to win extra-inning games in back to back games in the CWS.

Afterwards, the players said they just couldn’t bear to let the season end. They were willing to fight, scratch and claw to just keep playing one more day. They were literally “taking pitches for the team” as something like 7 of their hitters got beaned in the last two days. They know that long after the season ends, they’ll have left every ounce of themselves out on the field. They have to win the next two games against defending CWS champion Oregon State, and they have no clue who they will start in either game, but the coach promised that his team would show up ready to play. They always do. The team truly loves the game, and they love playing on the same team as one another. It’s evident in their hustle, heart, and enthusiasm. They do everything as a team. They wear their uniforms the same way, socks the same length, everyone has to have short hair. Well, everyone except for one player. Its been an overly reported story, but Holliday made an appointment back in November to get his hair cut in Omaha, Nebraska on the day after the last game of the CWS is expected to be played. He told the coach he’ll cut his hair after they win the championship. How could the coach argue with that?

Stories like these are the reason it’s hard not to love the purity of college athletics. It’s a purity becoming more and more corrupted by corporate sponsorship. March Madness and the BCS are played with commercialization in mind first, and athletics second. That’s why the basketball postseason lasts so long, and there are still Bowl games being played in mid January, nearly 2 months after some teams finish the regular season. And though those two vaunted postseason’s have given us Cinderella stories like Boise State, George Mason and Gonzaga, far too often they give us 3 commercials for every minute of action played. So you can have your Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and March Madness sponsored by every corporation. Instead give me two baseball teams staring elimination in the face. Give me a team throwing every pitcher it has out there, mortgaging tomorrow just to ensure that there is a tomorrow. Give me a team that has to call on an unknown freshman to start the biggest game of the season, and then realizing they have no one left to go to should he falter. Give me a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game with the bases loaded. Hell, give me an 0-2 count with two outs in the bottom of the 13th with a runner on second. Give me underdogs. Give me storylines. Give me Cinderellas. Give me back-to-back-to back games with each game being 100 times more important than the last. Give me situations to savor. Give me drama. Give me passion. Give me moments.

Who knows, Irvine could lose tomorrow and all my interest in the CWS could wane. But for now, give me The Anteaters. And give me The Love of the Game.

Love of the Game

That's why Jr. said he still plays. Even if he gets traded, he'll still love the game. Gone are the days of his backwards hat, bombing 40 every year, and darting around center field like a mad man are over. But, he's still having fun. That's what I read in an article in the USA Today Sports Weekly. I for one believe it and I also believe he is one of the few pure players left in that game. Not in the chemically enhanced sense (although I do believe he's one of the few pure players in that aspect also), but in a playing simply just to play the game sense. Playing just to have fun. Just flat out playing. Sure he could become a DH on some team, but he says he's not ready to do that for at least another couple of years. Sure he was upset that they moved him out of center but he still continued to play the game. He's suffered numerous injuries that derailed HIM being the one we're talking about breaking 755 but, instead, we're talking about a guy that seems to continue playing just to break the record. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Bonds loves the game too, but he doesn't seem like he's playing to have fun anymore. Almost like he's playing out of spite. Plus, he doesn't have that amazing swing Jr. has. And for those who don't know who Jr. is, you should. That's Mr. Griffey, Jr. to you.

As for the NBA Finals, I'm quite disappointed. After "The King's" performance in the Detroit series, I should say I'm extremely disappointed. It almost reminds me of Dirk from last year. He just didn't seem to have enough heart in it. And when he did, it was too late. Sure it's good to have good 4th quarters but, it doesn't matter if you still don't win. All I have to say is I'm actually glad I missed most of this Finals match up. I assumed Cleveland would lose. I also assumed they would at least take one game. ONE GAME! The kingdom is crumbling.

Stanley Cup, didn't watch any of it. Only caught highlights. I'll be catching more hockey next season. I'll be jumping on board with the Chicago Blackhawks. Although I think it's about 15 or so years late since the last time I can remember them being decent was about that long ago. But, congratulations to the Ducks and GOLDBERG the Goalie.

Final note, LeBron, next season is your chance to have your "No heart, I'm all heart Mother F**ker!" moment like Rod Tidwell. Dirk missed the boat on that this year in the playoffs even though it seemed he would have that moment after that kind of season. On seeing a great one rise from the ashes.....Still Waiting...

Somewhere, Emilio Estevez is Smiling...

Congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks. Hell of a playoff run. I love a lot of sports more than hockey, but when playoff hockey is at its best, there are not many things more interesting. It also helps to watch it in HD....and have a rooting interest.

The Raging Inferno…

That’s what Barkley termed LeBron James tonight, and though I don’t quite get the reference, from just the literal meaning of the words, its really hard to disagree. We really were all witnesses tonight to one of the greatest playoff performances in the history of the NBA. James was a man on a mission in the 4th quarter and two overtimes. He scored 28 of the Cavs’ 29 final points. He would not let his team lose. Every time the Pistons made a run, LeBron fought them off seemingly by himself. With his team needing clutch baskets at the end of regulation, he drove to the hoop for two thunderous dunks. Three’s over double teams; guarding Chauncey Billups down the stretch; LeBron rose to the occasion like the Great One’s always do. It was like a homage to the Good Old Days. Truly Jordanesque. And I am not one to use that term lightly. I could use 15 different superlatives to describe the performance I witnessed tonight, but it still wouldn’t be enough. So I’ll just say this. Three simple words: Thank You, LeBron. Thank You for putting the spotlight back on the game itself, just when it seemed like Kobe’s histrionics would be all anyone was going to talk about for the next week. Thank You for revitalizing the term Superstar, as we had way too many self-proclaimed superstars before. Thank You for pushing the Pistons to the brink of elimination and therefore allowing the NBA to take one step away from the ratings elimination that a Spurs-Pistons Finals would result in. Thank You for showing everyone that when the game is played the right way, there is nothing more enchanting than a player that is in the mythical place that is the Zone. But most of all, after a mundane Spurs-Jazz series and the defensive slop fest of the first two games of this one, thank you for rejuvenating my love for the game. The World has been waiting for this performance for sometime now. You gave us all a taste in games 3 and 4 but tonight, tonight was a night that fans will talk about for a long long time. It was a sight to see, I mean truly, a sight to see. So Thank You LeBron. Thank You.