Carolina choked, can we write it?

Who was really more to blame: the kid who rushed the throw or the first baseman who made minimal effort to make the catch? The first baseman's foot was on the front side of the bag, the ball hit his glove - he should've caught it. At the very least, he should've come off the bag to make the catch and that run wouldn't have scored.

 

Speaking of which, when Roy's last Kansas team blew that national championship game by going 4-17 at the line in the second half, did anyone call it a choke?

Strangely enough, Jason Whitlock did not, even though it's something I almost expected to see from him then.

 

The counterargument, however, is that if you were good enough to get to the brink of a championship in spite of that flaw (especially in the case of baseball; the '64 Phillies had 140+ games before their collapse for those flaws to rear their ugly head, but they didn't), then you must be a really good team otherwise. And if you get beat just because of that one flaw, it must mean the other aspects of your team didn't perform up to their usual standards in the biggest of moments.

 

I know baseball. I also know a choke job when I see it. And the first kid that struck out in the eighth looked like a deer in headlights. You could have thrown three underhanded slo-pitch softballs to him and he'd have fanned.

Here's another part of the Carolina choke job --- the manager, who calls for a steal of home with two outs in a tie game. Talk about panic buttoin.

I agree Norwood wasn't a choke but Buckner -- and Jose Lind in Game 7 in 1992 for that matter -- was.

 

Mike, Schiraldi's fastball was fine in '86 but he was used up by October.

 

Micro...Shame on you.

Don't you know that no one really wins anything these days? It's always got to be about the other side choking. :

 

Micro is obviously an Oregon State fan who reminds me of some of these idiotic prep parents who call or e-mail screaming at the top of the lungs that you are dissing their team if you suggest that the other team didn't play well.

And you said it yourself -- Oregon State won because they kept their composure and North Carolina did not, in other words, Carolina choked -- thanks for proving my point.

The Tar Heels had the thing won on Sunday and choked on it. All your BS about the defensive alignment is silly -- the guy who made the key error was a defensive replacement. And Oregon State's offense was brilliant on Monday -- they managed one earned run LOL.

 

What was the fielding percentage of the defensive replacement in question?

And you do know that the first baseman played the throw poorly because he wasn't accustomed to playing the position and his footwork was off, right?

 

Yes I do know that but it was a terrible throw and Manute Bol would have had a hard time bringing it in if he were aligned properly. It was a routine play, the kid gagged. Period.

 

And you know baseball?

How many "terrible" throws are saved routinely -- in the majors -- by first basmen who can scoop or stretch? So all those off-target throws are the result of choking? :

Shit, I saw better footwork and positioning by high-school first baseman when I covered preps. The reason? They were accustomed to playing the position.

 

There are a lot of bad throws salvaged by good first basemen. I watched the replays a zillion times and didn't think Keith Hernandez would have come up with it.

Obviously I'm not going to change your opinion on this one and your not going to change mine.

 

I can live with that.