The Road to Omaha: NCAA Baseball Tournament Thread

What was the old saying? I'd rather be lucky than good? That's USM this year. This isn't their best team, but they've gotten every break they've needed, and they've taken advantage of them. They were fortunate to play the C-USA Tournament at home and parlayed that into an at-large bid they probably wouldn't have gotten if they hadn't made it to the tournament finals. They got a regional in Atlanta they could handle, instead of having to go to Baton Rouge or Oxford. And they got a real good matchup in the SR against Florida, which looked over-rated to me. Now, if the baseball gods are really smiling on them, TCU will beat Texas tomorrow, putting the Froggies into their CWS bracket instead of UT.

 

Somehow I don't see that happenin', although I heard the talking heads say on ESPN2 that the Shorties will be throwin' a freshman. Probably a pretty good one.

Over the years we've seen lots of breaks go UT's way in regionals/super regionals ... especially at Disch-Falk Field. Either way, it's a pretty good story line for Omaha. The obvious one, with Texas, is the David vs. Goliath angle, Austin vs. Hattiesburg, sprawling campus in capital of powerful state with all kinds of money, against a former teachers' college in South Mississippi.

TCU, on the other hand, would be a matchup of one COOOOSA team vs. a former COOOOSA team, one that went to the Mountain West for its traditional rivals like Utah, BYU and Wyoming.

In the words of the late, great Frank Zappa, "Tippy-yi-yo-ti-yay ..."

(I know, that was from Frank's tune "Montana," and their teams are in the Big Sky, but you ever seen Wyoming's helmets?)

 

Great to see Southern Miss headed to Omaha!

That's all I've got for now.

 

Sitting in an Austin hotel killing time before tonight's third game. Go Frogs!

 

It'll be pretty compelling theather tonight in Austin.

If there's a close play at the plate, however, and the umpire makes an exaggerated "safe" call for the home team, check out his fingers ... make sure the pinkie and index fingers aren't protruding for emphasis .... you know, old habits/urban legends are hard to break ...

 

JD, I understand the jubilation, because the Microville guys did the same thing the first time. Then they went 2-and-out and learned you don't mess with the jinx. Maybe they didn't even know they're supposedly was a jinx, I don't know. But the next two times they made sure they didn't. Or at least that's what the guy who was on the bottom of two Rosenblatt dogpiles told me.

 

Way off-topic, and I know English isn't the first language in this case, but do the photographers/caption writers at the French Open know any other verbs beside "jubilate"?

 

I did. Not long after, actually. I knew it would come - just venting that it was a little ridiculous to have 3 action pics up at game's end, with nary a UVa player in frame.

 

Nice to see the Four Letter already blowing off the Titans during their recap show yesterday.

Plenty of love for LSU and UNC, schools the provincial yahoos in Bristol have heard of and seen.

Not one syllable (from the part I saw) on a team from the Western provinces that has scored 64 runs in five postseason games and goes three-deep on the mound.

It's not like this should be a foreign concept or anything; this is the Titans' 16th trip to Omaha. They've been there so many times, Warren Buffett knows they're coming.

 

All I can say, bird, is that you'll get plenty of love for Fullerton from these parts. They came over here in March and it looked like men against boys. USM fans felt like they earned a moral victory just to score 11 runs in the three games. Granted, Southern is playing a LOT better now than they did that weekend, but if CSF is anywhere close to that at Omaha, they're going to be a tough nut to crack.