College World Series

I know it's been a few days....but I am getting ready to go to Young Life Camp for a week starting on Saturday. We are going to Castaway Camp in Minnesota. It looks very cool, but is a LONG way away. I wish charter buses had more leg room. :)

OK, so I have been trying to watch as much of the College World Series as possible. As you probably already know, I am a baseball fanatic - in every sense of the word. I watch MLB, CWS, Little League World Series and even the Pony League WS. If it is baseball, I'll watch it.

The thing is - there aren't many college baseball powerhouses in the Midwest region. So it really wasn't until I went to college in SW Missouri (Southwest Baptist Univ.) that I latched on to college baseball. My first memorie are of Robin Ventura having a 58 game hit streak for Oklahoma State. He is still one of my favorite all-time players. But living there - everyone liked OU, OSU or Missouri. And I wanted to be different, so I really didn't connect with any one team...until I graduated from college.

In 1994 I was watching the CWS and caught Cal State Fullerton. They were coached by Augie Garrido (now at Texas) and they were awesome. They played the game the right way (the way I liked to play it and to watch it - like Dirtbags) and had a stud named Mark Kotsay. They were unbelievable and I was hooked. They became my team. After a few years I went to Spring Training one year in Arizona and ended watching ASU play Stanford in Tempe. Their field is very cool and even though Bonds went there I found myself liking them as well. Finally, around the same time I stumbled upon Rice. It is a smaller college in Houston, but I loved their uni's, their coach and a player named Lance Berkman. Over time, Rice surpassed ASU - but they are the three teams that I follow.

In 2006, when I graduated with my Masters, my present was a trip to the CWS. I went by myself (which I wouldn't do again) and loved it. It is such a festival type of atmosphere. College kids and younger baseball players with their dads. It is so cool. I did get to see Fullerton and Rice that year, but Oregon State ended up beating UNC for the title. I will go back someday - and maybe even someday Illinois can get there. :)

Anyway, if you get a chance to watch the CWS - please take some time and check it out. I know they use aluminum bats but college sports are almost always more fun to watch than the pros because of the spirit. This year Fullerton and ASU both made it (Rice lost in the Super Regional to LSU). Fullerton is out and ASU is on their last leg. Good luck Sun Devils!!

(If you get a chance try to find pictures of ASU playing Texas two night ago, their throwbacks were awesome. For any uni-related items I suggest going to www.uniwatchblog.com where Paul Lukas and the Gang do a tremendous job covering the uni-related issues in the sports world)