Someone please give the College World Series some coverage.
I would be happy for more coverage on the World Series itself, but in my opinion, starting with the first regional makes for the most exciting postseason in any sport at any level at the spectator's level.
March Madness will always be a bigger event because of the gambling aspect a single tournament that large brings. Still, when you break in down, March Madness is not what it is advertised to be.
The big sports networks bill it as the great underdog story, where any Cinderella team can jump out and win the tournament and the hearts of every sports fan. Really? Name one Cinderella team to accomplish this. The last mid-major team to win the NCAA tournament was UNLV back in 1990. As a No. 1 seed in the tournament, can you truly call them an underdog?
On the women's side, it use to be a different story. The Lady Techsters proved they could dominate as a small college, but since 1989 the tournament has been dominate by large conference teams.
That is where college baseball has a step up from the other big time sports. Cal State Fullerton, Rice, Wichita State and Pepperdine have no business competing on the national scale in collegiate athletics, but all schools have won at least one national championship in the last 20 years.
Cal State Fullerton, who may not even crack the top 10 in college enrollment within its own state, has been a perennial powerhouse since the late 70s and has won two national championships since 1995. That should tell people how much of an equalizer the CWS format is.
Look at the 2008 CWS. Fresno State, the lowest ranked team within the CWS, are one of the two only undefeated teams in the tournament and are two wins away from playing in the championship. Yes, this is the same Fresno State that finished the regular season not even ranked by the three largest college baseball polls. Yes, this is the same Fresno State which swept the WAC tournament at the Love Shack last month.
Yes, it could be the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs sitting there right now on the verge of making history. This tournament actually allows smaller schools to compete nationally.
Even so, no matter how big of an underdog story it is to have a WAC team proving it is a contender for a national title, you might get a 10 second clip about it on Sports Center. You got to search for the story pretty hard on the major Internet sites, and even still you'll only get a game recap.
Maybe no one bothers to really cover NCAA baseball during the post season because it's over shadowed by the endless NBA playoffs that started two months ago. Maybe it's because we are almost six months removed from the last football game and we are going through withdrawal.
Regardless, baseball may be America's pasttime, but on the collegiate level America has no time for it.
-Kevin Sims
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2 comments:
I wouldn't attack other sports like football or basketball and blame people for watching more exciting sports. Why do you think people don’t watch baseball? IT IS BORING!
I’m not sure what other leagues an out of shape middle aged man can still call himself an athlete? The level of athleticism is far inferior to basketball, football, even up and coming US soccer. The level of concentration is better in golf and even hockey people tune in to watch a good old fashion fight. As for gambling being responsible for baseball's fall from glory, horseracing is largely gambled on but has failed to break into the mainstream sports (unless a horse dies or wins the triple crown).
I won’t talk about recent scandals in the sport seeing that could be said of just about any sport on the collegiate or professional level. The bottom line is, baseball doesn't get the exposure you are hoping it could get from networks because sports analysts and teams of marketing of professionals has determined NO ONE WOULD WATCH IT!
Reading this blog makes me want to die.
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