June 4, 2007

We're Back. And Hopping Mad.

We enjoyed our time over at Burnt Orange Nation, and we hope you guys checked over there and will continue to do so now that we are back home on 40 Acres. Burnt Orange Nation is awesome.

But enough about that. Now we want to complain. Texas received the number 4 national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament, meaning that the Horns were supposed to be slated to win their regional and host a super regional. But Texas received one hell of a draw. The Longhorns got UC Irvine as the 2 seed, Wake Forest as the 3 seed, and Brown as the 4 seed in their regional. Brown turned out to be a handful for both Texas and Wake. Wake is an ACC team with decent credentials which took Texas to 12 innings in the Longhorns' 7-4 elimination game victory yesterday. And UC Irvine is a tiny California school which, like its brethren Pepperdine, CS-Fullerton, San Diego, and Long Beach State, is a very good baseball school. Irvine defeated the Horns 3-1 yesterday with major-league performances from their starting pitcher and outfield. As we write this, Irvine leads 6-5 in the middle of the 7th inning, to be resumed from a rain delay at 1 PM CDT today. If Texas should come back and win, they would then have to win a second game to advance to a Super Regional.

Meanwhile, in Oxford, Ole Miss--who is NOT a top-8 national seed--got a draw of Southern Miss, Troy, and Sam Houston State for its regional. Once again, the NCAA Selection Committee shows it has no idea what it's doing.

To be clear, we understand that to be a champion, you're going to have to beat good teams. We also understand that if Texas can't beat UC-Irvine, then it's unlikely they'd have won in Omaha anyway. However, the number 4 seed is supposed to come with some privileges. Ole Miss did not earn the draw they got. Texas didn't either.

7 comments:

JJ Inc. said...

I am more angry that we didnt play at the Disch. I realize Dell has the seating and facilities, but the infield rug at DF is at least good for two base hits a game.

If by some Soggie Burrito miracle, we pull this one out, there should be some reconsideration on where the Super is played.

JBRATER said...

I just want to make sure Jeff and Abram know that there is now a reasonable chance that Michigan (which apparently has a baseball team- I had no idea) will go farther than texas this year in baseball. Hey - it's ok, maybe you can get us back in hockey.

Scott said...

Jbrater,

I do believe that both schools consider football schools. With that being said, when was the last time Michigan won a bowl game?

JBRATER said...

Hmm... losing the Rose Bowl to USC or squeaking by Iowa in the Alamo Bowl...

yeah, congrats Scott, great season.

Scott said...

A win is a win. If you guys had squeaked by Ohio St. you wouldnt care. A win is a win, no matter how you get it. So again, when was the last time you won a bowl game.

JMA said...

This argument bores me, let's all follow this link and revisit the last 30 minutes of air time of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl

JBRATER said...

Look, I understand you're upset that your baseball team lost, but I'll make 4 observations:

1) There's no point talking about this subject in June. (Well, there's no point to us talking about it at all, because it doesn't make a difference in anyone's life and we're just losers wasting our time on a blog, but to admit that would call into question the very existence of this site, and I don't want to be banned.)

I was razzing Jeff and Abram about college baseball, which they and I know that I don't care or know anything about, except that they use metal bats, which is pathetic. But I have accepted their applications as temporary Michigan Baseball fans so that they can jump on the bandwagon with me for the next week. (and hopefully longer)

2) The argument that "a win is a win" doesn't really refute the statement I made. A win in a crappy bowl is not better than a loss in a good bowl, because by getting to the crappy bowl, your team will have necessarily lost more games over the course of the season.

3) If you hadn't noticed, Vince Young is gone. (But obviously not forgotten on this blog- it's getting a little creepy, fellas.) There's no reason to think Texas will be better next season, or over the next 10 seasons, than Michigan. Texas was marginally better than Michigan in 2004-2005, a whole heck of a lot better in 2005-2006, and probably marginally worse in 2006-2007. If you go back the 10 years before that, both teams had a number of medicocre and excellent seasons, but Michigan was more successful overall. And if you go back over the history of both programs, Michigan is stronger, but there's no reason to be ashamed of that as a Texas fan, because Michigan is stronger than every program on that basis.

4) Go Blue!