SI.com - SI On Campus - The Vent: 06/11/2006

6/16/2006 11:47:00 AM

Baseball Fever - Why Hasn't Anyone Caught It?

Texas celebrates after winning last year's College World Series, but how many people watched this Longhorn victory compared to the football team's Rose Bowl victory.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

For over a century, baseball has been called our national pastime. The image of fathers playing catch with their sons, or families going to the ballpark together to catch a game, is as American as apple pie and Elvis Presley. This weekend, the nation's top eight teams begin play in the College World Series with the top two advancing to the best-of-three championship next weekend in Omaha, Nebraska.

Unfortunately for the participants, there is little buzz about the event. College baseball just hasn't caught on like football and basketball. The NFL is the most popular sport in America right now, but college football is not far behind. In other words, there's an audience for both the professional and college game. So why hasn't this same thing occurred in baseball?

We think a couple of the reasons are the lack of exposure on network television and the fact that the school year is over when the college baseball playoff begins, so the support on campus is lacking. What else do you think is contributing to college baseball's failure as a mainstream college sport?

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6/14/2006 06:03:00 PM

Let's Rumble

Who'd win a heavyweight match between Boston College's Craig Smith and Indiana's Marco Killingsworth?

Photos by AP

Watching Notre Dame safety and co-captain Tommy Zbikowski knock out Robert Bell in 49 seconds at Madison Square Garden last Saturday got us thinking about other college athletes we'd like to see square off. So we set up a whole evening of boxing matches including a coach's fight between two fellows who don’t like one another and an obligatory women’s match.

Don't just tell us who you think will win these scuffles, tell us why? Who else in college sports would you pay to see get in the ring?

SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT:

Craig Smith, BC (6-7, 255) vs. Marco Killingsworth, Indiana (6-7, 265)

HEAVYWEIGHT:

Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma (5-10, 210) vs. Paul Posluszny, Penn State (6-2, 215)

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Gerry McNamara, Syracuse (6-1, 182) vs. Kyle Lowry, Villanova (6-0, 185)

WOMEN:

Candace Parker, Tennessee (6-3,170) vs. Courtney Paris, Oklahoma (6-3, 240)

COACHES:

Norm Roberts, St. John vs. Jim Calhoun, UConn

Let’s rumble.

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6/13/2006 12:46:00 PM

The Choir Boy is Arrested

J.J. Redick was projectes to be a top 15 pick in this year's NBA draft. How will his arrest affect his standing?

Photo by AP

According to reports, J.J. Redick was arrested last night for driving while impaired after he made an illegal U-turn to avoid a police checkpoint in Durham, N.C. early this morning. While this is a shocking development for college hoops fans who have watched Redick carve a choir boy image over the last four seasons, one must wonder if the only difference between Redick and other top college athletes is that Redick got caught. In other words, do athletes get away with things the normal student wouldn't because of their quasi-celebrity status? What's your reaction to the news? And how do you think it will affect Redick's draft status?

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6/12/2006 11:45:00 AM

Cup Runneth Over

Adam Morrison isn't Polish, but one could make a strong case that Poland is the Gonazaga of the World Cup.

Photo by AP

In the 17th minute of the Ecuador-Poland World Cup match, ESPN announcer Adrian Healey explained to illiterate U.S. soccer fans that Poland's national team was like Gonzaga's basketball team – a mid-major program with some success that has been unable to break through in the postseason. That got us thinking: What other college sports programs are analagous to World Cup teams? Who is the Notre Dame football and Duke basketball of the World Cup and why?

Scanning SI's Global Angst Rating, we see that Spain is “a perennial power with a long history of underachieving” and a fan base with a “defeatest attitude.” Sounds like Arizona basketball to us. What say you?

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