PART FIRST

        To me, college baseball is the best thing the sport of baseball has going right now. MLB has become a farce, and I have nothing against youth, high school, or international baseball (which I think has great promise). They're all great. I just think college baseball is the best game in town. And I'm sure many of you could make solid arguments against this premise of mine.

        Yet on 6/25/07 at 6:30 PM CST, when I happened to visit ESPN.com's home page doing some research for this report, there was NOTHING to be found on the College World Series. Hardly 24 hours had passed since the Oregon State Beaver's completed their second straight conquest of the University of North Carolina.

        As I scrolled down the page, carefully examining the various sports news offerings, I found links for college football and college basketball. One sport completed its season 3 months ago, with the other due to begin two months hence. But nothing about an event covered by ESPN TV itself, presumably a fairly prominent story, barely a day old. 

        I'm sure I don't know much about how the world really works. So forgive me for finding it hard to believe that the interest level in college basketball at this time of year is such that it requires several links on a major sports news venue, while college baseball doesn't rate even one, in the midst of baseball season. Go figure.

PART SECOND

          So, in case you hadn't heard, Oregon State has just won their 2^nd consecutive College World Series. I have to admit that this is pretty impressive and amazing to me. Last year, I considered them an anomaly. Now they've accomplished something that has been done only 4 times previously in the 60 year history of the CWS: winning back-to-back titles. 

         In 2006, everything was in perfect alignment for them – the planets, the stars, the players and coaches, even their competition. This was OSU’s moment, and we would never hear much from that program again. I predicted to a few people that they would never again qualify for a college world series, let alone win another one. Certainly not in 2007, which appeared to be a re-building year for the Beavers. Order and tradition would once again prevail in college baseball.

I could not have been more wrong. Overcoming some serious mid-season adversity, OSU responded like warriors and champions, finishing off the formidable University of North Carolina – a basketball school, fer cryin’ out loud, in two straight games. What's next - the University of Indiana as the 2008 CWS champ? (No offense, IU fans!) 

Here’s my quick take on the eight CWS teams:

·      Arizona State – traditional baseball power, Pac 10 team

·     CS Fullerton – traditional baseball power, California-based team

·      UC Irvine – good baseball school, first CWS appearance, California based

·      Mississippi State – traditional baseball power, from SEC, arguably the best baseball conference in the country

·      U of Louisville – a football/basketball school, first CWS appearance. Not a baseball power; had a heck of season. After watching them destroy Oklahoma State in their Super-Regional, they were my “dark horse” team to win it all

·      Rice University – traditional power, Texas based school

So the usual baseball power-house areas (AZ, CA and TX) and conferences (Pac 10 and SEC) were all represented. No big surprise.

But for the past two years now we've had two teams playing for the CWS title with the following line ups:

1)                  OSU had one starter from Northern CA. The rest were from the states of Oregon and Washington.

2)                  North Carolina, the basketball powerhouse, had a starting lineup composed of all North Carolina natives! No one from TX or Florida, states they are relatively close to.

          I know nothing about the recruiting practices of either of these teams. I don’t know what priority they place on seeking players from the traditional power, warm-weather states. But two things are obvious – they place a great deal of emphasis on getting local players, and once they get them, they do an impressive job of developing their skills further. Pat Casey and Mike Fox can flat-out coach. 

         One (or both?) of them should be coach of the year. Last year it was Casey; maybe this will be Fox's year.

Note to players (and parents): regardless of where you live, if either of these two schools contacts you about playing for them, listen very carefully to what they have to say

          The world, sports and baseball included, is changing, isn’t it? First, a minority rises to the top of professional golf. Now the seats of amateur baseball power appear to lie not in the deep south or on the west coast, but in both the Pacific Northwest and the state of North Carolina.  What’s next – a white guy as the #1 selling rap musician?