Tuesday June 05, 2007

Starkvegas and Big Time

Starkvegas
In the movie “Blue Chips” Nick Nolte had a telling line. The movie is about big-time college basketball as Nolte plays the head coach at the fictitious Western University. He ran a clean program and won for years but his program starts to lose and he has a decision to make. Nolte’s character decides to go along with his boosters and approve the act of “buying” players. He is also faced with a point shaving scheme among one of his players.

The line that grabs your attention is when he has to come forward and answer his critics. Nolte’s character says, “It not about basketball anymore. It’s about G*@ D#&* money.”

We have known this for a while now but it takes reminders every so often. We got another dose of this Monday night.

Clemson had a better regular season record than Mississippi State. Clemson had better conference record than Mississippi State in a conference that was higher rated according to data. Clemson had a higher RPI than Mississippi State. Clemson was ranked higher than Mississippi State. Both were two seeds but Clemson was a higher seed because Mississippi State was sent to a national seed. Clemson did not have a great year but they were better than Mississippi State throughout almost every check point in the season. Clemson was 7-3 in its last ten games and Mississippi State was 4-6. The Bulldogs were only 15-13 in the SEC. There are some that felt Mississippi State did not deserve a bid over Alabama and Tennessee. In fact, Mississippi State Athletic Director Larry Templeton is the chairman of the NCAA Baseball selection committee and he had to defend the Bulldogs’ selection on national TV last week. Now, his team is hosting a super-regional.

When the NCAA announced the super-regional would be in Starkville what it actually said was that the selection of the site had nothing to do with who deserved to host. It said nothing on the field mattered. It said that it was not about baseball anymore. It was about money.

This would not be hard to swallow if they were not hypocritical about it. Why not just come out and say it before regional sites are announced? Just come out and say that the school that has the biggest bids will host. At least that would not be hypocritical.

I think we should transfer the logic and just tell the truth about it all. The bowls are only based on money. Ticket sales and TV money are more important. Lets just call it like it is.

This episode puts a new meaning to the powerful baseball book entitled, “Moneyball.”

Small Time
I made a point on the radio show this morning about Coastal Carolina hosting this past weekend’s regional. Clemson looked terrific in their dominating performance but it was just as big of a slap at Coastal as it was a boost to the Tigers.

The point I made is that Coastal is currently “small time” baseball. They had a nice little club this year but they did not deserve to host a regional. They play in a nice little conference. They had a nice record against some nice little competition.

Maybe “small time” is a little harsh. They do have a nice program but at this time it is not “big time.”

Last week on the radio show I said Clemson is not scared of Coastal and they should not have been.

Sure they had nice year but it was in the Big South Conference. Clemson went 3-0 against Coastal. I know they beat a couple of ACC teams but they would not have had a great conference record if they played in the ACC. Coastal made its mark this season against Liberty, Elon and the rest of the Big South. I know that those schools do well in their mid-week games against the ACC and SEC but partly because the bigger schools have bigger fish to fry on the upcoming weekend. Starting pitching priority is different for the ACC/SEC school.

I have friends at Coastal. I admire their program. My cousin just graduated from Coastal after she was a three-time All-Big South Conference golfer on their women’s golf team. Coastal’s men’s golf team came close to winning the NCAA men’s golf championship with their star being Dustin Johnson who I have played with many times in his junior golf days. David Bennett has the football program on the rise and I admire him as a coach and person.

The facts are that I like Coastal Carolina. I pull for Coastal Carolina. I am a Chanticleer fan. But the facts also point out that Coastal is not “big time” yet in baseball. I know Coastal fans will point out that eight other hosts did not advance. I know that Vanderbilt did not advance. But those other hosts schools played better teams in better leagues. They are “big-time” in golf. They are getting better in football. Coastal is quickly becoming a factor in the world of college baseball. But at this time, “big time” will have to wait.

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