The calendar may have just turned to February, but it’s
baseball time. Not for the pros ““ they don’t start
until April ““ but for the college players.
UCLA kicked off its season this past weekend at Jackie Robinson
Stadium, winning one-of-three against Fresno State. The Bruins also
host a huge series this weekend against perennial national
powerhouse Miami.
Despite all of the things that make college baseball tough to
watch for baseball traditionalists (metal bats, ridiculously
high-scoring games, less parity), one great thing about college
baseball is it gives baseball addicts (like me) a chance to watch
competitive baseball in February.
And this season is a very intriguing one for UCLA ““ a
critical one to the development of the program.
Don’t get me wrong ““ I’m not expecting a run
to the College World Series. I’d be very surprised if this
team made the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins are coming off of a year
in which they went 15-41, one of the worst in school history.
But second-year coach John Savage turned around the last team he
coached at UC Irvine from literally nothing into an NCAA Tournament
team.
Savage’s first full recruiting class is now at UCLA (which
some publications had ranked in the top five nationally) and
he’s had a year to develop his returning players.
The team is very young, with an astounding 12 freshmen on the
roster, but there are some encouraging signs.
First of all, Savage’s expertise is pitching (among the
most famous pitchers he’s helped develop include Barry Zito
and Mark Prior). There’s 19 pitchers on this year’s
roster, and the Bruins should have a solid pitching rotation this
year.
Junior college transfer Dave Huff, who not only shone this past
Saturday, when he struck out at eight and didn’t allow an
earned run, pitched brilliantly at the Cape Cod League (the
nation’s top amateur league) over the summer. He struck out
49 batters in 37 innings against some of the better college players
in the country ““ that’s ace material.
Along with Huff, the Bruins have Hector Ambriz, who was a very
good pitcher last year, and would look even better if he
doesn’t have to be the team’s ace. The No. 3 starter,
transfer Tyson Brummett, pitched well this past Sunday, allowing
only two runs and striking out eight.
And you know the saying, “pitching wins
championships.” That’s even more true in college
baseball, where most teams can hit.
So while this team is still rebuilding, the Bruins should be fun
to watch. UCLA will always be starting a pitcher that gives the
Bruins a chance to win, and it will be nice to see some games at
Jackie Robinson Stadium that are pitching duels, as opposed to the
usual 11-10 type games.
This year’s UCLA team is very young ““ but it will
probably start to put the horrors of last season and its 19-game
losing streak behind it.
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Instant replay looks like it will be here to stay in college
football, and I’m all for it. Monday, representatives from
every conference and TV networks concluded that instant replay
should be universally implemented in 2006.
Instant replay was only optional for each conference during this
past season. (The Pac-10, like most, adopted it.)
While it makes some games last a lot longer (remember the
never-ending UCLA-Arizona State game?), it’s still better to
have an instant replay system than none at all.
A game should be decided by the players on the field, not a
referee. And refs are human ““ they make mistakes
sometimes.
I’d rather have the games last longer than one team lose
solely because of a bad call that could’ve been reversed by
instant replay.
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I love women’s sports. I would love nothing more than to
see women’s sports become as successful and popular as
men’s sports.
So we have to stop comparing women’s achievements to those
of men. We have to let women’s sports forge their own
identity.
In the last couple of weeks, many in the media made a big deal
when Texas women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt won her
880th game, passing legendary North Carolina men’s basketball
coach Dean Smith’s total of 879. In the same breath,
it’s usually mentioned that Tennessee women’s
basketball coach Pat Summitt is first on the all-time wins
“list” with 903.
First of all, women’s basketball and men’s
basketball are different sports ““ they each compete
independently and each get their own NCAA Championships.
More importantly, we need to give Summitt and Conradt their dues
and not have to compare them to Smith and the other great
men’s coaches.
Don’t get me wrong ““ I know some of you reading this
are infuriated, thinking that in some way I am putting down
women’s sports. I’m not.
I’m saying we shouldn’t have to compare the
women’s records to the men. Summitt’s and
Condradt’s accomplishments should be able to stand on their
own.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu and look
for him online on the Gilbert J. Quiñonez Fan Club on
Facebook.