It’s good to see athletes stand for something.
In today’s world of political correctness, you’ll
rarely see athletes at any level comment on anything
controversial.
This weekend, the Duke women’s lacrosse team plans to wear
sweatbands with the word “Innocent” written on them, as
was reported by the Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C.
For those of you who haven’t paid attention to the
national news over the past few months, three Duke men’s
lacrosse players have been indicted on rape, kidnapping and sex
offense charges, and Duke University canceled the remainder of the
men’s lacrosse season after a woman said she was sexually
assaulted at a team party.
I’m in no place to say whether the men’s team is
innocent or guilty. But regardless of whether you think the woman
was raped, and regardless of whether you think there was any
wrongdoing by the men’s team, what the players on the Duke
women’s team are doing is respectable.
They don’t have to do this. They don’t have to bring
unnecessary attention to themselves during the team’s most
important matches of the year (Duke plays in an NCAA Semifinal
today).
“When all this started happening, we kind of talked about
being the bright spot and shining,” Duke women’s
lacrosse coach Kerstin Kimel told the Herald-Sun. “Being a
team that everybody at Duke could rally around and to utilize any
attention that we got to focus a positive light on Duke and on Duke
lacrosse, both men and women.”
The players on the Duke women’s lacrosse team have put
themselves at the center of a highly publicized scandal. That takes
courage. I hope this makes athletes in the future more willing to
stand up for something they believe in ““ even if it’s
controversial.
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One of the reasons all of the major sports are so popular is a
simple, watchable postseason format. Pro basketball and baseball
play best-of-seven series, pro football and college basketball play
single-elimination tournaments.
Softball is one of the fastest-growing collegiate sports in
terms of popularity and gets to experience a simple postseason for
one weekend at least.
And what a treat this weekend is for softball fans. The Super
Regionals, when the 16 teams left are matched up in best-of-three
series where the winners go on to the Women’s College World
Series, take place from Friday to Sunday. Five of the eight Super
Regionals are nationally televised (including UCLA’s Super
Regional hosting South Florida at Easton Stadium starting on
Saturday).
This weekend is unique in the softball-postseason structure. A
week ago, the regionals were played in a complex double-elimination
format. The first part of next week’s World Series is also
played as a double-elimination tournament. But this Super Regional
weekend is great for the fans.
I’m thrilled to see softball’s popularity grow. The
sport is very watchable because a lot of the things people complain
about with baseball are eliminated in softball. The games are
shorter, not only because fewer innings are played (seven instead
of nine) but because runners can’t lead off, so pitchers
can’t try to pick off a runner over and over and over
again.
In my four years covering the sport, I’ve attended dozens
of games at UCLA and watched many games on TV. The most fun
I’ve had watching the sport came at two best-of-three series
““ last year’s Super Regionals and championship
series.
I have a radical yet plausible idea to spark even more interest
in the sport ““ make every round a best-of-three series, not
just the Super Regionals and championship series. This could be
modeled after March Madness, only replacing the single games with
best-of-three series. In softball, four teams are already at each
regional site ““ just make them play best-of-three series over
two days (like the Super Regionals) in one long weekend.
Hypothetically, the first round could be played over a
Thursday-Friday and the second round would follow at the same site
on Saturday-Sunday.
The current double-elimination format at the regionals and World
Series can be tough to follow and confusing for fans.
Just think of how easy my format would be to follow ““
it’d be just like the basketball tournaments we’re all
used to. There would be a first weekend, followed by the Sweet 16
weekend and then the Final Four.
I know my idea will probably never happen. But at least we have
one extra great weekend of softball to look forward to ““ in
the past, we’d just get the World Series and nothing
else.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.