College World Series

One of my favorite sporting events began today. I’m referring to the College World Series, an eight team, double elimination tournament that takes place in Omaha, Nebraska each June to decide the champion of college baseball. I have no idea why the tournament is held in Omaha, I guess something has to be held in Nebraska. All games in the tournament are telecast on the ESPN family of networks.

College baseball is no where near as popular as college football or college basketball making it more of a niche sport that doesn’t have a big time TV contract or a national following. It is somewhat surprising that college baseball isn’t that popular considering the popularity of Major League Baseball. I think some of the reasons college baseball isn’t that popular is because it’s more of a regional sport. The teams from the south and the west seem to dominate. The Minnesota Gophers do have a prominent college baseball program, producing three national champions and several legendary players such as Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor. On the flip side, the Gophers haven’t been to the College World Series since 1977 and no Big Ten team has been to Omaha since 1984 (Michigan and Barry Larkin). Recent changes in NCAA baseball rules have been designed to even the playing field between the teams from all regions of the country by enforcing a uniform start date to the season. In past years, teams in warm climates would begin their season as early as late January, giving them a jump on the season over teams from cold climates. Although, the last two national championships have been won by Oregon State, a school considered to be from the north.

Another reason college baseball is not popular is the use of aluminum bats. I feel this makes the game more fun. Hitting with an aluminum bat allows for some wicked hits and high scoring games. In recent years, there have been rule changes that have toned down the bats to curve the number of home runs hit in games. As recent as 1998, Arizona State scored two touchdowns yet lost the national championship to USC who put up three touchdowns (21-14). Still, it is not uncommon to see players hitting over .400 on every team.

For the next week, you can watch college baseball on national TV. Give it a shot.