College Baseball - The State of the Nation
Rivals.com has Nebraska going to Tallahassee as a #3 seed, same as last week. That hasn't changed much, but getting past FSU on their home field would be next to impossible.
They do have Missouri hosting their own regional - so someone is looking out for the Tigers. Texas A&M and Texas are projected as having their own regional. They still show Coastal Carolina with a regional.
Rivals.com's Eight for Omaha changed slightly, dropping Virginia and replacing them with the Long Beach State Dirtbags.
Their eight in order:
- Rice
- Vanderbilt
- Texas
- North Carolina
- San Diego
- Florida State
- Arizona State
- Long Beach State
My favorite remains Texas, but Rice deserves the #1 position. Vanderbilt - if I remember correctly has never been to a CWS so I will be surprised if they get far into the final eight.
You've heard of Project 119 - the guy who's trying to visit every Division IA football stadium? You may not have heard of Going Yard, some guys at CSTV who are traveling around the nation going to college baseball stadiums. Well, Tuesday night they were at Rosenblatt for the Nebraska - Creighton game.
They pointed out that it was packed - the second-most attended game in the nation this year (second only to Georgia-Georgia Tech at 21,000), and then they interviewed Omaha mayor Mike Fahey about the possibility of a new stadium being built to replace Rosenblatt. Fahey mentioned that the Royals (Triple A) want a stadium of around 8,000
They also interviewed fans, inter-cut with Fahey, most of who were against the idea. The one that stood out was the guy who admitted he wouldn't quit attending the CWS because of a new stadium being built.
Should be interesting to see what happens in Omaha, but it's clear they need to do something to make everyone (fans, Royals, NCAA) happy.
Fahey mentioned $25 million to renovate Rosenblatt, which sounds like chicken feed to me. Here in Minnesota, we're building a new Gophers football stadium, and new Twins stadium, and they're trying to work out a deal for a new Vikings stadium. Hell, building a parking lot will probably cost $25 million here, so don't worry about the money, Omaha!!!
Eric Sorenson, our college baseball buddy over at CSTV interviewed Minnesota coach John Anderson. Anderson has some great comments about the status of college baseball, the effects of the APR next year, and the 2008 scheduling changes - I encourage you to read the interview. Anderson has a lot to say about Minnesota's disadvantage in college baseball, and includes the comment - "What happens when there are only 50 or 60 teams left playing college baseball?"
This is a HUGE issue - the rising cost of college athletics is causing universities to drop non-revenue sports all over the place. It's not a good situation for anyone. The more sports that are dropped the less opportunities there will be for student-athletes of all types. If that's what you'd like to see, careful what you ask for because you might get it in the next few years and I can guarantee you won't like the outcome!
Last week, I asked Nebraska coach Mike Anderson if we'd be seeing the Huskers again at Minnesota's Dairy Queen Classic tournament and he said that I should talk to John Anderson about having the Huskers back. Well, John, dadgumit - talk to Mike and get the Huskers back up here in the 'Dome next March!

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New 'Blatt
For What It's Worth: I happen to know there are plans floating around Omaha for a new stadium in the NoDo area. It would be of the faux-retro, red-brick-facade variety and be shared by Creighton and the O-Royals. I have no idea how close anyone is to committing to build it, but the ideas are clearly out there.
by Ignignokt on May 17, 2007 1:15 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
More on the new stadium
I blogged about a new stadium a couple of weeks ago when the story first broke. Omaha's AAA ball team has been clamoring for 2 years for a new stadium, but hasn't come remotely close to coming up with a plan to pay for it. A lot of people kept getting their hopes up, only to have nothing happen.
Meanwhile, the city has been talking with the NCAA about extending the CWS deal, and the NCAA keeps talking about what they want the city to do to Rosenblatt. (More seats, bigger locker rooms, organizing the "Mardi Gras" outside the stadium, etc.) The city is running the numbers and the pricetag keeps going up. Then the NCAA jumps out and says, maybe it would make more sense to build a new stadium.
Needless to say, if the NCAA wants a new stadium, it'll happen. The only question is whether a new stadium uses 16,000 temporary seats for the CWS so that it's a smaller stadium for our local teams. My guess is ... probably not. But retaining the CWS is priority #1 for Omaha.
by Husker Mike on May 17, 2007 10:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
do you guys think
that Omaha could possibly end up building two stadiums?
or how 'bout a new stadium for Creighton and the Royals, and a update on Rosenblatt.
$25 million dollars, seriously, sounds like chump change to me. Am I wrong about that?
by corn blight on May 18, 2007 11:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
sure
That plan is what I heard most recently. What Mike describes above is not popular with the people in the Creighton administration that I know. They want a new stadium without the accompanying craziness of the CWS. The temporary seating plan sounds more likely to me, though.
by Ignignokt on May 18, 2007 1:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

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