I submit to you the case of one Augie Garrido, the head baseball coach for the University of Texas.

Affectionately (or not) known to Husker baseball fans as "Soggy Burrito", Augie was arrested last week for drunk driving. He has been suspended with pay by the Texas athletic department. Timing could have been worse, but not by much. College baseball practice isn’t but a couple weeks away and preseason coverage is just now starting to ramp up. In other words, just as people across the nation are starting to pay attention, Garrido screws up.

Augie Garrido - A lovable bastard or just a crusty bastard? Photo courtesy of Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page.

Question is - should he be fired?

Before you answer that question, consider this. When one of "our guys" does something stupid, there are many of us Husker fans who are quick to defend him. The arguments are the same regardless of team affiliation.

As an example, I submit to you Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball player Courtney James. On April 12th, 1997, James got himself in trouble after hitting his girlfriend with a phone book. He was arrested on a domestic assault charge. He would later be convicted and suspended by the University of Minnesota. He would end up leaving the school early to pursue a pro basketball career that never quite worked out as well as he wanted.

I remember the James incident because I was listening to KFAN, a Minneapolis sports station, after his arrest. Minnesota fans were calling the station in defense of James. The reasoning they were using were the same being used by Nebraska fans in defense of Lawrence Phillips, the poster boy of Husker badness - it was the woman’s fault, she was probably a low life, she baited him into it, it didn’t really happen, we don’t know the whole story, this is only a story because he’s a well-known athlete - the normal things we all say when one of our guys does something stupid.

Minnesota fans were rationalizing why their guy wasn’t as bad as he was being made out to be. It happens every time a star athlete gets in trouble. If he’s our guy, there are mitigating circumstances. If it’s their guy, he should be fired, sentenced to prison or taken out in the country and shot where his body will never be found.

Back to Garrido. Garrido is one of the best coaches in the nation. As stated in the article linked above

That’s damn fine coaching. Like him or not, Garrido is a winner. But as human beings go, Garrido is a sonofabitch, and I mean that only partially with affection. When he’s coaching a game, he uses every angle he can get. He’ll stand on the pitcher’s mound long enough to cook a roast. He’ll argue calls you’d swear are inane. After a game, Texas players don’t shake hands, but they do that damned Longhorn hand signal to the crowd.

Then there is the 2004 College World Series loss to Cal-State Fullerton, after which Garrido failed to send his team out to collect the second-place trophy. He said he thought the ceremony optional, an explanation many thought dubious. Apologies ensued as Garrido salvaged his reputation.

Last June ESPN aired a documentary about Garrido called "Inning by Inning: Portrait of a Coach". It portrayed a man who didn’t start out with much but who worked damned hard to become college baseball’s greatest coach. It is clear that he works his players hard and expects much of them. One of Garrido’s statements stuck with me (paraphrased):

The point is there’s always someone else to blame, especially in sports. Adults have a hard time with it - can you imagine trying to teach young people? I tell it to the young kids I’m around, whether they’re little kids in rec league soccer or older kids playing competitive sports. If that statement is what Garrido is about - he can’t be all that bad, can he?

He is one of those guys you love to hate. He has a sense of humor. A couple of years ago, Garrido was thrown out of a game in Lincoln, and as he marched past a Husker crowd chanting "left, right, left, right" with each step he took, Garrido paused, throwing the crowd off cadence and into howls of laughter.

He is a sonofabitch. He’s just not our sonofabitch.

I’d like to point out that this article isn’t about whether or not what Garrido did was right or wrong. Of course it was wrong. And it was stupid. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been on both sides of the DUI issue. I was arrested at age 19 for DUI. In 1987 I was struck by a young woman who was too drunk to walk but apparently thought she was fine to drive. It’s left me with lifelong back issues. Both were incredibly stupid mistakes.

So I ask again, what should happen to Augie Garrido? Should he be allowed to do the usual things you have to do these days after a DUI arrest - go to alcohol counseling, lose your license or serve a suspension/probation period, apologize and promise it’ll never happen again? Or should he be fired?

Remember - the answer you give should be the answer you expect when one of our guys screws up. 

 

We've all read the heart-warming story about Joba Chamberlain and his father.  No need to repeat that here.  But missing throughout the whole story is his mother.  Finally, the Lincoln Journal-Star tells us the story of Jackie Standley.

Jackie is 43. She has brown hair, a small silver hoop on an eyebrow, brown eyes that are slightly bulged. She has round cheeks. She has muscular arms, which rip out carpet and nails and renovate apartments for a brother. She has legs that shake a bit, from medicine and nerves.

She has two cats, Butch and Alley (because she found it in an alley) lying on the floor.

She has two grown children who don’t talk to her anymore.

One is Joba Chamberlain.

I read this story, and I'm not sure what the purpose is.  Is she jealous?  Does she want to re-establish a relationship with Joba?

Certainly, Standley has had a rough life.  She had children young,  She made mistakes.  And eventually, Harlan Chamberlain took over as Joba's primary parent.

But she feels Harlan has let reporters believe a myth.

“Me and my son have had a good relationship. We lived within a mile of each other for his whole life. … Once I gave him his last name, it’s like he took total power. It was like, he starts staying there more. I got to the point where I was not going to fight with him over it. Joba was getting to school, getting good grades. He was doing sports, which is what he wanted.

“I don’t know why Harlan is doing all this. I’ve called, tried to ask him, and he don’t want to speak to me, which is weird, because Harlan raised me.”

Joba often praises his dad. He told a reporter from this paper in 2005: “He’s my stepping stone and building block for everything I’ve done in my life.

“He’s not only my dad, he’s my best friend.”

Harlan and other family members declined to be quoted in this story. So did Joba’s sister. Joba did not return interview requests left with his father and on his cell phone.

Read the article for yourself, and draw your own conclusions, if you will.

Florida State became the first team eliminated from the 2008 College World Series, going 0-2 after their 7-5 loss today to Miami. I guess next season we can be informed how FSU has made it to the CWS 20 times without winning a national title.

Eric Sorenson points out this FSU team was supposed to be the one that got them over the hump, and that there's no love lost between head coaches Mike Martin (FSU) and Jim Morris (Miami). Brian Foley at the College Baseball Blog is disgusted by Mike Martin's lack of class and believes he should be reprimanded by FSU.

Kendall Rogers at Rivals.com provides a full recap.  

At this point all that's left for Florida State fans is to contemplate how mediocre they're going to be in football come this fall.

Georgia, a team that I didn't think deserved a national seed, beat Stanford -4-3 to push the Cardinal into the loser's bracket Wednesday against top-ranked Miami. Brian has this to say about Georgia's 2-0 record:

The last time Georgia started a CWS with wins in its first two games was in 1990 when it defeated Mississippi State 3-0 and Stanford 16-2 before going on to win the national championship.

Tuesday, Fresno State will meet up with heavyweight North Carolina in the winner's bracket while LSU and Rice meet to see who stays alive. Rivals.com has your preview .

Rice had a dismal first game, getting blasted by Fresno State. On the winner's side, it's hard to forget North Carolina's disappointment the last two seasons as this is their third straight trip to Omaha - video here for the 2006 error that cost NC the title.

At this point, if I had to guess, it'll be a Georgia - North Carolina championship series.

If you're looking for an easy way to follow what's happening, look no further than CSTV's College World Series bracket tracker.

Well, the Macbook Pro hasn't yet come back to life, but here's some resources for you if you're looking for College World Series stuff. Very frustrating - I haven't lost data as I do keep backups, but... at this point in time, I don't really have another machine that provides me the tools I use for blogging on a regular basis. That part sucks .

Awful Announcing has your schedule for the series , including (obviously) the announcers for each game. AA points out that O.A.R will be the featured band for ESPN throughout the tourney.

Today:

• 2 p.m.- Stanford vs. Florida State: Sean McDonough, Robin Ventura and Kyle Peterson (ESPN)
• 7 p.m.- Georgia vs. Miami: Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser and Erin Andrews (ESPN)

Tomorrow:

• 2 p.m.- Fresno State vs. Rice: Karl Ravech, Ventura and Andrews (ESPN)
• 7 p.m.- LSU vs. North Carolina: McDonough, Barry Larkin and Peterson (ESPN2)

The College Baseball blog has your CWS preview , while you should be following Eric Sorenson at CSTV as he provides previews and updates . Georgia blog Dawgsports will be following the action, while Tomahawk Nation provides the Florida State perspective . Miami is represented by Hall of Canes , And the Valley Shook is all about LSU, while Carolina March covers North Carolina .

Keep in mind that signing up for an account on SB Nation will allow you to post comments at any of the above sites as well as here at Corn Nation.

Stanford has to be the biggest surprise this season, especially with the other surprise being that Arizona State isn't in Omaha. The Pac 10 was supposed to be a powerhouse conference this season, and for Stanford to be the team that came out of it - wow, shocking.

Florida State has been to Omaha 19 times without winning a national title. Maybe they should be considered an underdog - but I doubt many people have sympathy for the 'Noles.

If there are Rice, Fresno State, or Stanford bloggers out there covering their baseball team, please leave a note in the comment section.

 

In just thirteen months from concept to contract, the NCAA and the City of Omaha have reached an agreement to keep the College World Series in Omaha through 2035.   Stop and think about that sentence.  A twenty-five year contract for an NCAA championship just isn't even fathomable with any other sport or any other city.  But that's a reflection of the special relationship between the NCAA and Omaha.

That special relationship between Omaha and the NCAA fueled a contentious debate in Omaha for much of the last year.  Traditionalists felt the new stadium was unnecessary at this time; Rosenblatt Stadium is still a viable facility in the near term and it would be difficult for another city to make the same commitment that Omaha makes to the NCAA.  Add in a 58 year history of the College World Series at Rosenblatt, and this debate fueled the passions of Omaha baseball fans.

However, as the city and the NCAA discussed the short-term needs of the College World Series, it became clear to leaders on both sides that further investments at Rosenblatt weren't a good investment.  The NCAA wanted more control over the surroundings, which would have necessitated the purchase and bulldozing of many of the houses surrounding the stadium.  Retrofitting upgrades to concourses and clubhouses would have required significant demolition and reconstruction of the stadium.  $30 million would have addressed many of the NCAA's short term needs, and would have gained Omaha a five or ten year extension.  After that, however, the picture became a little murkier.  Much of Rosenblatt's skeleton dated back to 1947, and was nearing the end of it's expected lifespan.  The NCAA had desires to make the Series more comfortable for their corporate sponsors by providing nearby hotels and restaurants and space for exhibitions.

With that in mind, the NCAA and Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey launched an ambitious plan to build a new stadium.  A new downtown stadium had been proposed previously by the Omaha Royals, a triple-A minor league franchise, a few years earlier, but failed to gain any traction to move the plan forward.  Now the downtown stadium idea moved onto the fast track with many proposals floated out there.  Many trial balloons were floated, such as thousands of temporary seats that would be flown in and out of the stadium for the series.  Multiple locations were proposed around downtown, and the stadium costs skyrocketed from $50 million to $90 million to finally $140 million as details were worked out.

Those trial balloons and the fast track of discussions served to fuel further dissention with the plan.  Fahey's predecessor, Hal Daub, was a board member of MECA, which manages the Qwest Center and the parking lot where the stadium was proposed to be built.  MECA and the Mayor's office waged a battle through the news media for months as negotiations progressed.  Simultaneously, residents of the neighborhood around Rosenblatt protested the stadium plans and a recall petition drive began against Fahey.

But as spring began, everything began to fall into place.  MECA and the Mayor's office came to an agreement on the stadium.  The NCAA offered an unprecedented 25 year contract.  The recall petition failed to garner 40% of the signatures they needed.  And Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo announced plans for build a new signature exhibit for Arctic animals on the Rosenblatt property that would help drive additional tourism and development to the neighborhood.

The end of Rosenblatt Stadium will be bittersweet for Omaha.  A lot of memories were formed during many College World Series.  ESPN raves about the event.  But the event has never been about the stadium...it's been about the fans who support his event year after year.  And the fans will be the winner in the end.  More parking for fans who drive to the game.  Fans who wish to imbibe before or after the game will have many more establishments nearby to frequent.  Out of town fans will appreciate being able to walk (stumble?) from the stadium to their hotel room.  And nobody will miss the claustrophobic concourses and long bathroom lines at Rosenblatt.

Like it or not, the College World Series is changing.  This year, it starts a day later on Saturday.  The championship round moves to Monday through Wednesday the next week, meaning that barring any rainouts (and boy, has Omaha been getting plenty of rainstorms the last few days), the second weekend of the College World Series will be awkwardly baseball-free.  That's the decision of the NCAA and ESPN, not Omaha.

Whether the stadium was really needed or not will likely be debated for years to come.  Some traditions will end, but other traditions will continue.  New traditions will  develop.   And most importantly, the College World Series will continue to be played in Omaha for years to come.

Had soccer tournaments this weekend, but in-between watching kids got in some college baseball.

Sunday I took in the Florida State-Wichita State game for a while. Proving that it's not just pro fans who have their moments of complete stupidity, a Florida State fan reached over the fence to catch a foul ball in the second inning. FSU's third baseman was in perfect position to record the third out and get out of the inning.

Ever notice that stupid people are also the unluckiest? They go together very well. The next pitch is a home run for Andy Dirks of Wichita State, cutting FSU's lead to 6-2 and giving the Shockers some life.

Lucky for the dumb guy Florida State won the game, otherwise it'd have been more than just the stadium he'd had to leave. With the economy being what it is, it's a bad time to have to sell the house and find a job somewhere else.

Full video of the stupidity is available here.

ESPN continued to flip back to the guy until he was escorted from the stadium, probably for his own safety.

Several teams are already in the CWS:

• Standford was the first, sweeping Cal State Fullerton. Given where Stanford was predicted to be, they have had an incredible year.
• North Carolina - no shock that they swept Coastal Carolina.
• Florida State - Shockers just couldn't get it done over a team with incredible offense, the Seminoles putting up 32 runs in three games.
• Miami had a lot more problems with Arizona than I expected. I watched a lot of Sunday's game. Arizona just couldn't bring their base runners home, while Miami was incredible at defense and pitching when they needed to be.
• Georgia mashed NC State on Sunday. Not all that surprising.
  
• Rice eliminates the Big 12. Damn. That's depressing.

The Last of the Super Regional Action:

• LSU wouldn't die and go away quietly, coming back to beat UC Irvine and pushing that series to game three. Nothing against LSU, I'd just rather see UC Irvine in the CWS as it would make me feel better about the Nebraska loss.
  
• I guess I thought that Arizona State would take their series in two games. Fresno State is proving to be more competitive than I thought they would be, mostly because the Sun Devils have been incredible this season.
  

CSTV Online Coverge Links

Cary Regional
NORTH CAROLINA v. Coastal Carolina [Audio]
Coral Gables Regional (Televised on ESPNU)
MIAMI v. Arizona [Audio] MIAMI v. Arizona [Audio]

Houston Regional
Rice: Press Conference (Video)
Rice vs Texas A&M: Post Game Press Conference (Video)
Another Press Conference

Tallahassee Regional
FLORIDA STATE vs. Wichita State: Post-Game Press Conference (Video)
FLORIDA STATE vs. Wichita State: Post-Game Press Conference (Video)

Blogs To Follow:

College Baseball Blog

Miami vs. Arizona
Georgia  vs NC State
LSU vs UC Irvine
Texas A&M  vs Rice
Florida State  vs Wichita State
North Carolina  vs Coastal Carolina
Arizona State vs Fresno State

Very interesting match ups - just like college football you see a bunch of teams that wouldn't ever play each other during the regular season come together at the end.

If I had to pick the winners (in no particular order):

• Miami - the best team in the nation
  
• Georgia - I'm cheating, they're already up 1-0.
  
• UC Irvine - scrappy team, been there, done that.
  
• Rice - Rod Childress has only been a head coach a couple years
  
• Wichita State - rooting for the Midwestern team, you know it!
  
• Coastal Carolina - rooting for the underdog
  
• Arizona State - big big big offense

 

Getting to this a little late, but here are your CSTV links for online coverage of the final games in first round/regional play.

Athens Regional
Georgia Tech v. Georgia [Audio]

College Station Regional
TEXAS A&M v. Houston [Video]

Tallahassee Regional
FLORIDA STATE vs. Tulane: Post-Game Press Conference (Video)
TULANE v. Florida State (Audio)

Stanford Regional
Stanford v. Pepperdine [Video]