The Struggle Has Ended

Greg Hewlett passed away on January 17th after nearly eight years of battling colon cancer. While we grieve his loss, we are comforted to know that he is with his Lord.

If you would like to leave your thoughts on Greg, please see this thread.

If you would like to make a charitable donation in Greg's honor, please see this thread.

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

Go Rice

Every college fan loves to protest, "we were robbed". I will join the chorus. Despite being ranked in USAToday as #7 in NCAA baseball, Rice was not selected to be one of the sixteen regional hosts for the first weekend of playoff elimination of the 64 teams in the tournament.


Home field is a definite advantage. Thirteen of the sixteen home teams last weekend won their four-team regional tourneys. LSU was one of those who got beat... by Rice. The Owls went 3-0 for the weekend including taking two of two from the Tigers. There are now sixteen teams remaining. Eight go to the College World Series.
Now, as luck would have it, Rice goes to #1 ranked Tulane next weekend for a best of three super-regional series, the winner of which goes to the World Series. Another road upset? I think it is possible.
Incidentally, two years ago, I mentioned on this blog the Owl's run in which they eventually won it all for their first national championship. I chose to stop writing about it because I have a friend who lives in Moscow and reads this blog, but was going to watch the taped series much later when he visited home. So in spite of my joy, I kept my lips sealed. But now, this friend is engaged to be married - so I figure he is in a good mood and doesn't care as much about the Owls anymore. Am I right, David?
For all you Owl fans, the next game is Saturday at noon. It will air on one of the ESPN channels.
Go Owls.

3 comments:

Glenn said...

Go Owls! I love it when a tiny school with amazing academics can beat the big boys in sports. Aslan is on the move. :)

Ryan said...

Actually, Greg, studies have shown that the standard regular-season homefield advantage in baseball disappears and can even reverse itself during tournaments (although the original research was conducted on professional teams, there is no reason I can think of that the same would not also hold for college teams). The primary explanation for this shift is that the homefield adds extra pressure to perform (in part because players believe they are SUPPOSED to have a homefield advantage), which causes them to choke under the pressure. Thus, we might construe this apparent bad luck to divine intervention in favor of our blessed alma mater. And doesn't it at least FEEL better to see it that way? :)

David said...

Greg, I greatly appreciate that you withheld yourself from writing about the joys of Rice baseball. Yes, indeed I am getting married in 5 short weeks, but I have been a die hard Rice fan for 38+ years. Thankfully the games are at a decent time this weekend when I can listen to them over the internet, which I am getting ready to shortly.
I don't know if I told you, but a Russian friend spoiled it for me 2 years ago. It's hard to keep things like this a secret as something always seems to happen. I've given up on trying to wait for video tapes or DVDs. So please write to your heart's content.
Go OWLS!