Eric Sorenson came out with his Hope List for 2007. Amongst the items the CSTV baseball guru hopes for:
- I hope some of the officials who decided to jack with the baseball season
start date are forced to sit at a regional in Baton Rouge or Austin when the
temperature and humidity are both hitting 100, while up in South Bend it's a
pleasant 80 degrees; then, think about who has the biggest weather disadvantage.
Say it ain't so, Eric.
Oh, how this pains me. I'm a Sorenson fan. No, not the "Eric-needs-a-restraining-order" kind of fan. I just enjoy his work. He combines humor and insight with a true passion for the game. Yet, E, could not be more looney tunes for suggesting any northern school has a weather advantage under any circumstance.
I realize that the climate in Baton Rouge and Austin might not be ideal for baseball in June. I'm down with that. However, as intolerable as the heat and humidity are in the south in June, the cold and snow make it impossible to play the national pastime in February, the month the schedule makers are cutting, in the north. Note I said impossible not difficult or unpleasant. February in the snowbelt can be simply hazardous. And March isn't all that favorable, either.
To suggest that a week (or two) of play in exhausting heat is somehow worse than the cold and snow that eliminate a month's worth of potential home games is a stretch, from where I sit. Of course, where I sit, we just received about eight inches of the white stuff with temperatures that haven't been above freezing in weeks. So, my opinion is clearly biased.
There is also the issue of a northern school even hosting a regional. Let's face it, that doesn't happen much. Yes, the committee does go to great pains to give us in the north an obligatory regional. Sometimes we even get two! Yippee! However, that's a rare occasion. And hosting a super-regional? You've got to be kidding.
We could rectify some of this problem if even a few of college super powers had the courage to show up for a non-conference series north of the Mason-Dixon line in March. (Minnesota's Dairy Queen Classic, aside. Domes don't count.) Alas, pigs will fly before southern or western schools make habit of scheduling road series with northern schools in March. Or April. Or May.
The the implication in Eric's statement that no one is getting "jacked" under the current scheduling format. Northern schools facing a month to six week long road trip to open each season get jacked. They get jacked out of home games. They get jacked out of potential gate receipts. They get jacked out of a true opening day. They get jacked out of return visits from college baseball's elite.
My hope is that those who oppose the universal start date are forced to either a) sit in the ballparks in Columbus, Evanston or Ann Arbor every weekend in February, b) sit through every inning of every home date at those venues in March or c) shovel my drive in both months while their favorite (undoubtedly southern or western) program plays home games; then re-think who really has the biggest weather advantage.
- I hope some of the officials who decided to jack with the baseball season
start date are forced to sit at a regional in Baton Rouge or Austin when the
temperature and humidity are both hitting 100, while up in South Bend it's a
pleasant 80 degrees; then, think about who has the biggest weather disadvantage.
Say it ain't so, Eric.
Oh, how this pains me. I'm a Sorenson fan. No, not the "Eric-needs-a-restraining-order" kind of fan. I just enjoy his work. He combines humor and insight with a true passion for the game. Yet, E, could not be more looney tunes for suggesting any northern school has a weather advantage under any circumstance.
I realize that the climate in Baton Rouge and Austin might not be ideal for baseball in June. I'm down with that. However, as intolerable as the heat and humidity are in the south in June, the cold and snow make it impossible to play the national pastime in February, the month the schedule makers are cutting, in the north. Note I said impossible not difficult or unpleasant. February in the snowbelt can be simply hazardous. And March isn't all that favorable, either.
To suggest that a week (or two) of play in exhausting heat is somehow worse than the cold and snow that eliminate a month's worth of potential home games is a stretch, from where I sit. Of course, where I sit, we just received about eight inches of the white stuff with temperatures that haven't been above freezing in weeks. So, my opinion is clearly biased.
There is also the issue of a northern school even hosting a regional. Let's face it, that doesn't happen much. Yes, the committee does go to great pains to give us in the north an obligatory regional. Sometimes we even get two! Yippee! However, that's a rare occasion. And hosting a super-regional? You've got to be kidding.
We could rectify some of this problem if even a few of college super powers had the courage to show up for a non-conference series north of the Mason-Dixon line in March. (Minnesota's Dairy Queen Classic, aside. Domes don't count.) Alas, pigs will fly before southern or western schools make habit of scheduling road series with northern schools in March. Or April. Or May.
The the implication in Eric's statement that no one is getting "jacked" under the current scheduling format. Northern schools facing a month to six week long road trip to open each season get jacked. They get jacked out of home games. They get jacked out of potential gate receipts. They get jacked out of a true opening day. They get jacked out of return visits from college baseball's elite.
My hope is that those who oppose the universal start date are forced to either a) sit in the ballparks in Columbus, Evanston or Ann Arbor every weekend in February, b) sit through every inning of every home date at those venues in March or c) shovel my drive in both months while their favorite (undoubtedly southern or western) program plays home games; then re-think who really has the biggest weather advantage.
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