End of March Musings

Spring is in the air! Anyone else out enjoying the sun the last couple of weekends? I love that little break in the weather just as spring starts, which then turns into another month and a half of rain. Makes it really hard to prepare for my roto baseball draft, watch NCAA tournament hoops, or update the blog...

...I did get to watch some Beaver baseball last weekend. The wife and I went on the best day, Sunday, when the atmosphere towards the end of the game was like a big Pac-10 game. Great crowd participation! I'm loving the new scoreboard. Although, I kept looking up there for replays of all the great plays only to be disappointed with an OSU player still staring at me (they have big videos of each player as the go up to bat). Apparently instant replay is a year away. Oh, and could they have had any more emotional extremes by putting getting Mike Stutes and Mia Longfellow to do ads for upcoming softball/baseball series? Stutes looked like he just woke up. In the future, I say let Mia do them all because she's a firecracker.

...The new turf was nice. However, it seemed to really cut down on our ability to bunt for base hits. OSU didn't have any bunt singles last Saturday out of five tries or so. I left wondering if the other team was that good defensively or if we were going to have to cut that element out of our game (at home at least). That could seriously hurt us as our trademark in recent years has been pitching, defense, and speed.

...Spring football is coming up. I started out trying to list every new 2007 recruit and get some news, photos, and videos about them. I'll continue that as the spring/summer goes on, but other pursuits (work, house, march madness) sort of got in the way. However, I'm going to try to take a look at last year's class and see who we should be watching from that class to make an impact next fall. And I'll be attending a few practices so I'll have some pictures to post.

...Basketball is still one of my favorite sports (how could int not be growing up in the 80's?) so I pay attention to the tournament even in years when my team isn't in it (in other words, every year). This year was particularly interesting with WSU and Oregon being so good. It's actually hard for me to root for either of these teams because A) WSU is where OSU should be darn it, and B) Oregon is Oregon. But I did pull for them as they advanced because I realized that if they do well, it will be good for the Pac-10 and thus good for OSU. Great job Ducks, Cougs, Trojans, Wildcats, and Trees. And go Bruins.

...Anyone else watching the Ducks game about halfway through the 2nd half think that the Pac-10 could have THREE teams in the final four? USC was up on UNC by double digits, the Bruins were in the great eight, and the Ducks were beating up on Kansas. Then USC collapsed and the Ducks couldn't get over the hump against Florida. That would have been wild if it could have happened.

Spring football starts next week! Get out and check out the team at least once and whole you're here take a look at the new Reser Stadium construction. It's coming along pretty well!