CWS: A Cursory Look at LSU

by T.H. on Jun 12, 2008 10:46 PM EDT in Baseball

UNC's third straight College World Series kicks off this weekend, with a 7 pm start against Lousiana State. The Tigers were one of the last two teams to make it to Omaha, needing all three games to put away UC Irvine. Before facing the Anteaters however, LSU was the hottest team in college baseball, ending the regular season with twenty straight wins and sweeping the regional they hosted. How impressive you find that streak depends on how which side you pick in the "How overrated is the SEC?" debate - answer, nobody cares - but either way they're a threat. They're a young hitting team, only starting one senior and two juniors, but their starting pitching rotation are all upperclassmen. It's LSU's first trip to Omaha under their second-year coach Paul Mainieri. The Tigers were last here in 2004, and last in the tournament in 2005. The two year drought was the longest in twenty years.

Look for first baseman Matt Clark to continue his pursuit of the college home run title - he's tied with fellow Series participants Gordon Beckham (UGa) and Buster Posey (FSU) - but for Carolina to win the game. They have the experience, lack of pressure, and no frickin' Oregon State on their side this year.

Oh, and LSU fans will continue to take tastelessness to new levels, but that's to be expected.

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Civil War

Over at And The Valley Shook, I explain this thing about the Civi War sign. It’s not what you think. Link to actual story here.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Jun 13, 2008 11:45 AM EDT 0 recs

I Actually Knew the Context Behind the Sign

I think it was mentioned in a Deadspin comment somewhere. And while I can understand the desire to respond to a snide comment, at some point those guys really needed to step back and realize they were holding up what was basically a pro-slavery banner at a baseball game. There were dozens of other ways they could have gone – “The Civil War Is over, this series isn’t,” leaps to mind – and they made a particularly poor choice.

by T.H. on Jun 13, 2008 10:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

I Just Don't Think So

But that wouldn’t have been nearly as funny. Look, I’m as aware of racial insensitivity as anyone, and I find Confederate flags and things like that to be wholly inappropriate at any event other than a Civil War re-enactment, but this just isn’t in that league. They weren’t showing southern defiance. They were mocking the ignorant, and frankly offensive, statements of Mike Gillespie. They embraced the sentiment ironically to show how absurd the sentiment is.

I’m usually the first person to call “foul” when people use racially, ethnically, or culturally insensitive commentary. I mock commentators who talk about white players’ “intangibles” or how they are “coaches on the field.” I live in Alabama and I voted for Barack Obama in the primaries, and will again in November. I’ve got bona fide racial sensitivity out the wazoo. I just didn’t see anything to this until other people started up on the criticism. I think some people are just looking for something to criticize here.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Jun 14, 2008 9:00 AM EDT up 0 recs