Painful experience
posted by LW, Friday, June 05, 2009
And what a painful experience last year was for the Sun Devils.
After winning the first game against Fresno State in Tempe, ASU lost the next two and watched the Bulldogs advance to Omaha ... and win the whole darn thing.
The Sun Devils talk about that nightmare here and here.
ASU lost most of the players from that squad, but the ones who do remain still feel the pain.
Said Pac-10 player of the year Jason Kipinis:
"To say it didn't bother me would be a lie, and to say I tried to keep it away would also be a lie," the junior outfielder said. "I wanted it near me. I wanted it to be around me, and I wanted to use it as motivation. I wanted to remember the emotions I went through after losing when we were supposed to win. ... I don't want to go there again."
You might've heard by now that Arizona State has some fairly capable pitching. The Post and Courier has a piece on that, and The State takes a deeper look at Mike Leake.
In the Independent-Mail, a good piece on Mike Freeman's development.
Two summers ago, Tom Riginos needed a recommendation.
Riginos, Clemson’s hitting coach, had just assumed recruiting coordinator duties from Kevin O’Sullivan, who had just left to take over Florida’s program.
Word was out that Georgia second baseman Mike Freeman was seeking a new home thanks to the impending arrival of Texas transfer Michael Demperio, who was expected to gobble up all Freeman’s playing time with the Bulldogs.
It just so happened that Riginos had a good source – his son, Clemson first baseman Ben Paulsen. By sheer coincidence, Paulsen was one of Freeman’s teammates on the Keene (N.H.) Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league for college underclassmen.
“Dad asked me, is he a good player?’” Paulsen recalled. “I said, ‘He’s hitting .300 with a wood bat, he makes all the plays, he’s a great guy and he’s not going to be any trouble off the field.”
David Teel of Newport News has a look back at the crazy weekend that was for the ACC's baseball teams.
The ACC, by the way, hasn't produced a national champ since 1955.
ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach, who was on hand for last week's regional in Clemson, has a piece on ascendant leadoff man Chris Epps.
And Steven Bradley of The Seneca Journal profiles Matt Vaughn.
"It's a great story," Jack Leggett said. "The players hear all these stories I tell them every year, and this will be one of them. I talk about the '99 team. We've got an opportunity to be one of those teams we talk about here for a long period of time, and [Epps] is going to be a story as a player for a long period of time. He's a player who wasn't getting opportunities early, but got his opportunity late and took advantage of it."
Good read by Rivals' Steve Megargee on Bill Curry's humble digs at Georgia State.
Curry played in three of the first four Super Bowls during a 10-year NFL career and went on to spend 17 seasons coaching at Georgia Tech (1980-86), Alabama (1987-89) and Kentucky (1990-96). He spent the next 11 seasons away from coaching. Curry launched a new career writing columns and broadcasting games as a color commentator for ESPN. He didn't have much interest in coaching again.
Whenever Curry received an inquiry from a school enticing enough to give him second thoughts, he'd approach his wife, Carolyn. Curry's football career has forced the couple to move 32 times in 46 years of marriage.
"What do you think about interviewing here?" Curry would ask.
"I think that would be fine," she'd reply. "I'll miss you, but you go ahead and do that."
That pretty much ended any idea that Curry would coach again, at least until Georgia State came calling.
Later in the article, Curry has an interesting observation on today's football recruits:
"They're just heady," Curry says. "We were clueless [when I was playing]. I didn't know what kind of offense Clemson ran when I was recruited by Clemson. I didn't even know how to ask.
"Now we get asked about equipment: 'Are you going to wear such-and-such a brand?' We're asked, 'What are you going to do on offense?' We didn't ask stuff like that. The kids 12 years ago didn't ask stuff like that, at least not many of them."
Matt Hayes of The Sporting News ranks the Top 25 college football players, and I like his criteria:
It has nothing to do with NFL value.
It has everything to do with college value.
The ACC has just one representative on Hayes' list, Georgia Tech RB Jonathan Dwyer at No. 13.
A little surprised C.J. Spiller didn't get mentioned.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
No doubt Arizona State has the advantage in experience when it comes to Super Regional play.
And what a painful experience last year was for the Sun Devils.
After winning the first game against Fresno State in Tempe, ASU lost the next two and watched the Bulldogs advance to Omaha ... and win the whole darn thing.
The Sun Devils talk about that nightmare here and here.
ASU lost most of the players from that squad, but the ones who do remain still feel the pain.
Said Pac-10 player of the year Jason Kipinis:
"To say it didn't bother me would be a lie, and to say I tried to keep it away would also be a lie," the junior outfielder said. "I wanted it near me. I wanted it to be around me, and I wanted to use it as motivation. I wanted to remember the emotions I went through after losing when we were supposed to win. ... I don't want to go there again."
You might've heard by now that Arizona State has some fairly capable pitching. The Post and Courier has a piece on that, and The State takes a deeper look at Mike Leake.
In the Independent-Mail, a good piece on Mike Freeman's development.
Two summers ago, Tom Riginos needed a recommendation.
Riginos, Clemson’s hitting coach, had just assumed recruiting coordinator duties from Kevin O’Sullivan, who had just left to take over Florida’s program.
Word was out that Georgia second baseman Mike Freeman was seeking a new home thanks to the impending arrival of Texas transfer Michael Demperio, who was expected to gobble up all Freeman’s playing time with the Bulldogs.
It just so happened that Riginos had a good source – his son, Clemson first baseman Ben Paulsen. By sheer coincidence, Paulsen was one of Freeman’s teammates on the Keene (N.H.) Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league for college underclassmen.
“Dad asked me, is he a good player?’” Paulsen recalled. “I said, ‘He’s hitting .300 with a wood bat, he makes all the plays, he’s a great guy and he’s not going to be any trouble off the field.”
David Teel of Newport News has a look back at the crazy weekend that was for the ACC's baseball teams.
The ACC, by the way, hasn't produced a national champ since 1955.
ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach, who was on hand for last week's regional in Clemson, has a piece on ascendant leadoff man Chris Epps.
And Steven Bradley of The Seneca Journal profiles Matt Vaughn.
"It's a great story," Jack Leggett said. "The players hear all these stories I tell them every year, and this will be one of them. I talk about the '99 team. We've got an opportunity to be one of those teams we talk about here for a long period of time, and [Epps] is going to be a story as a player for a long period of time. He's a player who wasn't getting opportunities early, but got his opportunity late and took advantage of it."
Good read by Rivals' Steve Megargee on Bill Curry's humble digs at Georgia State.
Curry played in three of the first four Super Bowls during a 10-year NFL career and went on to spend 17 seasons coaching at Georgia Tech (1980-86), Alabama (1987-89) and Kentucky (1990-96). He spent the next 11 seasons away from coaching. Curry launched a new career writing columns and broadcasting games as a color commentator for ESPN. He didn't have much interest in coaching again.
Whenever Curry received an inquiry from a school enticing enough to give him second thoughts, he'd approach his wife, Carolyn. Curry's football career has forced the couple to move 32 times in 46 years of marriage.
"What do you think about interviewing here?" Curry would ask.
"I think that would be fine," she'd reply. "I'll miss you, but you go ahead and do that."
That pretty much ended any idea that Curry would coach again, at least until Georgia State came calling.
Later in the article, Curry has an interesting observation on today's football recruits:
"They're just heady," Curry says. "We were clueless [when I was playing]. I didn't know what kind of offense Clemson ran when I was recruited by Clemson. I didn't even know how to ask.
"Now we get asked about equipment: 'Are you going to wear such-and-such a brand?' We're asked, 'What are you going to do on offense?' We didn't ask stuff like that. The kids 12 years ago didn't ask stuff like that, at least not many of them."
Matt Hayes of The Sporting News ranks the Top 25 college football players, and I like his criteria:
It has nothing to do with NFL value.
It has everything to do with college value.
The ACC has just one representative on Hayes' list, Georgia Tech RB Jonathan Dwyer at No. 13.
A little surprised C.J. Spiller didn't get mentioned.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.