Maybe it was UCLA’s pitching, maybe it was the ballpark, or maybe Mississippi State’s bats just went cold.
Whatever it was, the Bulldogs had a total of 11 hits in two games in the championship series of the College World Series. The Bruins managed 12 in the second game alone, which proved to be the championship game.
TD Ameritrade Park yielded only three home runs in 14 games. The CWS had nine home runs in 2011, when the metal bats were dialed back, and 10 last year.
That’s taking away one of the most significant parts of the game for the fans.
Just don’t expect the NCAA to move the fences in any time soon.
Danny Ainge, general manger of the Boston Celtics, said he was shocked that Coach Doc Rivers left for the Los Angeles Clippers.
No one is going to say it, but it might have to do with the obvious difference in philosophy between the two organizations.
Boston’s two highest-paid players for next season are Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Pierce is 36 and has been in the NBA 16 seasons. Garnett is 37 and has 17 seasons under his belt.
The Clippers are restocking to support their youth movement, which starts with Blake Griffin, 24, and DeAndre Jordan, 25.
It appears that if Rivers is ever going to get another NBA championship ring, it might be easier with a younger, hungrier team.
Starting tomorrow and running through Aug. 24, the William F. Laman Public Library in North Little Rock will host Discover Greatness, an illustrated history of the Negro Baseball League.
It depicts more than 47 years of baseball history before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues. The league was formed in 1897 in Galveston, Texas.
Dusty Hannahs, the starting shooting guard as a true freshman for Texas Tech last season, was named to the Big 12 All-Academic rookie (freshman) team.
Hannahs, who played at Pulaski Academy, is majoring in business energy commerce and had a 3.5 grade-point average for the year. He averaged almost seven points a game and led the team in three-point shooting, making 43 of 119 attempts (.361).
For several years former Arkansas Razorbacks athletic director Frank Broyles has been personally involved with raising money for Alzheimer’s research in honor of his wife Barbara, who died from Alzheimer’s complications.
On Aug. 17, there will be a Walk to End Alzheimer’s starting at 8 a.m. at the First Security Bank Amphitheater at the River Market in Little Rock.
This is a very worthy cause, and more awareness is needed.
Broyles wrote Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers, and it’s a great help to those dealing with friends or family who are suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia.
The book can be bought on Amazon.com or can be downloaded at aging.uams.edu/alzheimersplaybook.
College basketball fans may be interested in a recent HBO documentary.
Jay Williams, the 2002 Naismith National Player of the Year at Duke who led the Blue Devils to the 2001 national championship, recently talked with Bryant Gumbel about the past 10 years of his life.
Williams graduated after his junior season and left for the NBA. He was the second pick by the Chicago Bulls and was immediately declared the next Michael Jordan, and was even assigned his locker.
While he struggled some as a rookie - who wouldn’t with those type of expectations? - he was seen as the future of the organization until a motorcycle wreck severed the main nerve in his leg and, along with a multitude of other injuries, ended his NBA career.
Williams is now an ESPN analyst, but his story is very intriguing and interesting.
Sports, Pages 17 on 06/27/2013