NCAA Baseball Changes

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by OkieTigerTK, Jan 29, 2005.

  1. OkieTigerTK

    OkieTigerTK Tornado Alley

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    The NCAA has made some change to baseball, and proposed others, which (IMHO) suck!:cuss:

    Definite change starting 2005 - Regional format expands to a four-day event. Two games each of the first three days, with Monday reserved for the "if necessary" game. AARRRGGGHHHH! Great! Those of us that take off long weekends from work to attend regional tournaments, will either have to take off an extra day, or miss the "if necessary" game. For fans and parents, this blows. Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton said "You put all this time, money, and effort into a season and then one bad day, and it's all gone - especially when you don't normally play doubleheaders." Sorry, I disagree. Yes, it is draining on the players, but teams need to be prepared to step up to the next level of play. (Ok, so I am looking at this primarily from the perspective of a fan, not a player or coach.)

    Proposed changes I disagree with:
    1. Moving the super-regionals to predetermined neutral sites. If a team does great and should be a super-regional site, they may get penalized just because they didn't have the highest bid for a site. It is gonna be all about $$.

    2. Establishing a uniform start date of Feb. 1 for practice and March 1 for regular season play. (If passed, this proposed change could take effect as early as the 2007 season.) Polls of 150 schools, 814 student atheletes, and 21 conferences showed that 74% of Northern respondents were in favor, and 65% of Southern respondents want an earlier start date. ALSO, to accomodate this change, the CWS would be pushed back one week. Yah, yah, so it's cold up North. Those later games get pretty hot in the South, but you don't hear us whining about it!

    I haven't looked to see if I can find this info on the web. All of this came from the 1/31 - 2/13 Baseball America Magazine. The one that lists Tulane as #1 preseason, and LSU #2 preseason.
     
  2. cajdav1

    cajdav1 Soldiers are real hero's

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    The neutral site Super regional seems like a good idea until you consider that they need money real bad in NCAA baseball and the neutral sites may not sell out. Also, I would guess that LSU may be a neutral site host if you think about it but I doubt we would get a big crowd for a game not including the Tigers.

    The late start date has been talked about for years and they finally have it on the table. The northern schools are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to practice but then you see a school like Maine that has always had a good baseball program. There is quite a difference in playing in very hot as opposed to very cold weather though. My son always starts baseball here in Atlanta around the first week in February and I hate it.
     
  3. MarineTiger

    MarineTiger Founding Member

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    The neutral site thing will be quite hard to find if they can't promise that they will sell out.....which I doubt they could do
     
  4. TSdude

    TSdude Founding Member

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    I totally agree on the neutral site issue. Can you imagine LSU playing USC at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville or Texas playing OU in College Station. The only way I could something like this possibly working is by using a minor league park for a weekend. Like LSU and Tulane playing at Zephyr Field, OU vs. UT in Oklahoma City or Round Rock. But that would cost a lot and not guarantee sellouts.
    I'm sick and tired hearing about this late start stuff. The late start doesn't seem to hurt the Minn. Golden Gophers who have had very good teams the last few years. And, how hypocritical are the university presidents if this passes. These are the same people who bitch, moan and complain about football would miss too much school if there were a playoff, but it's just fine and dandy for basketball to miss school for the month of March and for baseball too during May. Hypocrites!
     
  5. jef443

    jef443 Founding Member

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    My guess on the neutral site thing is just not to play it at a home field, not necessarily in the city. I think this has come about with the size of some of the stadiums hosting super regionals (i.e. Rice, Tulane, and any other stadium that only has a capacity of less than 3500.) The demand for these games is huge and the smaller schools are unwilling to play at larger facilities (with the exception of Tulane playing at Zephyr field). I have a feeling they are just trying to force the bigger games at bigger venues. LSU-Rice could fill up the astrodome if it was held there.
     
  6. raylsu

    raylsu Founding Member

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    The problem is that the larger venues that are used for MLB and farm leagues are in use at the time of NCAA postseason baseball play. There are no legitmate options for the NCAA to push this change to NCAA baseball. Besides major baseball programs, most teams would have trouble bringing enough people to fill up a large stadium anyway.

    LSU has the largest following in NCAA baseball (attendance-wise) so it is easy to think that this could happen b/c we are used to a good following at LSU. It is not the same across the NCAA even at the better programs. Rice has a great program but you can get a ticket anytime you want (except when LSU played a Super Regional there...but that was just b/c of LSU).

     

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