Mike Bianco showed precious little emotion as Errol Robinson fielded the final ground ball of Monday night's Super Regional Game 3 and threw it across the diamond to Sikes Orvis.
Ole Miss' dugout exploded, but Bianco's facial expression was as much relief as it was anything else.
Finally, after 14 years of fabulous work turning around a program that was deplorable when he took over, Bianco was validated. Ole Miss will play in the College World Series on Sunday night at Virginia. Win or lose, Bianco won't have to hear about being unable to get his team to Omaha. He won't have to hear about the close calls anymore. It's done. His legacy, regardless of what happens from here, is complete. Ole Miss is going to the College World Series. The complainers are going to need a new target.
The criticisms were really ridiculous anyway. Texas won the national title in 2005. The 'Horns were pretty good. Miami in 2006 was loaded. Arizona State in 2007 was simply better than Ole Miss. The super regional loss in 2009 was unfortunate, but there's been a lot of revisionist history about that series. Virginia gave away Game 1 a day before the Rebels returned the favor, and the Cavaliers owned the third game.
Anyway, it's over now. The Rebels, led by Bianco, are headed to Omaha, complete with a coach with an entirely different legacy.
2. We arrived in Lafayette on Saturday afternoon. Frankly, I think we expected to enter the circle of Hell or something along those lines. Our media colleagues covering Mississippi State ripped on the folks at ULL mercilessly throughout the NCAA regional a week earlier. I was braced for the worst.
Instead, we were treated as well as humanly possible. Jeffrey Wright and I asked where we could buy food at the stadium prior to Game 1. A nice lady, Mary Beth, got up and escorted us to the hospitality area. She couldn't have been sweeter or more helpful. The facility was small, sure, but the people at ULL maximized it the best they could. The wifi worked, the air blasted in the workroom and we were supplied with everything we could have possibly wanted.
Sure, the Cajuns' fans wanted ULL to win. They were disappointed when it ended Monday night without a trip to the College World Series. But they were pros. I have no complaints. I've been treated much, much worse.
3. Before I made it Lafayette, I spent a couple of days late last week in Baltimore at the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge. I didn't see any of the actual competition --- I attended the Rivals Publishers Conference and the media day --- but I can tell you this from watching that collection of four- and five-star prospects walking around the Hilton Baltimore: Give me CeCe Jefferson, Miles Boykin, Dionte Thompson and the like all day long and I'll take my chances. Call recruiting rankings overrated all you'd like --- and you can certainly make a case using some under-ranked kids who became stars --- but I know what I saw in Baltimore.
Speaking of, from all accounts, Ole Miss targets Javon Patterson, Kyle Phillips and Drew Richmond were very impressive during one-on-one work Saturday and Sunday. Ole Miss commitment Ugo Amadi saw his stock rise as well. Doing so against the collection of athletes I saw speaks well for the Rebels' recruiting efforts.
4. Ole Miss landed a commitment Sunday from New Iberia, La., quarterback Jason Pellerin. He's flown under the proverbial radar until recently, when schools such as California, Northwestern, Nebraska and Ole Miss got involved. He worked out at Ole Miss a week ago, fell in love with the place, got the offer he wanted and committed immediately. I talked to several people in Lafayette familiar with Pellerin, and everyone has really high praise. A source close to the LSU program is emphatic the Tigers are making a mistake not taking him. His high school coach raved about him (the story was posted Monday night; it might, I'm thinking, have been overshadowed by a baseball game there in southwest Louisiana) and compared him to John Elway. After Thought No. 3 and the Rivals Five-Star Challenge, this might sound confusing, but I won't be surprised if Hugh Freeze and Co. landed a steal of sorts in Pellerin.
5. Nearly five years after it was filed on behalf of former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA went to trial Monday before U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland. The case potentially has huge implications for the future of college sports.
Ole Miss athletics director Ross Bjork told USA Today he would be watching the case closely.
"We pay attention to it," Bjork told USA Today. "Any time a news article or a report comes up on it, you try to read up on it, just to understand where we might be headed as an industry, college athletics."
That industry, coincidentally, is gathering this week for one of its most heavily attended annual events ? the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics' convention in Orlando. While the meetings go all day, you can bet attention will be divided thanks to the goings-on in Oakland.
Linked at the bottom of this post is a comprehensive story by USA Today on the ins and outs of the case, what it means and where it could ultimately lead.
In what might or might not be a related note, this tweet from Tony Barnhart late last week: "Nick Saban's new deal will pay him $6.9 million. Alabama football had a PROFIT of $47.1 million according to latest figures. He earned it."
6. With all of the discussion about Big Five autonomy in college athletics, the smaller schools are wondering if they'll continue to have their place at the table. As the Associated Press' Ralph Russo wrote recently, "Boise State has proven that it can compete with the elite of college football. Schools like Butler and VCU have shown they can beat teams from the biggest conferences during March Madness. Officials at such schools are worried that we'll never see those underdog stories again.
"They worry that changes being proposed by the five major conferences could prevent them from competing head-to-head against power schools and create even greater inequities between the largest athletic programs and those trying to keep up.
"Prodded by the huge television money flowing into college athletics to give athletes more than just tuition and room and board, the five major conferences ? which include 65 schools ? are racing to give athletes more money, more security and more control over their college careers.
The schools that may get left behind in what could be a seismic shift in major college athletics aren't quite sure what to make of it all."
Central Arkansas athletics director Brad Teague, a former assistant athletics director at Ole Miss, told the A.P. departments such as his are going to have to make some difficult decisions.
"Do we start picking and choosing some of the things? Well, let's go ahead and give the stipend but not give the travel for the parents. Let's do unlimited meals and snacks, but not do this," Teague said. "Several in our (Southland) conference might pick some, several may pick others, but it really boils down to what does the recruit want? Well, this school's giving me this. What about you all?"
"The difference with the 65 is that most of those reforms, they'll be able to pay for with new money coming in from television deals. And there's no new money coming in for the rest of us outside of the 65," Northern Iowa athletic director Troy Dannen told the Associated Press. "So it's going to be a matter of reallocate, and it'll force us to probably prioritize some things a little bit differently."
"The world's not going to end here. You can only build so many waterfalls in your locker rooms," said Mid-American Conference commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher. "There are lots of challenges. I don't want to in any way say that there's not. But, you know what, we're going to keep doing what we're doing."
7. Some in college football are clamoring for an early signing period. Nebraska's Bo Pelini has a different idea: Get rid of National Signing Day altogether.
I'm not sure it's a bad idea. Pelini told ESPN.com he believes a prospect should be able to sign with a school as soon as they receive a scholarship offer, no matter how early a scholarship offer goes out.
"If somebody has offered a kid, let him sign, it's over," Pelini said. "That will stop some of the things that are happening ? people just throwing out offers, some of them with really no intention of taking a kid."
Pelini wants a scholarship offer to really hold some weight to avoid situations where a school may dish out a verbal offer to a kid who they do not anticipate accepting a commitment from.
"Make (the offer) mean something," Pelini told ESPN.com. "People will be like, 'Whoa, I've got to take this kid now.' It will slow things down for the kids, for the institutions. There will be less mistakes."
Pelini told ESPN.com he'd like to see the recruiting process slowed down in general, and he thinks eliminating signing day would get rid of some of the extraneous stuff that comes with recruiting these days.
"Why does there have to be one specific day? And it will get rid of some of the stuff that goes on, kids pulling the hats and so forth," Pelini said.
It won't happen, but I have to admit: He has a point. If kids could sign whenever, some of the recruiting shenanigans would grind to a halt.
8. California Chrome came up short at the Belmont Stakes ? tied for fourth, two lengths behind the winner, Tonalist. Maybe Chrome had an injury. Maybe he just ran out of juice. It's been since 1978 since Affirmed won the Triple Crown. Maybe it's just freaking hard.
In recent years, fresh horses have dominated recent the Belmont Stakes. In the last 12 years, only 2005 winner Afleet Alex had run in the Preakness (and also the Derby).
"We had a target on our back," Chrome owner Steve Coburn said.
Maybe. Maybe not. What he had was a field of fresh horses to contend with.
Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens has legendary status in racing because he won five consecutive Belmonts from 1982 to '86. Only one of Stephens's five Belmont winners, Swale in 1984, had run in both the Derby and the Preakness. Moreover, it is hardly tradition that horses run all three legs: Secretariat's Belmont had just three horses that had run in all three Triple Crown races; Seattle Slew's also had three, and Affirmed and Alydar were the only two horses to run the Derby, Preakness and Belmont.
Does that mean change is needed? Not necessarily. As Sports Illustrated wrote late Saturday:
"It's true at times, that racing is more museum than sport, and those who would call that a sad thing and mourn California Chrome's defeat will wallow in their tears tonight. They shouldn't. In truth, it is a worthy quest to let horses keep fighting for a place in that museum and wrong to cheapen the requirement for admission."
9. The San Antonio Spurs are two wins away from an NBA championship entering tonight's Game 4 in Miami. The Spurs have looked like the better team (emphasis on word "team") so far, punctuated by Game 3's beautiful exhibition of ball movement and passing.
On Wednesday, there were reports that the Heat are looking into the possibility of adding Carmelo Anthony to the mix next season, making the Big 3 the Big 4. Meanwhile, the Spurs are showing they might already be the Big 4.
Yep, Kawhi Leonard is emerging as a superstar. He's a defensive juggernaut, capable of guarding Russell Westbrook in one series and LeBron James in the next. He can score, and he's a force in transition. Through three games, San Antonio appears to be the superior team. The Heat seem frustrated. Game 4, needless to say, is critical for Miami. Otherwise, it's over. Other NBA thoughts:
A. The Rockets are leaning toward turning down their option on Parsons, but the team has yet to finalize its decision, a source told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Houston is nonetheless likely to decline the option, unless it gets the sense that he'll receive offers it deems too high, Feigen reported. The willingness to make Parsons a free agent this summer indicates the team's confidence in its ability to sign a marquee free agent this summer, as Feigen observes. Houston would have to clear a significant amount of salary off its books to make that happen, but the Rockets like their chances of moving Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, since they would be looking for cap flexibility rather than players in return, Feigen reports.
B. Let the worry in Oklahoma City begin. Derek Fisher is the new coach of the New York Knicks, prompting rumors already that Kevin Durant will sign with the Knicks in two years. Personally, I don't buy it, but it's worth keeping an eye on moving forward. Fisher and Durant grew close in their three seasons together in Oklahoma City.
C. Speaking of the Thunder, keep an eye on Aaron Afflalo. The Magic's shooting guard wants out, and Orlando wants picks. The Thunder have two first-rounders, and they could package both with Jeremy Lamb and/or Perry Jones III and grab Afflalo, who makes way too much sense in Oklahoma City.
10. Finally, former Chicago Cubs manager Don Zimmer died last week at the age of 83. Zimmer was the Cubs' third-base coach in 1984 and their manager in 1989, two magical seasons which solidified my love affair with the North Siders. He was unorthodox, colorful and fun.
I found it fitting that the Dodgers, Cubs and Yankees all claimed Zimmer on the day of his death. He belonged to all three franchises. He belonged to everyone who loves the game. In Chicago, Zimmer managed current managers Joe Girardi (Yankees), Lloyd McClendon (Mariners) and Ryne Sandberg (Cubs).
In 1989, I was a sophomore at Ole Miss, living in a fraternity house in which I didn't belong. I was dateless, homesick and lonely. The Cubs, led by Zimmer, charged to the National League East crown before ultimately losing to San Francisco in the National League Championship Series. The Cubs kept me company and gave me hope, and I loved Zimmer.
I followed his career post-Chicago. I watched him in a supporting role for the Joe Torre-led champion Yankees and then as an advisor of sorts for the Tampa Bay Rays.
At a memorial/tribute for Zimmer last week before Tampa Bay's game against Seattle, longtime Rays broadcaster Dewayne Staats took to the microphone and immediately requested that anyone who happened to be wearing ties to please remove them, in deference to Zimmer.
Torre, the only one of the dignitaries with a tie, quickly obliged.
"People don't know this," Torre told the St. Petersburg Times later, "but that was one of his first decisions as my bench coach ? to eliminate wearing ties on the road trips. There was a reason for that, I later found out. When we were home, (Zimmer's wife) Soot would tie his tie for him. He didn't know how to do it. On the road, he would ask me if I could do it for him."
Rest in peace, Zim. Thanks for the memories.
O'Bannon primer
