Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Rice falls in New Orleans. Finally.

Tulane fans! I am very unhappy, vexed, about the total lack of reports about fires- general arson and such- in the Quarter last night.

Baseball is like that. It is hard, on a game to game basis, sometimes on an inning by inning basis, to determine which team is better. In major league baseball, even the poor teams win around 40% of their games- because singularly each game is such an independent result.

Frequently, a good team can be made great by running their best pitcher out there. Bogey can barely tap a ball- and have it roll by four guys, by a combines eighteen inches, for the two most important RBIs of his young life. A pretty solid LF can flat-out miss a pretty routine fly-ball in the most important inning he’s ever played.

But a three-games series provides some continuity- some perspective for a whole vision. What did Tulane learn? Speaking for myself, I'd just as soon never see that Rice team ever again. You can add them to the list of “teams I’d just as soon see go somewhere else”. You know, the list that begins with Cal State-Fullerton. No wonder Rice kicked the hell out of the Tigers- rolling them over and scratching their Tiger bellies with their Owl-like talons. Degerman is a number three starter? C’mon? Did you not utterly love this guy? His breaking ball looked completely unhittable for about two-thirds of the game. He hit just enough guys with the baseball to keep folks nervous up there. And if he’s the third guy, I hate to see their weekend rotation next year in conference play.

This was a gutty group of Owls- I am not sure Tulane would have won this thing away from Turchin.

Now, my Blog in-box is chock full of fascinating missives this morning. I can quickly identify the ones from Tulane fans- the spelling and punctuation are impeccable, the context of the notes is direct and orderly. I cannot stand the ones from the lickspittles. There is only one proper response from any LSU, or anti-Tulane, fan. Utter silence. It is most emphatically not your day, week, even season. Be still. Attempts to ingratiate yourself: “Bring home another championship to Louisiana”- are just embarrassing. Get with it: Tulane spends tons of money a year to dis-integrate itself from the horrific processes of public education in Louisiana for a reason. The Tulanian loves Louisiana- but loathes the public education system created and maintained largely by LSU alums and supporters. As a community, Tulane does not want the good-wishes of Tiger fans, because to 99.9% of America, the part that admires fluouride in the water and has strongly whipped rickets, the approbation of LSU folks is something to be admired!

In addition, many folks feel I disgraced the Skull of Mike IV, that my ownership of this fascinating curio has not been respectful, and that flaunting it at places like Pat O’Briens while drunk as a LSU Theta is not courteous:

http://frankmcgrath.blogspot.com/2004/10/lsu-skull-of-mike-iv.html

All I know is that all LSU fans ought to be grateful frankly that I haven’t painted the damn thing green and used it as a plunger. Shame on all of you for letting me buy it- at an on-line auction no less.

Lastly, in the excitement, maybe we forgot that this was the last time we will see a lot of these guys ever play again as members of Tulane. I was wondering just how to quantify this group’s achievement. Perhaps the best way is to look at whom they are joining in Omaha: Tennessee, Florida, Arizona State, Nebraska, Oregon State, Texas, Baylor- and of course Tulane. Pretty obvious which one does not belong, right? Which one does not represent a bloated athletic program blessed with both endless resources and minor schooling requirements? Isn’t there something satisfying about that?

A public service- as you never really know where your destiny will take you:

www.maps.com/DriveSoloNow.aspx?Nav=DD&A0=&C0=new%20orleans&S0=la&Z0=&A1=&
C1=omaha&S1=NE&Z1=