This CWS was incredible to watch and it was fun pulling for the uber-underdog, but it will ultimately be forgettable. Eventually, the televising of the MLB Rule 4 draft will create a superstar atmosphere around a player who performs well and wins the CWS. Imagine the ratings if Mark Prior's buzz had taken to an ESPN broadcast, then the general public could watch him in the CWS? Especially if he'd been ridiculous and thrown a no-hitter in the finals en route to a USC win? That's when the College World Series will obtain relevance.

If that is the case then that is a shame.
I thought this years tourney was one of the best I have seen, and my team even choked it away in heartbreaking fashion!

No one needs Craig Krenzel or Joey Dorsey to be non-crap NFL QBs for college fb to be great, and the basketball tourney is always a great watch regardless of NBA stuff.

One thing I DO like about the CWS is getting a sneak peak at underclassmen from other regions, guys I have not seen play before, starting to break out and put themselves on draft boards.
I'm sure scouts knew plenty about Mendonca before this tourney but his OUTSTANDING performance must have really made him a guy for some teams to follow next year.
Low average, lots of Ks (but he was only a soph, so he can improve) but he offsets it with very good power and super defense.
At the very least he could be Pedro Feliz

Wow!

Awesome stuff - wish it was on ESPN in Australia

At least it makes me feel better about ASU's ouster.

FINALLY! Something to be proud of Fresno (my hometown) for. GoDogs!!!

At least it makes me feel better about ASU's ouster.

Same here. Long Beach was Fresno's very first victim of the tournament.

As one of my old PCAA (now Big West) rivals, I too was rooting for Fresno State. I'm very happy for them.... The player who impressed me most was FSU's 3B Tommy Mendonca. He's unusually good in the field -- made me think of Eric Chavez. Great range; very good arm; excellent first step. I'm not sure if he was drafted or even eligible for the draft. He hit a huge home run in the second game against Georgia, displaying his power. However, I heard (from a friend who knows this stuff) that Mendonca can't really hit for much, and because of that he likely will never make it to the show. Nonetheless, as a college player, he was outstanding in the CWS.

Hard to accept the Heels third straight close but no cigar, but Fresno deserved it. Good for them.

"Hard to accept the Heels third straight close but no cigar, but Fresno deserved it."

Lately, it seems, the West coast teams have been much better, rankings going in notwithstanding. Not only did FSU exceed their ranking, but Stanford did very well as a low-seeded team. I could be wrong -- showing my West coast bias -- but it seems to me that the regional system in the post-season doesn't bring the best eight teams to Omaha. Really great baseball schools on the West coast are stuffed into the same regionals, eliminating by necessity some of the best teams. Because of that concentration of quality, the winners of the regionals in the Midwest, East and South, whose brackets are weak, don't deserve to be in Omaha and might not be ready to play the better schools from California, Oregon and Arizona.... If the teams from the Big West, the WAC and the Pac-10 were spread out over all of the 16 regionals, the best teams would make it to Omaha -- and far more of them would come from the West.

At least it makes me feel better about ASU's ouster.
CONCUR.

fourth-seeded Fresno State’s 6-1 triumph over Georgia on Wednesday in the deciding game of the College World Series, helping it become the lowest seed in any sport to win a national championship.

Huh? Villanova was an 8-seed in 85.

Huh? Villanova was an 8-seed in 85.
In the CWS, you can't go any lower than a 4 seed.

Huh? Villanova was an 8-seed in 85.

Fresno State got in the tournament based upon winning their conference tournament. If not for that, they would not have made it at all (no at-large bid). Here are the final 64 teams. While Fresno State is listed as a #4, they are one of 16 #4s based upon the regional/super-regional breakdown. Fresno State was the equivalent of a #13-16 seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Great game! I still think a team like George Mason winning the basketball tourney would be a bigger upset because of the nature of the sports, but Fresno State had an awesome run. That Detwiler kid has bragging rights for the next 30 years.

While Fresno State is listed as a #4, they are one of 16 #4s based upon the regional/super-regional breakdown. Fresno State was the equivalent of a #13-16 seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

That makes sense, but then the writer should word it differently to make sure he's comparing apples to apples for us.

That Detwiler kid has bragging rights for the next 30 years.

Heh, my first thought was, "It's all downhill from here, kid." Yes, I'm jealous.

Sportscenter claimed that FSU's pre-tourney(s) RPI was 89.

Isn't Baseball great?

I'd say this Fresno win would be like if Missouri had won the 2002 NCAA basketball tournament as a 12 seed (they made the elite 8.) A decently rated pre-season team (Fresno was #18 for BA pre-season) that got a low seed due to unexpected poor play during the regular season, but hardly a team without the talent to reasonably compete with the top teams.

Aside from the "Ping" I absolutely love college baseball. The guys hustle their asses off and are well-schooled in the fundamentals (even though they do make quite a few errors) and there is an emphasis on execution. Even cleanup hitters have the ability and are sometimes even required to bunt or get a guy into scoring position. Add in guys coming into to pitch from the OF position displays the overall talent of these kids. For my $, the purest form of gritty ball available.
I always root for the CA teams. Fullerton usually makes a good showing, but it's good to see the lesser-known squads like Fresno St., USD, UC Davis etc programs improving.

Wonder if this will eventually nudge the NCAA into giving the west a little more respect?
Good analogy, Bull Pain (@19).
Sorry for your loss, MM1f (well, as sorry as I can be, given, you know...)
College ball is an awful lot of fun to watch - there's quite a lot of diversity in style of play, as well as a high enough talent level to make it watchable, while low enough that we get guys who slug .800 in the same lineup as ones hit .190. Plus, less between innings stuff, which I prefer.

... and there is an emphasis on execution. Even cleanup hitters have the ability and are sometimes even required to bunt or get a guy into scoring position.

For me, this part of it drives me crazy. It's a coach-dominated game, and the heads of the coaches are anchored in 1915. These guys worship at the shrine of one-run strategies, possibly because they're seen as team-building exercises.

But I do enjoy P/DH combination players.

Sorry for your loss, MM1f (well, as sorry as I can be, given, you know...)

At least my team can get there more than once in a while : )

At any rate it is still a great day to be a Bulldog. The 2000s have been a great decade for us, and we're only going to get better from here on.

For me, this part of it drives me crazy. It's a coach-dominated game, and the heads of the coaches are anchored in 1915. These guys worship at the shrine of one-run strategies, possibly because they're seen as team-building exercises.

In college bunting is a lot more reasonable of a move though.
Your players, even your cleanup hitters, sometimes aren't great hitters so your best chance to get some runs (especially when the other team is throwing some future MLBer at you) is to scrape together a couple runs through small ball.
Plus, college teams are worse defensively so you force alot more errors when you make the D make plays

"I still think a team like George Mason winning the basketball tourney would be a bigger upset because of the nature of the sports, but Fresno State had an awesome run."

I agree with this. Fresno's terrible RPI (89) was misleading. They had a run of injuries and other problems early in their season and built up a poor record. By the last third of their regular season, they were playing in the WAC as was expected of them in the pre-season rankings. It was not a surprise that they won the WAC tourney, given how well they had been going at the end. And while they were a #4 seed in their regional (equivalent to a #13 seed in hoops), they were as talented as any of the #2 teams in any regional.

The main reason why it is more surprising for a team like George Mason to make the Final Four than it is for FSU to win the CWS is because the WAC is one of the elite conferences in college baseball. I don't recall which conference GMU is in -- the ECAC? Whatever it is, it isn't an elite basketball conference. The WAC produces dozens of top draft picks into pro baseball every year. Its teams are every bit as good as those in the SEC and Big 12 (and much better than the Big 10 and ACC). So Fresno winning a national championship, while a surprise, is not quite on the level of a team like GMU going to the Final Four.

Rifkin,
are you sure you aren't confusing the WAC with the Big West?

Rifkin,
are you sure you aren't confusing the WAC with the Big West?

FSU is in the WAC.

But that last paragraph of Rifkin's post sounds more like the Big West than the WAC.

But that last paragraph of Rifkin's post sounds more like the Big West than the WAC.

True, the Big West is a better baseball conference, except for my alma mater, UOP.

Yeah, 27, I was referring to what it sounded like Rifkin was talking about. I know Fres is in the WAC but outside of Fresno it isn't really an ACC-level conference. Nevada or La Tech will have a good year every now and then or produce a decently high pick or two and Hawaii and San Jose, who did manage to go to Omaha in '00, have potential but it sounded like Rifkin was talking about the Big West (Long Beach, Fullerton, Irvine are all powers.. Davis has made incredible progress.. Riverside, Poly and UCSB are solid and there is some talent at the other schools too) or maybe the West Coast Conf (Pepperdine and San Diego are powers, Santa Clara and San Fran are solid, the other schools have some nice players)

Fair enough. I overstated the quality of the WAC. (Fresno was in the PCAA, which became the Big West, when I was at UCSB. Our baseball conference, however, was somewhat different than the PCAA.) Yet even if the WAC is a middling conference -- I tend to think the West coast schools are just plain better in baseball, and thus I elevate programs like FSU -- it is much better in baseball than GMU's conference is in basketball. That's my point -- and hopefully I'll not have to retract it, too.