OK , it was bad enough when ESPN The Magazine, listing the t
op 100 sports stories of 2006 failed to mention the Beaver miraculous run through the College World Series - winning five straight elimination games and beating Andrew Miller and the North Carolina Tar Heels (yes, the same Andrew Miller pitching for the Detroit Tigers) - to win the National Championship.
Instead, The Mag picked "sports" stories such as the possibility that David Beckham might come to the United States as a sports story (picked at #47, no less) over events that actually happened!
Now, here come the ESPYs, ESPN's annual awards show acknowledging athletic success. Overall, the ESPYs are a fun time and do a good job recognizing deserving athletes and teams across a broad spectrum of sports.
And ESPN generally does a good job canvassing all sports, not just the big three, recognizing rem
arkable achievements in all the various sports people play.
Which is why it is even more inexcusable that ESPN did not even nominate the Oregon State Beavers' baseball team in the category for Best Team, or Pat Casey in the category of Best Coach.
I just don't understand what the hell they are drinking in Bristol. I suspect the fact that Colon Cowturd works at the WorldWide Leader has something to do with it. It is well known in Oregon that Cowturd is a big Oregon Duck supporter. During his tenure here in Oregon, old Cowturd would regularly bash on the Beavers and praise the floundering Ducks.
So I bet old Cowturd told the higher-ups at ESPN not to recognize the amazing accomplishments by the Oregon State Baseball team.
Regardless, ESPN really screwed the pooch on this one. The fact that the Beavers repeated as College Baseball National Champions is a remarkable achievement. Think about it. No team has repeated in 10 years, since the days of Ben McDonald and the LSU Tigers. Second, the Beavers only had two returning starting position players, and the Beavs lost their two best pitchers.
Now consider the fact that for the first part of the Beavers' 2007 baseball season the Beavers played on the road (given our wonderful "liquid sunshin
e" in the Pacific Northwest during March and April), which makes the season that much longer and difficult for the defending national champs.
Given all that they lost, and all they had to deal with, the Beavers still won the national championship.
The Beavers accomplishment is worthy of some recognition by ESPN. But the Beavers got bubpkah!
I know that ESPN is, in fact, a Mickey Mouse operation, but this time they are taking this "mickey mouse" analogy a bit too far. Somebody at ESPN needs to get on the ball and give the Beavers the props they deserve. I can understand missing the Beavers championship run in 2006, but screwing this up in 2007 makes ESPN look stupid.
Sorry to see that ommission by ESPN, but every true Duck fan I know was pulling for the Beaver's baseball team in the past two seasons.
Lots of us watched every game we could. They deserve the praise they are getting, at least within the confines of Oregon, if not from outside the state.
Posted by: tumaloduck | July 11, 2007 at 10:54 AM