Friday, April 16, 2010

It Just Doesn't Make Sense


As conference games enter their second week, I am still astounded by the lack of college baseball coverage at many of the major dailies and sports broadcast media. College sports are always a dominant feature in all sports media during football and basketball season. Football dominates From September -December. Basketball picks it up from December through March...Why can't college baseball fill that void in April, May and June?

Newspapers cry about lack of space...but where did that space go that was formerly occupied by college basketball? Did it ALL get handed to MLB coverage? The NFL and NCAA football co-exist quite well. College Hoops and the NBA share the same space to satisfy the appetite fans have for basketball. Shouldn't College Baseball and MLB have that same synergy?

I have said this many times on this blog...College baseball is a major feeder to the Bigs...just as college basketball and football are to their pro counterparts. It would behoove the MLB and the media to turn on more fans to the college game.

In fact, MLB should require all sports media to cover their future stars. Now that ESPN is airing the MLB draft, it would draw more attention to the ratings and interest to what could become a major media event. Look how much interest Strasburg got last year. College gave him that opportunity. He wasn't a very sought after player until he had the opportunity to show off his stuff and grow physically and mentally at San Diego State.

Would Gerritt Cole be as happy leading the Charleston Riverdogs to a league championship as he is leading UCLA to a Number One Ranking? I don't think so. He made the right choice turning down the Yankees and leading the Bruins to a long awaited stellar season.

We seem to forget about that connection between the college baseball game and MLB. Everyone seems to think all baseball players just go from high school to the draft..and it's a shame. Those high school players would benefit so much more by going to college...MLB would too!! So many of these players just drift off into oblivion after they decide to go off to the pro's from high school.

I mean, do you really care about the Tennessee Smokies and the Montgomery Biscuits? OR, would you rather read about those players competing in a conference showdown between Ole Miss and LSU or Arizona St. and UCLA?

And we have the media to blame for all of this. They, for some odd reason, fail to see how significant college baseball is. It's a crying shame...It just doesn't make any sense.

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