http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...logs_bevo_beat


There was some compelling college baseball on TV last night. Too bad ESPN missed it.

Oh, sure, the World Wide Leader televised the Texas vs. Arizona State game and did a nice job of supplying all of the pertinent moving pictures (and even thoughtfully saved our innocent ears by muting the sound when the Arizona State coach dropped an F-bomb from the dugout).

At least the ASU coach’s commentary was spot on. We can’t say so much for the ESPN crew in the booth. Sean McDonough, Orel Hershiser and Steve Phillips sure sounded as if they would’ve rather been anywhere but Omaha.

All three have great baseball credentials, of course, but their specialty is the wrong kind of baseball. They’re major-league guys, and none seemed particularly interested in the great college game unfolding before him. They preferred to talk about the pro game — that is, when they were talking about baseball at all. They spent a full half inning talking about their favorite sports movies — dugout reporter Erin Andrews chose “Miracle” — and devoted a large chunk of their telecast to the signability of No. 1 draft choice Stephen Strasburg. Nevermind that Strasburg wasn’t pitching last night — or that his San Diego State team didn’t make it to Omaha.

(We’ll give Andrews a pass — not to be confused with making a pass at her. Just as she does for college football and basketball, she does a fine enough job of bringing in interesting bits of info. And last night, she got the scoop of the game when she got to overhear Augie Garrido’s pep talk for the ages. And unlike the others, Andrews seems to enjoy being there.)

Phillips himself summed it up best when he said the reason to watch the College World Series is to see the major-leaguers of the future. No, Steve, that’s why you watch the College World Series. The rest of us tune in to see great sports drama like last night.