As a strong supporter of college athletics, I sometimes find it unbelievable that there are people who are adamantly opposed to them. But then there are moments when I can see why they might believe that college athletics are just as rotten as many pro sports. This past weekend, for example. Now I didn’t get to watch the College World Series, but I’ve read enough about it to know what happened. Texas, the heavy favorite, swept easily through their side of the bracket, but then lost two straight games to Cal State Fullerton in the championship game series to end the season as the second best team in the country. Not what they wanted, I’m sure, but still better than every other team but one. However, instead of handling the loss graciously, the University of Texas was a completely classless act. After their second defeat, the Texas team didn’t go to offer their congratulations to the Fullerton. (Not surprising, as they didn’t shake hands with us either last year.) But the Longhorns didn’t stop there. Instead they retreated into their locker room and refused to come out to accept their second place trophy, even after being asked twice by the NCAA. They also locked their locker room, not allowing any media access to the players, and when the coach, Augie Garrido, and two or three select players showed up for their post-game press conference, they had not one word of congratulations to offer Fullerton. No standard “They were a better team than we were today.” No, “I wish we could have won, but you have to hand it to them. They earned it.” Nothing. And when Garrido was asked what he thought about the job the Fullerton coach did (a man who used to be his assistant coach and who called Garrido “his best friend and mentor”), he said that all he could think of was how badly his team was hurting. Excuse me. Just say “Congratulations.” Just say, “Yeah, he’s a heck of a coach.” Just say something that shows that you have the slightest sense of propriety, of respect, of decency.
What Texas did was appalling. Fullerton won fair and square. They were the better team. They are the 2004 Champions. Give them their props. And don’t snub them, the College World Series, the NCAA, the fans, the city of Omaha, or the game of baseball by refusing to accept your second-place trophy. I spent almost two weeks in Omaha last year for the College World Series, and it has to be one of the best sporting events in the country, if not the world. The city of Omaha does all it can to accommodate thousands of baseball fans, who come from all over, not just to support a certain team, but to see good baseball. The players on all eight teams come to win and they play their hearts out, but if they don’t make it all they way, they still have a great time and go home with memories to last a lifetime. Hundreds of teams throughout the country play college baseball. Only 8 make it to Omaha. Only 2 make it to the championship game. Only 1 wins the title. That’s the way it goes. That’s baseball, and that’s life. You can’t win them all. You take the losses and you learn from them. You don’t cry, pout, and act like something you deserved was unfairly taken away from you. Yeah, if it were a different weekend maybe Texas would have won. And maybe Rice would have won if the Regionals had been a different weekend. The fact is the NCAA Division I Men’s Baseball Championship is decided in a three game series on a weekend scheduled a year or more in advance. This year, Fullerton won that series and was thus deservedly crowned National Champions. Don’t take away from their glory by drawing attention to yourself through shameless and classless acts like refusing to accept your trophy or declaring in a press conference that you were the best team there which makes the loss really hard to accept.
I support athletics because I think they teach us about life. We learn about dedication and hard work. We learn about self-improvement and teamwork. We learn about being good winners and gracious losers. But Texas stuck their tongue out at all of that. They loudly and clearly announced that the only thing important to them about sports is winning. And that’s where the problem with college athletics lies. It should be about all the things I stated first, but it’s got to the point where it’s all about doing whatever it takes to win. It’s a real shame. There are a lot of things to love about college athletics. But Texas made it a point this past weekend of reminding us that there are also a lot of things to hate. Way to go. Hope that not accepting your trophy was really worth it. But as it doesn’t seem that the UT coach and players are able to at all care about anyone except themselves, I doubt they’ve given it a second thought. After all, Garrido doesn’t seem to think that he did anything wrong, since all he managed to apologize for (in what I’m sure was a university-forced announcement) was the “perception of wrongdoing.” Yes, he’s sorry we feel hurt, but he’s not sure what in the world he has to do with it. It’s UT, after all, and in case you weren’t aware, they’re God’s gift to the world.
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