BASEBALL
Now that the Boston Red Sox have
finally clinched the AL East, the New York
Mets now take over as the biggest chokers
in baseball. The Phillies and Braves tried
to play their way out of it – but somehow
the Mets managed to play equally as bad,
if not worse. Philadelphia managed to
turn it around and has locked up the NL
East. As for New York – the Mets will be
lucky to make the playoffs, as the wild
card race is tighter than the division race
they just lost.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Move over Miami . move over Florida
State . heck, move over Florida – the
University of South Florida is turning
into the class of the state. South Florida is
one of the biggest football success stories
in history. That might seem like a big
statement, but consider that the football
program has existed for only a decade,
and you can easily see where I am coming
from. South Florida has the recruiting
base and the coach to keep the program
running on all cylinders for a long time.
Friday night’s victory over West Virginia
proved that the Bulls have arrived and are
ready to inflict damage on everyone.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
I don’t claim to know a lot about
international soccer, but U.S. women’s
team coach Greg Ryan’s decision to switch
goalies before the World Cup semifinals
was one of the biggest bonehead decisions
I have seen in a long time. Don’t get me
wrong, Briana Scurry is a good goalie and
has led the women’s team to gold before
. but when Hope Solo hasn’t given
up a goal in 300 minutes (that’s more
than three games for everyone counting
at home), there is no reason to make a
change. Imagine if Tom Brady was pulled
in favor of Drew Bledsoe before Super Bowl
XXXVI. That wouldn’t have made much
sense, and this didn’t either.
AND ANOTHER THING .
If VCU students want to know what a
real base of fans looks like, take a look
at the ACC. Virginia and Virginia Tech’s
men’s soccer game drew more than 7,000
people on Friday night. A Wake Forest
vs. North Carolina field hockey game
drew more than 1,000 in late August. I
am proud that a school record crowd of
1,245 showed up for Friday night’s men’s
soccer game against North Carolina. That
is a step in the right direction – now let’s
see more support.