If we didn’t have COL and PHI, we’d have no baseball at all…
October 12, 2009 at 9:20 pm | Posted in Baseball, Gallery of the Sad, Major League Baseball, Minda's Take, Playoffs | Leave a comment…and that would totally stink, right?
Three of the four divisional series ended in sweeps this weekend. The Rockies and Phillies aren’t following all the other lemmings off the cliff, and now that Colorado has taken a lead in Game 4, this series might actually last the full five games.
David Pinto shared a really interesting stat about the alarming number of sweeps since the three-division-per-league era began:
I hate sweeps. There’s not enough drama. It’s still amazing how many happen in the LCS. With evenly matched teams, we should see them about one out of four times, but we’ve had 25 since the three division format was implemented, covering 60 series. That’s five out of 12 instead of one every two years.
Instead of a full Gallery of the Sad for each of the teams that has gone home, we’ll just go with one photo from each series:
Nick Punto did a lot for the Twins late in the season, but a field full of Nick Puntos could not take down the Yankees.
Victor Martinez may not have been a Red Sock for long, but he was as sad as the rest of 'em after losing out to the Angels Sunday.
I hate, hate, HATE the Cardinals, but am sad that I don't get to watch any more Albert Pujols until next year. Legend.
Gallery of the Sad: North Carolina
June 19, 2009 at 5:07 pm | Posted in Baseball, College World Series, Gallery of the Sad, Minda's Take | Leave a commentAs a way to keep track of the progress of the College World Series, I’m going to post photos of the dejected players of teams who have just been eliminated. I assure you, it’s not intended to mock the defeated. If anything, it’s more of a nod to the photographers who resisted the temptation to take the same celebration pictures as everyone else.
Today’s sad team is North Carolina, who many thought would be part of the picture in the finals, but instead will be going home after Arizona State exploded on them. Carolina was up 4-0 before ASU went nuts, rattling off 12 runs on a hot Omaha night. UNC squeezed out one more run in the late innings, but it didn’t matter- the game belonged to ASU, and the Tar Heels have to go home early for the fourth year in a row.
I think it’s amazing for a team to even make it to the tournament that many times in the first place, but that is probably no condolence to the players – especially the seniors – who have been part of two second-place teams and no champions.
Chad Flack is among the sad Tar Heels
Coach Fox is also sad, and has to console his players.
That hot weather yesterday ushered in some exquisite storms overnight and throughout the morning. It’s 4:0 now, and the 1:00 game is just now getting underway. If LSU wins, Arkansas would go home and LSU would make it into the championship series. LSU is up 1-0 after an inning and a half.
[Programming note: I will not be back at my computer until Sunday night, so whatever teams get eliminated over the weekend will have to wait to get their sad galleries. In the meantime, I'll be at the lake with my friends...]
Gallery of the sad: Virginia
June 18, 2009 at 5:42 pm | Posted in Awkward, Baseball, College World Series, Gallery of the Sad, Minda's Take | Leave a commentAs a way to keep track of the progress of the College World Series, I’m going to post photos of the dejected players of teams who have just been eliminated. I assure you, it’s not intended to mock the defeated. If anything, it’s more of a nod to the photographers who resisted the temptation to take the same celebration pictures as everyone else.
Today’s sad team is the University of Virginia, who I had hoped could be this year’s magical Cinderella story. (We like Cinderella stories here in Omaha. It’s how we roll!) The clock struck midnight on the Cavaliers – almost at midnight, in fact – after a 4-3 extra-inning loss to Arkansas. It would have been fun for the Hoos to keep going, under the guidance of their head coach Brian O’Connor, who grew up just across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Actually, I guess that would just be an easy storyline for sportswriters, but I’ll call it “fun.”
ANYWAY, here are your sad pictures.
Catcher Franco Valdes is sad while the Arkansas players are ecstatic behind him.
Steven Proscia is also sad. :(
Aaaand, this is where I feel exploitative again. Poor Franco Valdes.
The next CWS action is tonight at 6 central, when Arizona State and North Carolina square off in an elimination game. ASU beat UNC the first time around, so this could be an interesting stab at revenge for the Tar Heels. Here’s the full bracket.
Galleries of the sad: Southern Miss (Virginia coming soon)
June 18, 2009 at 12:13 am | Posted in Baseball, College World Series, Gallery of the Sad, Media, Minda's Take, Sports Culture | Leave a commentI owe you a Gallery of the Sad for Southern Miss, whose College World Series run ended at 0-2 yesterday while I was in Kansas City. This one really is sad because it marks the end of a career for Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer.
Sad Eagles come to grips with their magical season's end
This and the next one really are sad. You can see Coach Palmer coming to the full realization that his coaching days are over.
Mrs. Coach Palmer. I almost feel exploitative posting this. Must have been a hard day for them.
So there you have it. Remember, again, I do not wish to exploit the sorrows of the defeated teams in these galleries. But losing, and the rush of emotions that follows it, is an integral part of sports. And quite frankly, photos of those emotions can be really special, and might get overlooked among the happy moments the winners get to enjoy.
Virginia just lost in a bit of a heartbreaker in extras. I’ll put up their Gallery of the Sad when pics start getting posted.
Gallery of the Sad: Cal State Fullerton
June 15, 2009 at 7:31 pm | Posted in Awkward, Baseball, College World Series, Gallery of the Sad, Minda's Take | Leave a commentAs a way to keep track of the progress of the College World Series, I’m going to post photos of the dejected players of teams who have just been eliminated. I assure you, it’s not intended to mock the defeated. If anything, it’s more of a nod to the photographers who resisted the temptation to take the same celebration pictures as everyone else.
Today’s Sad Team is Cal State Fullerton, a team that makes it to Omaha often, and was a favorite to go far into this Series. Instead, they fell to Arkansas on Saturday afternoon and Virginia today. Early in the tournament, we already have one team unexpectedly going home, and another emerging as a potential Cinderella.
To review, this is Fullerton last week, happily dogpiling after defeating Louisville to qualify for the College World Series in the first place:
Sad Louisville, happy Fullerton. (AP Photo/Matt A. Brown)
And this is Fullerton today. Congratulations to the Titans for making it as far as they did, but I guess 2009 just wasn’t their year.
Sad Fullerton. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
Sad Fullerton being addressed by sad coach. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Now, um…play them out, keyboard cat!
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