Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Rice fall ball

Rice baseball "Fall Ball" is almost over. The team coached by Wayne Graham looks like it's been reloaded. There is some great individual talent on the team.

I think Coach Graham will again meld them into a winning team. I look forward to watching them in the spring.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Rice bowl game in Fort Worth - OT I know

DW and I went to Fort Worth for the bowl game versus Air Force. I mentioned several things to my children but I left out one important thing. WE WERE ON THE FRONT ROW. We were right in front of the offensive line group meeting. We could practically reach out and touch them. I imagine the coaches had to tame their speech because if they raised their voices we could hear them. So they mostly whispered. I tried not to eavesdrop but I did see the players sneak a look at us to see if we were listening. Amon Carter stadium on the TCU campus is a very old, very traditional stadium. Ninety percent of the seats are between the twenty yard lines. The stands are very close to the field. There is a very thin sideline. Amon Carter stadium was made in a time when football was a much simpler game played by a few players and a few coaches. There was no need for space for water girls, section meetings, remote headsets and TV cameras.

Which brings me to getting into the stadium. I assumed there would be parking. Well I left late thinking parking would be simple. I was trying to avoid being out in the freezing cold with nothing to do except wait. Well, that was a mistake. We did not get into our seats until the second quarter. First the access to the stadium is nil. We entered by a small road and Google maps recommended a small back way in which I did not see until I passed it. But many probably expected parking and got confused when they just got shunted through. We should have known when we got close to the zoo and saw a few people had parked there and were taking a walk down the same road we were on. They were going as fast as we were. We finally ended up driving past the stadium and after trying to find legal parking on campus we parked in the neighborhood several blocks away. We had a good 3/4 mile walk and on campus had to cross several vacant fields. TCU is a sprawling campus.

Imagine our surprise when we pulled out our tickets and found we were on row A. I was still in denial until I got to the seats. I thought we would be too low but not really. Sometimes the chain gang sticks blocked us a little but that was no problem. I enjoyed watching the official crew techniques and the chain crew as well. We were a section of Rice fans with the rest of the stadium a smattering of Air Force fans. We were at about the 30 yard line. When play was on our side the players crowded in front of us we could see them talking to one another. The coaches acted composed even after bad plays. I wondered if they would have actually so casual if we were not so close to them.

The Rice team dominated the line of scrimmage so it would have been a surprise if we had not won. We did 33-14 but the score remained close most of the time due to 5 or 6 fumbles in the first have and several errant passes in the second. There were enough great throws and runs to make it exciting and give us the victory. I heard a lady reporter on the radio say that "Rice thrashed Air Force 33-14". That about sums it up because of the domination at the line of scrimmage.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Rice went out early. Much too early but that is life.

I am following the rest of the playoffs. I cannot help it.

Seven out of the eight seeds made it to the super regionals. I think. Only Rice did not make it.

Texas made it out. Texas won their super regional over Arizona State. Their hunking ace Taylor Jungman lost both opening games and yet they came back from elimination both times. Jungman probably already has his mind in the minor leagues, signing his contract and out of college. Quite a few players do that at this time of year.

Rice was matched with TCU's regional but neither got out. California played Dallas Baptist in the Super regional at Santa Clara since California does not have a qualifying stadium. I understand Santa Clara's stadium seats less than 2,000. So that must barely qualify. But they won pretty easier to get to the CWS.

I am going by recollection but Texas A & M is the only team to beat a seed to get to Omaha. They beat Florida State. Congrats to them.

As I write the CWS has played three days. Texas is already out. So THE STEERS WERE TWO AND BARBEQUE! Now I know what "2 and Q" means. It is fitting for beef to get grilled, don't you think?

In a few minutes Texas A & M played an elimination game versus California. I have no clue who will win but I will be listening to the radio feed on my computer.

I really do miss being in Omaha in June. Maybe next year we will go. Maybe we will go even if Rice doesn't. Maybe.

Friday, June 03, 2011

I have not posted in a while. I lost faith I'm afraid. I thought Rice would end up as a two seed somewhere out of town.

I am still dazed that on Memorial Day Monday Rice was seeded 8, given a relatively easy regional and will host the Super Regional if we can take care of business this weekend.

We will be paired with the TCU regional, likely playing TCU if we win this weekend.

Frankly this is very amazing. The young men were able to win the C-USA tournament last weekend in MS. They lost the first game to UCF but won the next two, managed to be the section winner and played Houston for the championship. They came back in that one too to win the C-USA championship. This all despite having some absolutely horrible first innings.

This team is far from perfect. But they have managed to get clutch hitting and pitching to overcome fielding deficiencies. This team seems to start games slowly but come on strong in the end.

Tyler Duffey has to be given strong commendation for having some gutty relief pitching performances lately.

In addition to Rice getting a top national seeding three other C-USA teams got second seeds in other regionals. This is a very good showing for C-USA. These other teams had very good RPI's. So they must have done very well in their non-conference games, playing and beating strong teams.

Today we will play our first regional game at 6 PM. Come and watch. There will be tickets available.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Rice baseball may be peeking at the right time. The boys are hitting better and fielding better.

One should get hot when the weather gets hot. They seem to be doing that.

They took care of business versus Houston this weekend, taking all three games. Houston is not so good but they have had their moments. They are not a bad team, a 500 team. Rice took care of business. They should have won but this year they have not won all the games they should have.

This are looking up a mite. There are still a few weeks before the conference championship in Mississippi. I'd love to go but I probably won't.

I look forward to the rest of the season and hope to get to some postseason games where ever they turn out to be played.

Monday, April 04, 2011

I was nice to see the team sweep Marshall last weekend. They win ugly, don't they? The last two they won on their last at bat. I cannot remember about the first game. I ended up getting there late the Saturday and Sunday, Sunday being a weird 10 AM start.

They also won the last two mid week games. They shut out Houston on Tuesday. Wow!

But do we say this team is playing better? I'm not convinced it is enough. The guys are hitting a little better and Rendon is acting like an all star. Pitching has been very good in general but some guys still have good outings followed by bad outings. Reckling looks like he might be losing it again. His confidence is shaky.

The fielding is still on the whole below average. They make good plays. But infielders and outfielders still get bad jumps on balls and they always seem to make easy plays look exciting.

At this point they look like a team that makes post season but may not even host a regional. Losing the first weekend series was a bad sign. UCF is a good team but there are likely better in the C-USA.

I am still betting on Graham. But he's having to work pretty hard.

Monday, March 07, 2011

This weekend Rice beat Kentucky 8-5 and Texas A & M 1-0.

Then Rice lost to Baylor 12-8 in 10 innings on a walk off grand slam home run. I was sure cold Sunday night!

On the whole a good job. Rice's defense needs lot of work. The players are not getting jumps on balls. Experience will likely help.

Rice plays Tuesday and Wednesday then it is off to San Francisco for the weekend. I plan to go and watch games there too. I plan to expect cold weather in SF as well.