Okay Stitch-heads, I can’t help it when a request comes my way. I mean I was fully content to stay in my cave and work on my 2010 College Baseball preview, slated for sometime around February 1st. No fuss. No muss. No prob.

Then I got a call from some guys on the Easton side of things and they told me that the CollegeBaseballToday site was blowing up with hits over the last few days. Really? Even after I told you guys I was going into the cave for a while and working on the preview? Oh well, things happen. Demands are made. And now, I’m in a giving mood this holiday season.

So here is my Christmas Day edition of the status of Stitch-head Nation.

And since we’re about to get a visit from the bearded one here on Christmas, I started thinking to myself, what would I want from the fat man from a college baseball perspective? I came up with 10 gifts I’d like to see delivered this 25th day of December, five for me, five for the sport of college baseball.

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FIVE CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR COLLEGE BASEBALL.

1- I’d love to get the entire story behind Pat Murphy’s “resignation”
NCAA infractions. Strained personal relations. Heads butting. Vicious rumors. Stubborness. Stupidity. Sure, but c’mon, we all know there is a lot more to this story than the ASU administration is giving us. Maybe someday it will all come out.

2- Better weather for everyone across college baseball.
As half the country sits in the midst of a winter storm, I’m just planting the seed to Santa that we need better spring weather than what we got in 2009. My buds up in Boston told me that it rained almost all spring long last season, except for the weekend I went up there for the Clemson-Boston College series.

3- I wish the Twins would reconsider a retractable roof for their new stadium.
You have no idea how important the Metrodome is for college baseball teams in the North Central, in all divisions. You remember a couple of February’s ago when Kansas and South Dakota State played a game at the Baggie Dome at 2am. Know why? Because all the slots for game times are chock-full of college games at that time of year, from Division I games, down to Division 56. Now that the Twins have built a new open-air stadium, don’tcha think a retractable roof would’ve made more sense? Damn people.

Unlike the inside of the Metrodome, this is the what the new stadium will look like in February.

4- I wish for a speedy and miraculous recovery for Georgia’s Chance Veazey.

and 5- A new cable channel: The College Baseball Network.
A dude can dream, can’t he? Why not, we dream about Santa being real too.

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FIVE CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR ME

1- I wish all the school SID’s would return my pre-season questionnaire.
It’s no wonder our sport is so tough to get good promotion when you note that only 115 of the 300+ SIDs I Emailed actually returned my five lines of info I asked about from their teams for my pre-season preview. C’mon guys, pull your socks up.

2- I wish for shorter games.
As you can imagine Santa, last year’s College World Series was brutal. Put it this way, if you showed up in your red suit, hat and gloves with your bag full of gifts, you’d have fainted by the time you got to the top of the hill that Rosenblatt sits on. It’s hot in June. And games in Omaha lasting 3:30+ are painful. Especially for those of us that are baking in sun for the entire time. Please make them shorter. (More on this below)

3- How about season tickets to the CWS starting in 2011?
Since we have been told that the current season ticket policy shows a 1,500-name waiting list and no more names will be added to that list until the demand goes down below that, trying to get permanent seats at the Omaha Classic is pointless. But with the new stadium coming into play, how about making, say, four tickets available to me and my buds?

4- How about a no-hitter sometime soon.
I came close to seeing one with Alex White tossing a 1-hitter against Miami and saw Stephen Strasburg flirt with one against TCU last season (until giving up a three-run homer in the 7th). So how about it Santa Claus, how about letting me witness a no-hitter in person? Better yet, when was the last one we’ve seen in Omaha? Hmmm, THAT would be cool.

and 5- My own lear jet.
I know I talk about how I stole the CSTV lear jet and borrow Easton’s, but I really just want my own. See, I’m a sick S.O.B. I have no life and just simply save my flight miles so I can go to watch college baseball games. Does that make me a loser? Yes. Does that make me appreciate the sport and worthy of checking out as many teams as I can from all across the country? Guilty as charged. Now if I could just get the use of a lear jet instead of having to go through the hassle of flying commercial airlines.

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NEW PRE-SEASON RANKING AND ALL AMERICAN TEAMS ARE OUT.
As you’ve seen there are a few pre-season All American teams and Collegiate Baseball has their pre-season Top 40 out there for public consumption. Now as you guys know, I’m not so crash-hot on the vast number of needless rankings there are out there – especially those that are conducted by one or two people (give us more polls with a large pool of pollsters and less rankings, please). But there are two reasons I’ll give Lou Pavlovich a pass here… 1- His pre-season ranking is always the first one of the year and I like how it includes 40 teams. And 2- The Pavlovich family has been doing rankings since the dawn of time. They’re an original, you know what I mean? They’re old-school cool.

Any surprises to the Top 40? Sure, a few. Here’s a quick read on them.
- Oregon State at No. 10.
Not that the Beavs aren’t going to be ranking-worthy, but this seems a tad high. Just a hunch, of course.
- Ohio State at No. 14.
No, I don’t have a bias against OSU teams, but even with a lot of returnees, that last football-type loss to Florida State in the regionals keeps sticking in my mind.
- TCU at No. 15.
I personally would have the Frogs a lot higher. This isn’t just going to be a BCS busting season for football. Baseball will be bad-ass this year too.
- UCLA at No. 20.
We’ve all gotten used to them under-achieving after extremely high pre-season rankings. Maybe this one will do just the opposite… or be spot-on.
- Southern Miss at No. 21.
Look, the Eagles weren’t that great of a team last year until they got Fresno-hot in the post-season. They lost a whole mess of seniors from that team. I’m thinking this ranking is quite high for them.
- Stanford at No. 26.
I know, the Trees had a crappy 30-25 record. But with their frosh arms and typical smarts, go ahead and push them up a few notches.
- Texas A&M at No. 29.
Remember how hot this team was in the pre-season last year? Well if Ross Hales and Barrett Loux can amp up their mound-work just a bit more, and the hitters hit, this team could be Omaha-worthy, not high-20s.
- No. 35 South Florida, No. 37 Middle Tennessee State, No. 38 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 39 Notre Dame and No. 40 Dallas Baptist.
As usual, Dr. Lou gives the mid-majors some major love. All should be really interesting, especially how Lelo Prado does in a favorites role for USF in the Big East, if MT’s Bryce Bentz continues his incredible performances and how Cape Cod stud arm Chris Sale does for FGC.

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WHEN COLLEGE BASEBALL LEADS THE EVENING NEWS.
Last week, the local news here in Los Angeles started their nightly newscast with a pair of college baseball-related stories. Sadly, neither was good. First was the awful news of the tragic death of Long Beach State signee James Wernke. Somehow, the 6′4″, 190 pound pitcher drowned in an Orange County creek bed while walking his girlfriends dog during a rare rainstorm two weeks ago. Wernke pitched at Santa Ana College, had signed with Long Beach State and was going to be a Dirtbag for the 2011 season.

The Channel 11 talking heads report on Long Beach signee James Wernke.

That story was immediately followed by the report that ESPN sideline reporter – and College World Series regular – Erin Andrews was in a Los Angeles court, facing, Michael Barrett, the peeping tom that had video taped her naked in a hotel room.

Look, this story is sad. In this day-and-age when much-desired women like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Pam Anderson use their sex tapes seemingly as a marketing tool to make themselves more popular, it’s sad that a woman unknowingly gets filmed naked while mundanely curling her hair and it gets plastered all over the internet. It’s sad to see her addressing the media outside the courtroom with her father there behind her and she being visably shaken by this event. Just think how many hotel rooms Erin stays in a year. Think she doesn’t think about that happening again?

Sure, I like seeing a naked beauty just as much as the next guy, but I’m sure if you’ve seen the video the first thing you thought of was, “Okay, this is a little creepy.” It’s unsettling for sure.

Erin Andrews, with her father behind her, outside an LA court room.

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MORE TRAGIC NEWS.
Just after the Thanksgiving weekend I got an Email from Jordan Jones, a J.C. baseball player in Illinois and fan of the site, who informed me of the tragic death of Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Kevin Edwards, a promising left-handed pitcher. Jordan told me he went to high school with Kevin and was a good friend of his, and unfortunately he was involved in a car accident the Saturday night following Thanksgiving that took Edwards’ life. The lefty was a mid-week starter on the hill for the Lions and had a good future ahead of him, as he logged 30.2 innings of work at UA-PB as a freshman. Hearts and minds out to you Jordan on your loss. Thanks for letting me know about it.

My good buddy Ruffin Bell’s website, BlackCollegeBaseball.com, had a nice write-up on Edwards. Here’s the link:

http://www.blackcollegebaseball.com/news/2009/11/30/DI_1130095233.aspx?path=d-i

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SPEAKING OF RUFFIN BELL’S SITE.
Ruffin has asked me to be on the voting staff for the re-newed BlackCollegeBaseball.com 2010 BCB poll, where teams of historically black colleges and universities are ranked in a top 10. I had been a voter in 2007 and 2008, so I am certainly looking forward to seeing this opportunity to come back around again. Ruffin does an outstanding job giving some underappreciated programs some good pub. And, I really dig the visual look of his site as well. Nicely laid out.

Make a quick peek at his site a weekly ritual during the season, if not more.

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BEST IDEA SINCE SLICED BREAD.
So the SEC is taking the lead and going to a 20-second clock between pitches (when no one is on base) and a 90-second clock between innings, both to be in use for the SEC tournament next May. And, if all goes well, they’ll look to implement this for the 2011 regular season games too.

Tell you what, can I get a freakin’ AMEN my brothers and sisters?!

Anyone who has been to these barbaric conference tournaments and has had to sit through three-and-a-half hour bakefests in 95-degree heat will appreciate this move by the SEC. It’s not gonna save you from getting a sunburn if you’re taking in a game out in the bleachers and not wearing sunscreen, but if you’ve had to sit through pitchers and batters stepping out, calling time or getting the painfully slow walk to the mound by a coach with a bad hip, you know that anything to help move those games along is welcome news.

The people who might be against it? Probably the ones that get to sit in air conditioned luxury suites or press boxes. Otherwise, this is not only a no-brainer, it’s also a step in the right direction.

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WORST IDEA SINCE BREAD CAME LUMPED INTO THE SIZE OF THE HAND THAT TORE IT OFF THE LOAF.
Now if the SEC could just go ahead and adopt the Big 12 and ACC format of two divisions, three games per team and a title game, instead of the awful, rag-armfest of an Omaha-like double-elimination tournament that most of the coaches I’ve ever talked to about it can’t stand. The SEC decided to keep it’s current tournament format of cruelty.

And did I read this right, the SEC tournament will now start playing games at 9:30am? Jesus! That borders on cruelty people. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive likes to say they want to “keep baseball the tradition-laden sport that it is.” Well other than those old Negro League barnstorming teams of the 30s and 40s, I’ve never heard of teams playing games that early in the morning. How about ending the regular season a week early and going to a true CWS-like 10-day tournament guys? Wouldn’t you misers get more money out of that anyway?

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MAINIERI’S LETTER FROM AUGIE.
Shoot! I forgot to add this as a footnote to the interview with LSU coach Paul Mainieri. While we were in his office getting the grand tour back in October, I noticed the framed picture you see to the right. I know the picture is a tad out of focus but it’s at the top is a picture of Coach Mainieri and Augie Garrido of Texas taken at last year’s College World Series. Underneath the picture is a hand-written note from Augie himself – on Texas letterhead and everything – congratulating Paul on winning his first national title and how it was a pleasure to compete against his team and thought they handled themselves in a classy way. It also gives Paul some sage advice (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Winning a national championship will change your life in ways you’ve never imagined.” I thought it was a pretty cool gesture on Augie’s part, especially since the last time he lost the national championship the media went crazy with his team not shaking hands and all that. Coach Mainieri also thought enough of it to frame it and put on the wall of his office.

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EVERYBODY LOVES A GOOD “BEST OF” LIST.
I stumbled across a pretty good one from the boys over at CollegeBaseball360.com who are in the middle of compiling their Top College Baseball Moments Of 2009. It’s a 25-down-to-1 list that is including a new entry each day until New Year’s Day (does that mean they work on Christmas too? I thought only Chinese restaurants were open for business that day.). As of press time here, they were on No. 8 (Washington State and Gonzaga making the NCAA tournament). Here’s where you can check it out:

http://collegebaseball360.com/2009/12/24/top-college-baseball-moments-of-2009-8/

I dig the intricacy of the list. I mean, it’s difficult – and very very subjective – to nail down a “best of” list for a single season, but I like how he was able to point out Oregon’s return to the sport, Rhode Island’s best week (in program history?) and Middle Tennessee’s Bryce Brentz hitting .694 for the month of July. That’s good off-the-beaten-path stuff there.

The front cover of Gayla Peevey's 1955 hit Christmas record.

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THE 11 BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS EVER
If you’re gonna burn a mix CD or donate some holiday songs to your girls’ Ipod, then you can’t go wrong with the list of beauties here. Forget the mistletoe, here’s how you can score this Christmas.

11- Gayla Peevey “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”
The 10-year old Oklahoma City native had this chart-topper in 1955. And yes, she eventually got a hippo – as a publicity stunt.

10- The Pretenders “2000 Miles”
Unusually melodic for them, but still a killer winter song with great imagery.

9- Chuck Berry “Run Run Rudolph”
C’mon it’s Chuck Berry. Just too cool.

8- Brenda Lee “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”
At 4′9″, Little Miss Dynamite could really belt out the rockabilly tunes.

7- Elton John “Step Into Christmas”
Just another example of how Bernie Taupin wrote all of Sir Elton’s best songs. Even during the holidays.

6- Band Aid “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
These Brit all-stars put together a great idea and good song that Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson ripped off to make that wholly crappy “We Are The World”

5- Greg Lake “I Believe in Father Christmas”
Okay, one tear-jerker from the singer from Emerson, Lake & Palmer (and a symphony to back him).

4- The Kinks “Father Christmas”
Ah the joys of playing Santa Claus in a store front and getting accosted by a group of English roughs, epitomized in this rollicking rocker.

3- The Waitresses “Christmas Wrapping”
This song far out-gains their one-hit wonder “I know what guys want”

2- Bodeans “Christmas Time”
These smooth crooners from Milwaukee just do it so effortlessly.

1- The DBs “Holiday Spirit”
An irreverent, one minute, 26 second trip into what corporate America wants you to think is the real meaning of Christmas from a bunch of Raleigh, North Carolina denizens. With the apropos chorus of “I’ve got that holiday spirit so gimme-gimme-gimme-gimme” it’s a song we can all relate to.

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“ATHLETE” OF THE YEAR?
So Jimmy Johnson goes from football coach to being named the AP Athlete of the Year and Tiger Woods wins the AP Athlete of the Decade… what, you guys think I have an opinion on this or something? Well too bad, I don’t.
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Okay, I’m a stoned liar too.

(Wiping my brow and shaking my head at the same time here)
You mean THESE guys are considered “athletes” in this day and age? Look, I’ve said it before, golfing is like darts, it’s a skill you can become very good at. Unlike darts, you can also become very wealthy at. But just because Tiger Woods appears to be working out a lot and possibly juicing, doesn’t make golf a sport of athletes. And driving a car? Gawd save us all.

They might as well give the “Athlete of the Year” to your tipsy bar buddy who never misses the board in darts – while claiming he drives better after a few beers.

(The guy on the left winning the “Athlete of the Year” award is a slap in the face to real athletes everywhere.)
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Okay, so I’m going back into my cave again guys and gals. Thank you for all the clicks, all the Emails and all the interest in this college baseball off-season. That’s mighty cool of ya’s.

Be patient. I’ll be making my pre-season preview available to you guys in just a couple weeks.

Thanks again. May that special present you were wanting from Santa be under the tree as I finish this. C’mon Santa, give us what we want. And to all a…

G’night.