Okay, okay, I hear ya’.

I’ve gotten a few Emails, comments, Twitter messages, smoke signals, etc. on what MY answers would be to the questions that I posed to all the national college baseball writers last week concerning the 2011 season.

The once lame-duck Cal Bears' winning their way to Omaha was the best story of the season.

So yes, here are my answers… but I’ve gone ahead and added some other points of interest from my perspective on this season. And yes, I took a while to get to them, but I’ve been on vacation for the past week. I’m sure you understand.

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1- BEST MOMENT OF THE SEASON:

- Cal making the College World Series.

And as I said before, after that win over Dallas Baptist in the Supers, I hope Dave Esquer cut out all the p.c. crap and ran into Sandy Barbour’s office to moon her. Forget being humble after what the administration put that dude through.

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2- WORST MOMENT OF THE SEASON:

- The Johnathan Taylor and Cory Hahn spinal injuries.

I almost wanted to say it was when another politician threw out the first pitch at the CWS (keep the divisive nature of politics out of our sport, people), but I admit, the injuries to Taylor and Hahn were awful.

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3- BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE SEASON:

- Easy, it was Dan Heefner and Dallas Baptist

The independent Patriots beating OU and TCU to advance to the Supers was a huge development. (As an FYI, I had DBU at No. 136 in my pre-season Top 300)

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4- BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE SEASON:

- The Pac 10.

Too many teams fell far short of expectations, especially for a conference had that so many front-line pitchers returning from last season. Too many teams falling short in the post-season. (Caveat to this answer, the Pac 10 was still the No. 1 rated conference in the ISR ratings)

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5- SURPRISE TO NOT SEE IN THE CWS:

- Florida State.

Knee-jerk reaction might’ve been UCLA, but I saw them struggle at the plate all season so that didn’t come as big of a surprise. I just thought the ‘Noles got another easy road laid out for them in the post-season, but couldn’t overcome a team that lost its ace in the Supers.

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6- FEELINGS ON THE NEW BATS:

- Okay with ‘em.

Yes, I hear the coaches from both sides of the argument, but I’m a traditionalist when it comes to bats. Closer to wood, the better.

Plus, more than anything else, I get sick of my non-college baseball friends telling me “anybody can hit a home run with those aluminum bats.” If it keeps me from having to repeat myself 100 times a year on the subject, I’m good with them.

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7- COACH WHO DESERVES A RAISE:

- Whoever is coaching Cal State Fullerton.

It’s a shame a program of this stature can’t keep a good coach around because the California state school system is so bankrupt thanks to actors becoming in charge of this retarded state. Garrido, Horton and Serrano were all wildly successful and all took off for bigger paychecks. With his pittance he’ll earn, Rick Vanderhook will probably end up doing the same.

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8- ONE RULE CHANGE YOU’D LIKE TO SEE:

- Whatever a batter wears to the plate, he has to wear on the basepaths.

College players see the pro players looking like Tron characters with all the extra body armor they wear at the plate and copy them. So now we see players have to take time to take off their elbow pads, wrist guards, shin guards and ankle protectors. Then, they have to take the time to remove their batting gloves and take their “running gloves” out of their pockets and hold them as they run the basepaths.

Let’s start to pare this down.

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9- DO SOUTH CAROLINA & FLORIDA REPEAT IN 2012 TITLE ROUND?

- Of course not.

Odds are too stacked against that happening. Of course, if they do, I’ll be the first to give them huge props for pulling off the unlikely.

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NOW A FEW MORE THINGS OF NOTE ABOUT THIS SEASON…

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BEST GAME:

- Game One of CWS title series. (South Carolina 2-1 over Florida)

With the renewed emphasis on defense and pitching, that South Carolina bases-loaded, no-out high-wire act was as scintillating as it gets.

Runner Up:

Stanford 5 – UCLA 4, April 23rd.

The Cardinal looked dead in the water, but in the 9th inning the Bruins pitching staff couldn’t seem to throw a strike. Eventually, a 4-1 deficit was overcome when Kenny Diekroeger sliced a bases-loaded RBI single to bring in the winning run in jog-off fashion.

Stanford races out of the dugout to celebrate the dramatic 9th inning win over UCLA

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BEST PLAY(s):

- Scott Wingo’s two big plays in the CWS.

You know, that whole back-to-back defensive gem that got South Carolina out of that now-famous bases-loaded jam and edged the garnet and black toward a national title. It will go down in CWS lore.

Scott Wingo separated himself from the rest of his South Carolina teammates in Omaha.

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WORST DAY OF THE SEASON:

- April 23rd.

Weather just seems to screw with our sport more and more each year. This year Mother Nature was at her bitchiest and on the 23rd, a Saturday, there were a grand total of 28 games that were either cancelled, postponed or halted in mid-stream.

Runner Up:

- March 27th.

This day saw 18 games get jettisoned because of weather.

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BEST WEATHER:

- Loyola Marymount

The school that sits along my favorite jogging path didn’t have a single cancelation of a game all season long.

Runner Up:

- The Nebraska-Creighton game on April 19th.

Because I rarely get to experience any kind of weather down here in the shadows of LMU, I was geeked to go to a game that saw temperatures in the upper 30s at the new downtown stadium. I know, I’m a freak.

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BEST CROWD:

- That first game at The Big Tiddy.

22,197 showed up on this mildly chilly night to account for the ninth-largest regular season crowd in NCAA baseball history. Because the weather forecast called for rain (which never came), there were still a lot of empty seats at the new stadium, but give it up for a lot of hearty souls in Omaha – the best college baseball town in the country.

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NEWEST STADIUM TO ADD TO THE BEER LIST:

- The Big Tiddy.

Yes, you can’t get brew at the College World Series, but when Creighton is in the house, the taps are flowing at the concession stands.

As Well As:

- Tigue Moore Field at Louisiana.

Those Cajuns know how to power down the brew.

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BEST STADIUM FOOD:

- The jambalaya at Tulane’s Turchin Stadium.

Tulane had great food concessions and yes, beer as well. Although, I wasn't sure they should be selling to the 11-year old boy in the foreground. But that's just me.

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BEST STADIUM I GOT TO CROSS OFF MY LIST THIS YEAR:

- University Stadium at Ole Miss.

Better yet, I got to experience the Rebel rousing in a Thursday night SEC game vs. rival Mississippi State. The Dogs came back from behind to score an exciting 7-6 win. Great crowd. Great experience. Great co-eds.

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BEST SIDE TRIP:

- The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Miss.

After a long day of driving from Lafayette to Clarksdale, this old train station-turned-edifice-of-music-history was like reaching the city of Oz for me.

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MOST DEPRESSING SITE:

- Mississippi Valley State’s field.

As stated back in mid-May when I stopped in Itta Bena, it’s hard to believe that a Division I team plays there.

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MOST STUNNING AFTER-SEASON JOB MOVE:

- Mervyl Melendez taking the Alabama State job.

After years of unprecedented success at Bethune-Cookman, the hottest head coach in the HBCU ranks will go to possibly the worst program in D1 baseball. This should be an interesting development to keep an eye on next season.

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BIGGEST GAFFE ON MY PART:

- Going to Fresno instead of staying in town for a no-hitter.

On the Saturday of the Hawaii-Fresno game, I decided to make the drive up to the Valley and check out the battle of WAC leaders. Little did I realize that had I stayed at home that day, I could’ve seen a game where Oregon State’s Josh Osich threw a no-hitter and UCLA’s Trevor Bauer would strike out 15 in a 4-hit effort as part of a 2-0 Beaver win. Dang me.

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SECOND BIGGEST GAFFE ON MY PART:

- Putting Oregon at No. 2 and Washington State at No. 3 on my preseason rankings.

Further examples of the Pac 10 underachieving this year. Or my crappy prognosticating.

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BEST BACKDROP FOR A BALDCAST:

- The Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway.

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Runner Up:

- Through the Bowery of New York City.

This was the Baldcast that you DIDN’T see this year. While I was in New York in March, I decided to shoot a Baldcast for ESPN while I was walking through the streets of the Bowery district of the city, past some of the famous punk clubs and bars just East of SoHo where i was staying.

Since I was holding my iPhone and shooting it myself, the video was a little on the jumpy side and ESPN decided not to use it. So that was the one week this season where I didn’t have a weekly video to go along with my weekend preview.

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BASEBALL’S BIGGEST BUFFOON AWARD:

- Big 10 commissioner Jim Delaney

(Editor’s note: After posting this column, my good bud Jerry Palm sent me a note that I had misspelled Jim Delaney’s name… then I decided not to change the spelling anyway ‘coz he didn’t deserve that respect.)

First the rich white guy has the gall to be one of THE driving forces in the all-exclusive BCS money-grab, stiff-arming conferences like the Mountain West, the WAC and CUSA from reaping the cash-bath. Then after seeing the Big 10 is one of those “mid-majors” in baseball, NOW suddenly he decides to pipe up that there should be two spots in the CWS reserved for northern teams? Can’t have the leveling-the-field sobfest both ways there Mr. Suit. And besides, if you followed college baseball at all Mr. Delaney, you’ll know that the Big 10 doesn’t need that kind of ridiculous charity, it has what it needs to make a CWS run again. His suggestions were inane and overtly embarrassing to the conference.

Here’s the link to the maddening column about Jim Delaney’s half-wit banter if you want to check it out:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110618/CWS/706189786

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TEAM WITH LOSING RECORD THAT MADE THE BIGGEST STRIDES:

- Seattle.

In year two of the program, the Redhawks finished 22-29-1 on the season, doubling their win total from 2010. The better part was SU’s 9-6 start to the season which included wins over Washington, Notre Dame, Cal State Northridge and even Oregon State. The ‘Hawks ran out of gas, going 8-14-1 from Tax Day onward. But they also won a game at Dallas Baptist as well. Nice.

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LOSING TEAM I REALLY THOUGHT WAS GOING TO BE A WINNING TEAM:

- Rutgers.

After seeing the Scarlet Knights on Saturday night of the opening weekend take a 6-5 win in 10 innings at Mark Light Stadium against Miami, I figured RU was ready for big things this season. But things never materialized for the Knights this year and they crumbled to a 20-30 record and 10th place finish in the Big East.

Rutgers fell hard after an impressive opening weekend vs. Miami. Of course, it didn't help that All American SS Steve Nyisztor and 2B Dan Perrine played in just 12 and 22 games respectively due to injuries.

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UNDER-THE-RADAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR:

- Jason Krizan, OF, Dallas Baptist

Quietly, yet amazingly, the Patriot senior hit a blistering .413 and had an on-base percentage of .498 this season, thanks to 42 walks. Krizan also smacked 39 doubles on the season, setting a new NCAA high-water mark.

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BEST OFF-THE-RECORD COACHES COMMENT I CAN ACTUALLY PRINT:

- Tracy Smith, head coach, Indiana

While standing just outside the third base coaches box at a game with Iowa, an older Hawkeye fan heckled coach Smith, yelling, “Get back in the box, coach!”

Coach Smith retorted just loud enough for his dugout (and myself) to hear, “Oh yeah, well they’re going to be burying you in a box soon old lady.”

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BEST BET I WON.

In one of the comments I got from a reader named “Leenya” was that “I bet you a cheeseburger and a Coke that you missed Maryland by a hundred spots” after placing the Terrapins at No. 171 in my preseason Top 300.

Well Leenya, the Terps finished No. 121 in the RPI and an even closer No. 151 in the ISR. So I tell you what, instead of a cheeseburger and a Coke, let’s make it a New York Strip steak and a Woodford Reserve on the rocks. Zat cool with you Paco?

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BEST EMAIL I RECEIVED.

- The Gamecock explanation.

As just about any college baseball writer will tell you, South Carolina fans are normally an angry lot and don’t seem to have much appreciation for writers. However, contrary to that point, I got an Email from a South Carolina fan right before the CWS that read like so…

“As for the South Carolina fans, being born (Columbia) and raised there, us USC (east) fans can be a tad sensitive at times. Probably somewhat of an inferiority complex developed from other sports. Namely having to live with Clemson football fans and most people in the rest of the country thinking North when someone says “Carolina.” Don’t think it is a case of SC fans not liking your work but more of them wanting respect and not really knowing how those who have it are supposed to act.”