Area Code Games- The Week Gets Longer

As the Area Code Games drag on, we’re starting to see more road-weary, tired bodies. A point of discussion among the players is how this is whole summer has been a grind and they’re starting to feel some fatigue in both their bodies and their psyche.
Then again, these dudes are freakin’ teenagers. They can suck [...]

More Area Code Magic

Day two of the Area Code Games got me thinking about the amount of talent that we saw on the field today. I mean, in a big-picture kind of way.

Some great young players have graced Blair Field these last few days. The kind of talent that makes coaches and scouts do that proverbial salivating thing and could also really infuse our college game with some high-quality baseball over the next few years. I could totally see some of these guys lifting national championship trophies and National Player of the Year plaques in the years to come.

Notice how the scout section of Blair Field is so chock-full? Yep, there's a lot of attention being paid to these soon-to-be senior high schoolers.

Area Code Games – Cool

Welcome to the 60s people. And I mean temperature, not time.

While a good portion of the country cooks and broils in triple-digit heat, I couldn’t help but think as I drove up to Blair Field today about how much of a treat it had to be for the players that would be lining up to take the field in today’s first game of the 25th annual Area Code Games. For the first game today there were overcast skies and my car’s temperature reading said it was 63 degrees.

Long Beach State's Blair Field was the site once again for the Area Code Games. Players and fans were welcomed to the park with comfy temps and clearing skies.

So yes, not only are these talented baseballers lucky to be selected to take part in this prestigious high school All Star event, but thanks to Long Beach’s near-perfect weather, they also played in the most comfortable conditions possible.

A Summer’s Tale

Decided to get the ole motion camera out and tell the tale about one of my favorite stories from the dark ages of college baseball: Maine’s home weekends where they’d bring a team in from far flung locales and treat them to the best weekend of the season. This is the story from the last of those great, lost weekends in the Northeast back in 1993.

A Review of Death to the BCS.

Welcome to our summer book series… know this: Dan Wetzel is a hero of mine.

And no, not just because he wrote the logical book “Death to the BCS” along with the help of Josh Peter and Jeff Pazzan.

Back when I was covering college football for CSTV, I sat next to the Yahoo Sports writer at the 2006 West Virginia-Louisville game. Later that night, not realizing I had parked in a gated parking lot that was locked-up 90 minutes after the game ended, Dan was nice enough to give me a lift to my hotel.

Turns out, Wetzel is not only a good samaritan but also a great college football writer. And a soldier in the cause for getting rid of the ridiculous Bowl Championship Series that has ruined college football for 13 years now.

The MVP Tournament – Day Three

Once again, it’s obvious that Northern baseball can’t compete with the sun belters out there.

Okay, I’m kidding. We know that’s a myth, especially in the warmer months. But the title game of the MVP Tournament in Decatur, Georgia DID turn out to be a white-knuckle, extra-inning affair that saw the Texas-based Astros-Rangers team overcome a furious last-inning rally to tie the game and eventually take down the Chicago All Stars with a 7-6 jog-off win.

The Texas-based Astros-Rangers: The MVP Tournament Champions for 2011.

So the third and final day of the MVP Tournament came to an end with the Astros-Rangers team from Texas taking home the hardware.

The MVP Tournament – Day Two

Ali vs. Frazier.

LeBron vs. Kobe.

USA vs. the Russians.

Snookie vs. Jwoww.

Name your favorite epic rivalry, they all pale in comparison to the showdown of unbeatens that face off for the championship of the MVP Tournament here in Decatur on Saturday.

Yes, it’s THAT big.

Chicago's Joba Farrell continued the hot pitching performances in the MVP Tournament.

The MVP Tournament – Day One

As I tweeted about earlier today, when Ruffin Bell tells you to do something, you bloody-well better do it. The imposing brain-trust behind BlackCollegeBaseball.com, and former fleet-footed footballer, was kind enough to give me the assignment of covering the MVP Showcase for inner city high school baseballers in Decatur, Georgia this week. So I gladly left the left coast, hopped a plane and made it here to the Peach City for this showcase event.

Great action at the MVP Tournament in Decatur, Georgia. Here, Garrett Brooks of the Virginia Upton team slides in under the tag of Virgin Islands' pitcher Joshua Torres.

In case you’re wondering, the acronym “MVP” stands for Mentoring Viable Prospects. This is the eighth year of the wood bat tournament and is quickly becoming a very important showcase for urban baseball players who might not otherwise get this kind of exposure in front of scouts and college recruiters. Here’s a rundown of the games and some extras on players, coaches and notes too.

Now For My Look Back at 2011.

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.

Thoughts From Around the Country On the 2011 Season

The 2011 season was a rollercoaster ride of highs, lows and wild turns around dead man’s curve. Dare I say, it had more wild variations than any other season in recent memory. New bats, new rules, new styles of play, new stadiums, new everything. So I figured it would interesting to get the thoughts of the national baseball media members from around the country and what they felt about this season. Giving the limited number of outlets there are for our sport, I’m proud to say that nearly every one of the writers I approached happily filled this out for our reading enjoyment. (Big time thanks to the dudes who responded. Really cool of you.) So let’s check out what they had to say.

Most national writers thought Georgia's Johnathan Taylor was part of both the best and worst stories of the 2011 season.