The Underrated Championship Series

One of the most underrated sporting events in America is the College World Series in Omaha.  Why do we make such a big deal about the NCAA basketball tournament and the BCS football games but forget about the third great sports championship in men’s college athletics?  Watching college baseball is a lot of fun and no matter who wins it is usually a close, entertaining game. 

So why doesn’t America go crazy for college baseball the same way we do for the other two sports?  There are several reasons. 

First, there is hardly ever any college baseball featured on television during the season and nobody can watch the action until the playoff tournaments start.  It’s very hard to understand why ESPN shows things like bass fishing, cheerleading, and chess; yes I said chess, on TV but not college baseball.  I’m sure that they could get higher ratings by putting some afternoon college baseball on, but its lack of exposure leads to a lack of interest.

With a lack of exposure and interest comes the primary reason that we don’t watch college baseball: most people don’t gamble on it.  Leading up to any huge football or basketball game there are features about the teams, coaches, and players on ESPN and all the other sports networks.  However, since baseball doesn’t get much run people don’t know enough about it to bet one team or another and people are much more likely to watch sporting events that they bet on.  Putting a few bucks on a game makes it more interesting and encourages continued viewer ship.  Sure you can bet on a game, but why would you bet on something that you don’t follow and don’t know much about.  It’s like rolling the roulette wheel and seeing what happens.

The people of Omaha aren’t going to like the next reason, but the location of the World Series hurts it.  Nebraska just simply isn’t a very attractive place to hold the event.  It’s too hot and humid there and people aren’t flocking to the stadium that don’t live there or aren’t fans of the eight teams.  Holding the event in California, Florida, or even a different Midwest city like Denver or St. Louis would help it gain more popularity and they could sell out the stadium every game.

Those are the reasons why less people are watching college baseball and its World Series, but here are some reasons why everyone should be watching it. 

It is very exciting and the games are always either a high scoring slugfest or an unbelievable pitcher’s duel.  The first two games of this year’s World Series saw the overall one seed Clemson rally from a 4-0 deficit in the eighth inning to score eight unanswered runs and win the game.  The nightcap saw the resilient North Carolina Tar Heels outlast the 2004 champs from Cal State Fullerton 7-5 in a 13-inning marathon.  The game was almost five hours long and had action from start to finish.

Another reason to watch is that these are the stars of tomorrow on display before they achieve greatness.  Many of these elite college athletes will be wearing your favorite team’s MLB jersey in a few short years and this is a chance to see what your team has in store for the future. 

The last reason to tune in for the remainder of the games is that anything can happen at any time.  With the aluminum rocket launchers that the batters hit with no lead is ever safe.  As Clemson proved in the first game, an eight run explosion is only a few hits away.  College baseball is to the MLB what Arena Football is to the NFL.  It brings an exciting, faster-paced brand of baseball to the average sports fan and more people should be watching it. 

So try it sometime in the next two weeks.  Put on the TV and watch some entertaining, exciting, and intense baseball action; you just might fall in love with the stepchild of college athletics.