Lake Elsinore

Here's this weekend's schedule for the Lake Elsinore regional, in which our baseball Hoos were seeded #3.

FRIDAY

Game 1 -- No. 2 seed USC vs. No. 3 seed Virginia, 6 p.m.


Game 2 -- No. 1 seed UCSB vs. No. 4 seed San Diego State, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

Game 3 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6 p.m.


Game 4 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY

Game 5 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 6 p.m.


Game 6 -- Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 10 p.m.

MONDAY (if necessary)

Game 7 -- Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 9 p.m.

Lake Elsinore is 3.5 hours from UC Santa Barbara, but only an hour and fifteen minutes from USC and one hour from San Diego State. I think the "host" really got screwed on this one.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of fan support USC and SDSU enjoy, but the Trojans drew an average crowd of 1,202 for its last home series (vs. Arizona State), while the Aztecs drew an average 304 for its last home series (vs. St. Mary's). For gits and shiggles, I looked up UCSB's average attendance for its last home series (vs. UC Irvine), and it was 783. (For comparison, Virginia drew an average of 4,078 for its series against Duke -- more than all of these other shitbag fanbases combined.)

The Diamond at Lake Elsinore "can accommodate 8,000+ fans for baseball with 6,066 fixed seats, 11 luxury suites, and a grass berm down the right field line."

Bottom line, I think we're going to be playing baseball in a more than half-empty stadium (which is being generous -- it'll be lucky to have more than 2,500 people in there), with no really big faction of partisan fans. I think it'll end up playing like a neutral site.

Our Hoos respond to playing in front of hostile crowds (23-12 road/neutral vs. 11-10 home), but I think it has to be considered a good thing that we're not going into a den of frenzied opposing fans like we would have in, say, Baton Rouge, Nashville, or Fort Worth. Or heck, even in Bakersfield, Springfield, College Station, or Fullerton.

In terms of regional draws, it kinda sucks that we got shipped out West, and it sucks that we'd potentially advance to face the overall #1 seed UCLA in Los Angeles... but landing in Lake Elsinore looks like a pretty good deal, all things considered.  Now we just have to figure out who's going to pitch.

Bring on USC!

GO HOOS!

Writer's Block...

...it'll pass.

My Thoughts on the 1st Round of the NFL Draft...

-- If I'm a Titans fan this morning, I'm equally thrilled and terrified.

-- The ghost of Al Davis made that Amari Cooper pick.  Gotta love that.

-- The Redskins drafted an offensive guard at #5 overall.  I think Scherff will be a good player, and I dig the idea of "getting back to being the Hogs," but dude is an interior offensive lineman, and it's not appropriate to draft that so high in the 1st round.  Leonard Williams is the pick the Skins should have made.  I think that regret is going to haunt the franchise a little bit.

-- Meanwhile, WTF are the Jets doing?  I get BPA drafting, and I endorse it totally.  I get building on strengths, and I endorse it totally.  But if there's one thing that team didn't need, it's d-line.  Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson are studs.  Why splash the pool?  (It's not like the Vikes drafting Randy Moss when they already had Cris Carter and Jake Reed.)

-- Kevin White in Chicago... bust.  Sorry.  I'm just skittish about West Virginia receivers, and also about guys who took the indirect route to college success.  To me, this is Cordarrelle Patterson 2.0, and if I'm a Bears fan, I'm a little bit nervous today.

-- Ereck Flowers was a big-time reach.  I feel like the Giants panicked when Scherff went off the board, and made a bad pick while they were on tilt.  Hey, it happens.

-- Gurley to the Rams at #10.  Can't decide if I like it or hate it.  Probably a little bit of both.  Value picks like this are hard when your roster is pockmarked with specific, damning needs elsewhere.  But I do think Gurley is going to be a great NFL player, and I like the idea of Jeff Fisher getting his next Eddie George.

-- I hate the Browns, so I hate seeing them make good draft picks... like they did with Danny Shelton at #12.  I love that big motherfucker, but now I have to hate him.

-- Andrus Peat is pillow-soft and a really good bet to be a 1st round bust for the Saints.  That being said, I do think he's a good fit with Sean Payton's system, so maybe it'll work out.  Peat has talent.

-- DeVante Parker to the Fins at #14.  Steal.  Big-time steal.

-- I kinda think the Chargers should have just calmed down and waited on the running back position.  A banger like Jay Ajayi, T.J. Yeldon, David Cobb, or Matt Jones in the middle rounds would have made more sense.  I'm not a huge Melvin Gordon fan, especially not in the top half of the 1st round, and especially not when you're trading up to get him.

-- Arik Armstead: colossal bust for the 49ers.  Book it.

-- Nelson Agholor is one of my favorite players in this draft.  I think the Iggles made a really good pick there.  The Jeremy Maclin parallels are good, but Agholor is also a special teams maven.

-- I'm happy with my Bengals pick of Cedric Ogbuehi.  I feel like it puts a check mark in the one big box we needed checked, and now we're free to attack the rest of the draft with a little bit of creativity.  Ogbuehi isn't a sexy or exciting pick, but the value is good.  (I'm fine with the pick, but would have preferred Malcom Brown.)

-- Bud Dupree to Pittsburgh... fantastic fit for them.  I'm also delighted to see them continue to neglect that gawd-awful secondary.

-- Shaq Thompson was a horrible reach for the Panthers.  Horrible.  He'll be a good, interesting, versatile player, but Carolina had big needs elsewhere.  This was a luxury pick when making a luxury pick was inappropriate.  They are going to get Cam Newton killed.

-- Breshad Perriman to the Ratbirds made me chortle.  Let Torrey Smith walk, then burn your 1st rounder to draft his clone... but with even worse hands.  Ozzie Newsome, it turns out, does not actually walk on water.

-- We now live in a world where an offensive guard from Duke is a 1st round NFL draft pick.  I don't even know how to begin processing that one.  Congrats, Lions.  You malfunctioned my computerbrain.

-- The Colts must have a plan to play with three footballs in 2015.  Phillip Dorsett... why?  T.Y. Hilton insurance?  I think Indy got too cute.

-- OF COURSE Malcom Brown slid to the Patriots at #32.  Of course he did.  Sheesh.

-- I'm glad Eli Harold wasn't a 1st rounder.  I don't think he's ready to live up to the pressure of being a 1st round draft pick, nor do I think his abilities warranted a top-32 pick.  I look forward to seeing him drafted tonight.  Anthony Harris, as well.