Spoiled

I was in college in the spring of 1983 and I dropped by the ballpark at The University of Texas at Austin to see my first Longhorn baseball game. I had started listening to games on the radio and their history had perked my interest.

Texas was playing a Southwest Conference game against TCU. It was the seventh inning and I noticed on the scoreboard that TCU didn't have a hit. Then, the Texas pitcher went into his windup and delivered the ball. There was a loud ping sound. The Texas outfielder backed up and went to the wall and the ball just cleared the fence for a home run. The Texas pitcher (Calvin Schiraldi) let out a yell and whipped his glove down on the mound. At the time, I was like bummer, but hey, we got a ways to go here dude. Well, Texas came up in the bottom of the 7th and went in order and to my surprise the game was over. You see in those days, the first game of a double header was a scheduled 7 inning affair. Being new to Texas baseball, I did not know this. So, Texas lost the game 1-0 on a 1 hitter by Schiraldi.

I went to other games that spring, Then I went home to Chicago for the summer. I followed the team in the Chicago Tribune's box scores in the back of the sports section. I went over to my friend Chris Kennedy's house every morning to look at his newspaper. Texas had made it to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska and were playing for the championship. In those days, without ESPN, the only way to find out if they won in real time was to call a Sports Information phone number. Anyway, I remember calling and hearing that the score was Texas 2 Alabama 2 in the 7th inning. A guy by the name of Roger Clemens was on the mound for Texas.

Later that night, I called again and was informed that Texas had indeed won 4-3. They had won the National Championship. I was excited and proud and had absolutely nobody to celebrate with because I was in Chicago.

So that was the beginning of my obsession with Texas Baseball. The next season, Texas lost the National Championship game to Augie Girrido's Cal State Fullerton team 3-1. Ironically, Augie is the current Texas head coach and has led Texas to 2 National Championships. And the season after that, Texas lost the National Championship to the Miami Hurricane's 10-6. It was quite a run of excellence.

And now you now why I expect so much from my Longhorns. At the time I thought they would play for the National Championship every year. Could you blame me?

Texas lost the National Championship to the Wichita State Shockers in 1989 and then struggled to be competitive until Huston Street grew up and won the National Championship for Texas in 2002. Texas was runner up to Cal State Fullerton in 2004 and won it all the next season in 2005 when they beat Florida for their 6th National Championship (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002, & 2005). Texas was runner up AGAIN last season to LSU.

That brings us to this past weekend. Texas was playing in what is called a Super Regional down in Austin. They had lost the first game of a best of 3 series to TCU 3-1. Then, Texas bounced back with a 14-1 victory to even the series. But yesterday, Texas lost to TCU 4-1 ending their season. Texas will not be going to Omaha and the College World Series this year. For TCU, it will be their 1st trip to Omaha and the College World Series. They earned it and they deserve to be in Omaha. They beat Texas and they made school history.

As for Texas and me, we'll be back. History is on our side. Funny thing is that I had just finished celebrating the Stanley Cup Championship with the Chicago Blackhawks, which took a lifetime to achieve. Sports most times is a way to mark time, which inevitably keeps ticking by. Enjoy the highs and remember them because championships don't come along every day and when you win one, it is as much for the here and now as it is for all the times you came up short.