Second Thoughts: College World Series one of America’s sporting jewels

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads, and here’s hoping your air conditioning doesn’t conk out. It won’t take long to finish those steaks on the grill today. Might not even need to light the charcoal.

Jill and I were talking about bucket lists last week and decided that the College World Series needs to be included on our roster of sports destinations. (Our non-sports list includes dinner at Treasure Island.) The CWS is a big-time event that has an amateur feel to it. My dad used to go every year and always had great stories to tell. Such as the time a high-roller from Texas bought an entire flat of hot dogs and threw them to the crowd.

I’m always a sucker for the underdog so I’m cheering for Mississippi State. I respect how the Bulldogs fans invaded Nashville for their super regional against Vanderbilt. What a great three-game series. I suspect many of those fans will find their way to Omaha.

Speaking of college baseball, the Lubbock Super Regional finished up Monday with Texas Tech eliminating Duke, which apparently didn't have enough players with one-and-done talent. Everyone took ice baths afterward. The temperature at game time was 97 degrees … and the temp on the plastic turf was 155. Perhaps that's why most schools in the South go with grass fields.

Browns defensive end Myles Garrett ripped Kevin Durant for taking the easy way out and signing with Golden State two years ago. The Warriors have won two straight NBA titles with Durant and show no signs of letting up. Of course, Garrett's spot-on critique qualifies as Big News this time of year. Durant's decision created a competitive imbalance that hurts what is one of the hottest sports leagues on the planet.

The World Cup has kicked off. I'll probably check out a game or two, just to see if anyone scores a goal. Love the passion of this event, but I'm more interested in the hooligans than a Lionel Messi bicycle kick. And here's hoping Iceland gets hot and makes a deep run so we can all join them in that sweet Viking war chant.

The U.S. Open is so fun to watch. Shinnecock Hills is a brutal test of golf and it's great to see the world's best players humbled. Where else can you see a 252-yard par 3? Don't think you get that at Community. And I don't think Tiger Woods is going to win a major (or anything else) anytime soon.

Good call by the NCAA to allow college football players to participate in up to four games without losing a redshirt year. This will keep freshmen who aren't playing engaged all season, knowing that they could be called upon at any time. It'll especially come in handy during bowl season if the trend of NFL-bound players skipping the games continues.

Trending up: Ty Koehn, Reggie Bush, Kevin Brown. Koehn, a pitcher for Mounds View High School in Minnesota, struck out his friend Jack Kocon to finish off a state tournament baseball victory last week. Instead of joining the celebration, Koehn consoled his friend at home plate, giving him a long hug. It was a touching bit of sportsmanship that went viral (and was more deserving than that Minnesota raccoon).

Trending down: Miguel Cabrera, Sergio Garcia, Shohei Ohtani. Cabrera, 35, has been extremely durable during his decorated career. But the Detroit Tigers slugger, who someday will be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, is sidelined after rupturing a biceps. That sounds extremely painful and, of course, he had surgery. Cabrera has a .316 career batting average and 2,676 hits. Here's hoping for a quick recovery.


Knucklehead of the Week

Marcus Walker is another ex-college scholarship athlete who didn’t know how good he had it. Walker was kicked off the Kentucky football team last month; last week we found out why Walker was booted. He was arrested at 4:40 a.m. on May 24 by Lexington police and is facing drug trafficking charges. Police responded to a disturbance at Walker’s townhome and found more than $95,000 in cash belonging to Walker. They also found a bunch of cocaine, five pounds of marijuana, digital scales and an AR-15 rifle. Walker, a defensive back, played in 12 games for the Wildcats last season.

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