Back by unpopular demand

It's time for me to announce my intentions:

After a two-week trip to Hawaii to partake in contract negotiations to become a professional surfer, I have decided to stay in Clemson for another year and remain with Tigerillustrated.

Eh, that's about as far as I can take that bit.

Been a while, huh? A little more than two weeks, and it seems like two months given that I've seemingly forgotten how to write and type (not either task was performed exceptionally before).

Hawaii is a wonderful, magical, spectacular place, but it's great to be home. Internet access was painfully limited where we were staying -- well, maybe "painfully" is a bit of a stretch -- so the visits to TI were infrequent. But I did manage to hop on every few days and check out the goings-on.

So, what did I miss?

-- Guessing the Deja Vu, Part 2 in Omaha is still too painful to see regurgitated or even mentioned. But a few thoughts:

1) Does the agony of losing like that again to South Carolina equate to the agony that comes from a football loss to the Gamecocks? I'd say so, given the unique circumstances.

2) What's up with the Tigers' bats going cold in Omaha? Four years ago, a complete-game, three-hitter by North Carolina's Robert Woodard put Clemson in the losers' bracket after a 2-0 loss to the Tar Heels. This time, the Tigers lost Game 1 to the Gamecocks on a complete-game, three-hitter -- and made a supposed scrub (Michael Roth) look like Greg Maddux in the process. The Tigers didn't look excessively tight in all the dugout camera shots provided by ESPN, but their timid plate presence in the last two games has to give some fodder to the crowd that thinks this team gets too tense when the stakes are highest.

3) Were there seriously Clemson fans here who were pulling for South Carolina to beat UCLA because of state pride, or because of whatever? To each his own, I guess. But it doesn't make any sense at all to me. A hated in-state rival winning a national title significantly enhances the stature of said in-state rival on multiple levels, and I can't see how a Clemson fan in his right mind could favor a result that makes life more difficult for Clemson. But maybe that's just me.

4) Kudos to Jack Leggett and the Tigers for a successful season. They reached Omaha just a few weeks after no one (excepting maybe themselves) thought it possible. Omaha is the standard of success for this program, not merely Super Regionals. The bar had seemingly been lowered in recent years, but now it's back where it should be. And Leggett pushed a lot of the right buttons to help get it there.

-- The Tigers' trip to Omaha, and their extended stay there, meant I didn't have to worry about excessively working the phones while on the other side of the planet. And that was a good thing.

Now that the season is over, and now that Kyle Parker and his family are in Denver negotiating with the Colorado Rockies, I'd imagine things are heating up quickly.

About three weeks ago, Parker's father said June 30th was an important deadline because that's when Summer 2 courses began. That day (Wednesday) has passed, and even though the unexpected trip to Omaha prolonged things, I'd expect this to get wrapped up rather quickly. And I'd still be very surprised if KP played football this fall, for what it's worth.

-- Damon Evans ... wow. Hard to see how the guy keeps his job after this. Rumors about his personal life had been swirling for quite some time before his DUI arrest (and apparent extra-marital tryst). And Michael Adams hasn't known to cast lenient decisions from his ivory tower when high-profile folks at Georgia have made his exalted university look bad (see Harrick, Jim).

Hey, at least Evans came clean and appeared genuine in his apologies.

Speaking of coming clean, the professional surfing thing was a -- gasp! -- joke.

Gave it a try in Hawaii, thinking that I did some in high school and it'd be like riding a bike.

Not so much.


Hope everyone is doing well. Glad to be back, and happy 4th of July.

Maybe by Monday I'll have remembered how to link.

LW

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