Saturday, June 19, 2004

The North / South advantage

Do southern schools have an advantage because of weather in beesball? Probably. Is it fair that the seasons start earlier in the South? I have an answer - to all the best players - come South - we'll let you start early here. Story here.

Coach Hall has his own opinion about the possibility of extending the season into the summer academic schedule:

Todd would like college baseball to mirror Major League Baseball’s April schedule and run through the summer, arguing schools already pay for football and basketball players to stay on campus all summer out of season.

“That’s the only way I would vote for it," Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall said. “Change our guys’ academic calendar to where they go to school winter semester and during the summer, and let’s start the season April 1. If they want to increase graduation rates, then our guys just go to school year-round and they’ll probably graduate early."

No one realistically thinks that would happen. But Todd’s opinion is clear: Warm-weather schools have a decided advantage every year by getting on the field earlier and playing more home games.