Beesball: The Diamond Season

The Jackets' season is over. The stadium lights go out on yet another "diamond" season, and yet deep down we know all diamonds are flawed. It was a series that truly ended on a hanging breaking ball in the 9th inning of game one. The rest was formality. A 13-3 romp by Tennessee brings yet another season to a seeminly premature ending. Heads are scratching, "I told you so's" are being spewed and frustration sets in. You know, my first instinct is to talk about the frustration of not reaching Omaha yet again, of getting swept in the super-regional yet again, after being the #2 national seed...... and beaten by an SEC team again....... My first instinct is to talk about the fact that the Jackets are the first #2 seed since the new format was established NOT to reach Omaha. To talk about the fact that the home team in the super-regionals win about 80% of the time, yet the Jackets account for 25-30% of all the NCAA super-regional losses since the new format began........Whoops, I guess I went with my instincts and did focus on the negative............. But enough of that.


You know, the truth is that this is a team that overacheived. This is a team that lost 10 players to the draft last season and another star to a transfer. This is a team that was picked to finish 3rd in the ACC, yet managed to win both the regular season title and conference title, leaving no doubt about who was champion. You are frustrated. I am frustrated. But nobody is more frustrated than those players and those coaches. Nobody could be more frustrated than the kids who see this sport as their future, as their dream. So, they didn't make it to the grandest stage of the season, but they acheived much, and should hold their heads up high.


Something else begins today. Texas A&M will initiate contact with Coach Danny Hall about their vacant coaching spot. They want either him or Ray Tanner over at S.Carolina..........How will Jacket fans take this? Well, the vast majority would be unhappy to see Hall go. We know the difficulties in recruiting and attracting top athletes, yet Coach Hall has managed to do just that. He has taken a winning tradition and carried it to a new level. He carries our only two trips to Omaha on his resume. He's good for this program.


So another diamond season comes to a close. Funny thing with diamonds. We know they're flawed and yet we admire them and call them precious gems. But that's what is compelling about sports - nothing can be taken for granted; nothing is a given. That's why when great things do happen, we get so excited. This was a season to celebrate, to hold up, to shine. Let's not focus on the flaw. Congratulations to the 2005 Georgia Tech YellowJacket baseball team. You should hold your heads high.......... The seasons will change, a new season will begin next spring and the diamond will seem to sparkle even brighter once again. Until that time, just be happy for a group of kids who played their hearts out, only to have them ripped out.


TENN 13, GT 3


SUPERFLOP AGAIN
Did you know this matched Tech's 2nd worst loss in history. Wow.


VOLS END JACKETS' SEASON


QUOTES


JACKETS SWEPT AWAY


GAME 1: JACKETS GET NO RELIEF


GAME 1: WIETERS MAKES RARE MISTAKE


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HALL READY TO TALK TO TEXAS A&M