The Past Decade: Revealed

[Brian Piccolo]

1-4 in our last 2 appearances isn't good, no matter how you slice it or try to justify it.

Since you like to toss around words like unreasonable and delusional...if you can't at least agree to that previous sentence, then you're either one or both of unreasonable/delusional.

I agree 1-4 is not a good record.

I don't agree with anything else you've said.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

FYI I said the same thing but apparently in his mind it takes longer than 2-3 innings to learn that the strike zone is 4 inches off the plate on both sides

A team plays a certain way for 62 games and you think that hand eye coordination is something that can easily be adjusted in 2-3 innings.

But I'm the one who's lost here?

 

[Brian Piccolo]

At Miami, losing the past 2 years at Omaha the way we have lost is not acceptable.

I love the 'not acceptable' part of it.

As if you're defending some standard that was defiled.

That was the first time we had ever gone 0-2 in Omaha under Jim Morris.

I know, I know. This disgrace is not acceptable.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

1-4 is not "anything can happen".

This is why I can't take any of you seriously.

A team plays 131 games.

They can go 1-4 in any 5 of those games. Doesn't matter how good they are.

But you guys act like it's impossible and it must be rationalized in some way.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

For a team of our caliber who was a national seed both years, 1-4 is a disturbing (albeit small scale) trend, especially when compared to our success the 50+ games before that.

Not if you've ever watched baseball or are a rational sports fan.

 

[BWCD]

At Miami, losing the past 2 years at Omaha the way we have lost is not acceptable.

I love the 'not acceptable' part of it.

As if you're defending some standard that was defiled.

That was the first time we had ever gone 0-2 in Omaha under Jim Morris.

I know, I know. This disgrace is not acceptable.

What, you were happy with 0-2? You have NOTHING critical to say at all??? It was all out of Morris's control, and the other guys were just better teams than our #3 national seed that day?

And it doesn't matter anyway, because it was "just a baseball game"?

Disingenuous doesn't begin to define you as a poster.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

.I'd like to win more than 1 game when we do.

So would everybody else!

But get over yourself. Your wishes are irrelevant. This is why I say you guys are emotional and irrational. The fact that we lost seems to have personally injured and offended you.

 

[BWCD]

1-4 is not "anything can happen".

This is why I can't take any of you seriously.

A team plays 131 games.

They can go 1-4 in any 5 of those games. Doesn't matter how good they are.

But you guys act like it's impossible and it must be rationalized in some way.

Again with the standardizing of the games...

Omaha doesn't matter. Piccolo said so. Go home, park's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

 

[BWCD]

.I'd like to win more than 1 game when we do.

So would everybody else!

But get over yourself. Your wishes are irrelevant. This is why I say you guys are emotional and irrational. The fact that we lost seems to have personally injured and offended you.

It doesn't injure me personally. I think it sucks as a fan who was rooting for our team that we've rooted for all year to *gasp* win against all of these odds of it being "just another baseball game". Imagine that.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

Problem is - the double elimination tournament is what we're paying Morris the big bucks for.

And he's won as much or more than any active coach in the game.

 

[BWCD]

1-4 is not "anything can happen".

This is why I can't take any of you seriously.

A team plays 131 games.

They can go 1-4 in any 5 of those games. Doesn't matter how good they are.

But you guys act like it's impossible and it must be rationalized in some way.

No--we act like 1-4 in Omaha isn't exactly ideal. That's not irrational. Thinking contrary to that (as you do) is irrational.

 

[BWCD]

Problem is - the double elimination tournament is what we're paying Morris the big bucks for.

And he's won as much or more than any active coach in the game.

And he's went 1-4 in his last 2 trips where we were one of 8 teams with a chance to play for the National Title.

But, Omaha doesn't matter.

 

[BWCD]

1-4 in our last 2 appearances isn't good, no matter how you slice it or try to justify it.

Since you like to toss around words like unreasonable and delusional...if you can't at least agree to that previous sentence, then you're either one or both of unreasonable/delusional.

I agree 1-4 is not a good record.

Especially when it's in Omaha, and we're one of 8 teams playing for a national title.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

Your comment makes it sound like the "long regular season" is better to have success in than the "double elimination tournament"...never mind that the tournament is for the National Freaking Title.

No you're just not very good at comprehension.

I'm giving you reasons why the results in a 55 game regular season are different than those in a 2 games sample size. I'm saying that the regular season is a better judge of actual ability and the CWS is a crap-shoot.

Of course we're going to try to win it every season. But at least understand what the deal is.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

So, again - the question is, why does it work during the regular season and regionals/supers, but not in Omaha?

Small sample size where one bad inning can put you in the loser's bracket.

Randomness.

Bad luck.

All those things kill you in a double elimination format.

 

[BWCD]

Let me ask you this - what if we got to Omaha for the next 10 years, and we had an average record of say 1-2 in those 10 years. Is that a successful tenure?

Those seasons would be a success, yes. Of course 1-2 is a losing record. But I wouldn't just the entire season a failure because we didn't get any breaks or we pitched poorly in a couple of games, etc.

I never said the whole seasons would be failures. I asked about a tenure. Keep going to Omaha and come up short? You're known as one of the 8 best teams every year, but never THE best. I'm sorry, but that existence would SUCK.

We went to Omaha 5 straight years from 1994-98. We went 9-9. We then went 8-0 in our next 8.

Keep getting there and if you're good enough you'll probably break through.

I will agree to that. However, I'm not sure we had a 1-4 streak in any of those 2 years from 94-98, so it doesn't really compare well.

 

[BWCD]

However, shrugging your shoulders and mentioning luck when our results aren't good in Omaha isn't a rational, well-thought out argument. It's a copout - simple as that.

No. It's not. I have no control over the outcome.

Never implied you or anyone else on this board did. That's why the criticism (if any) goes to Morris. It's his ship to captain. It comes with the title of Manager.

I'm pretty certain we're better than both teams we lost to in Omaha. I can pretty well reason why we lost. Once that's resolved what else should I do? Whine about it?

No - and I'm not whining. I think analyzing it and discussing it is fine. You, apparently, do not.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

Woah!!! Now wait a minute, you said "No, of course not" earlier when I asked if you were comparing Omaha games to an regular season opening weekend series like Rutgers.

I'm surprised that people like you get through the day without injuring yourself.

I said one is more important (because it helps determine the champion) but they're both just baseball games.

The same rules apply. The same random results can occur.

 

[Brian Piccolo]

Again - you're lumping them all together like the ones at Omaha don't matter more (they simply do). 3.8% sounds small when that 3.8% is the difference in winning a National Title or not.

I'm sorry but you're just stupid.

One is more important because it's a postseason game but it's still just a baseball game. It operates under the same laws as any of other baseball game. So why would an 80% team only win 20% of that subset of games?

Because of sample size and randomness.

 

[BWCD]

Your comment makes it sound like the "long regular season" is better to have success in than the "double elimination tournament"...never mind that the tournament is for the National Freaking Title.

No you're just not very good at comprehension.

I'm giving you reasons why the results in a 55 game regular season are different than those in a 2 games sample size. I'm saying that the regular season is a better judge of actual ability and the CWS is a crap-shoot.

Of course we're going to try to win it every season. But at least understand what the deal is.

You confuse me with someone who ****es on our regular season success. I'm fine with that. I celebrate it. I'm happy that we won 50 games. I understand fully that it is a great accomplishment. You also confuse me with someone who wants Morris fired. I'm done and over that bridge...2 more years and he's gone regardless...so it doesn't matter.

Where you and I part ways is when you want to excuse away the lack of success in Omaha to randomness and/or bad luck. We laid an egg in Omaha 2 straight seasons now. There has to be a better reason than randomness/bad luck. Otherwise, our program is, according to that logic, always at the behest of randomness/bad luck. We are too good of a program for that to be the case - so I reject that theory outright.