it's funny you mention the diversity of the baseball team as compared to water polo. When I was at UCD diversity in certain sports was not really a thing. Seemed to me even basketball only had about 3- 4 non- white players each year. Someone in a class was complaining that the football team only had like half a dozen or so African- American players (and yes, they said discrimination was involved), but given the percentage of African- American students in the student body at the time (less than 10% I think) they were proportinately represented in numbers. Baseball had maybe 1 African- American, 2- 3 Hispanic, and one Asian- American player (UCD Baseball Hall of Famer Matt Kamigawachi)- over those 4 years. It may have been 100% white 1 or 2 of those years. Moving up to D- I has probably attracted a much more diverse group of student- athletes.

I forgot about the endowment for water polo. Good point. There was a recent article in the Davis Enterprise in which they interviewed Kevin Blue, and he said he was committed to all of the existing sports. However, the almighty dollar has more to say about that than he does. He also has yet to see exactly how much he has to work with. Back when they cut 4 sports in 2010 they were dealing with a significantly smaller budget shortfall.

I agree. I believe there is a pretty significant donor base behind equestrian. It's a new sport, but it will probably have more staying power than Boise State's baseball team, which was cancelled when it had just been reinstated after 30 years. I read an article from a Boise newspaper which said there were about a half dozen Bronco players sharing a house while playing in a summer league in Salt Lake City. They got the call a few weeks into their season, so they were all of a sudden representing a team that no longer existed. They said one of them is transferring to Cal Poly and another is probably going to a JC in California.

The upgrades to the football program are relatively new money though, so that buys football plenty of time.

I don't believe they should be postponing all fall sports until spring, just cancelling them. We're still going to be dealing with COVID- 19 in the spring + this is putting at least a couple hundred more student athletes and coaches in the city when they normally wouldn't be.

It also creates a bit of a scheduling headache, since there are a few teams that share facilities. Volleyball would need to play all its matches at Hickey Gym until basketball is done. It's my understanding that the men's + women's water polo teams' schedules usually don't overlap. Lacrosse plays its games at the football stadium, right ?

And here's the big one. Baseball and soccer can't be playing in the Dobbins Stadium complex at the same time. It's not just that foul balls can wind up on the soccer field. Fans watching the soccer game could be struck because their backs are to the game. You'd pretty much have to play weekend soccer games in the morning (like 9 or 9:30) when baseball is home playing in the afternoon. Soccer would have to play early because you can't have them waiting on the completion of an extra- inning ball game. Soccer, however, has a clock. And since the complex doesn't have lights that really limits flexibilty.

It will be interesting to see how they handle it.

Those are some pretty lame excuses for precautions. If one game didn't deter spitting, two games won't. I didn't know it was such a huge problem in college soccer. I thought it was more of an accident from tripping or hard contact on the field. What are you going to do- not spit when you get elbowed in the stomach or face ? If it's intentional maybe U.S. soccer should just be cancelled and the sport should just be left to the rest of the world. Or maybe just stick a fork in UCD men's soccer and re- balance by cancelling field hockey ? Maybe they could turn the field into a sanctuary for unicorns ?

I think that sport is kinda dumb anyhow. It's just soccer with sticks instead of kicking.

I saw that at least 1 collegiate baseball summer league- the Northwoods League- is playing right now. Most of their teams are in MN/WI/IA, but there are some in MI and ND too. Not only that (and this probably varies by team), but the Rochester (MN) Honkers team at least is allowed to even have a couple hundred paying fans in attendance. Smaller communities that aren't in COVID- 19 hot spots I guess. It's something at least.

What really is puzzling is how are they handling the housing ? The players typically stay with host families- are the families expected to take regular COVID- 19 tests as well, I wonder ? Seems like they split the league up into several regions this year, so strictly regional play before the playoffs seems like what they're doing to limit travel.

I don't know this for certain but I believe a few of the Northwoods parks were featured in the film Major Leagues:Back to the Minors. Technically the team in the film was the Salt Lake Buzz (now called the Bees), but it stands to reason those parks are in MN, considering a good portion of the film was shot at the Metrodome.

I'm watching watching the BOS/NYM game right now. They just showed Alex Verdugo walking past his teammate much closer than six feet yelling that he had a hot microphone. Neither player. had a mask on.

There's more to that story than they're telling. They said the Marlins were following the safety procedures. From the telecasts I've watched the players are playing pretty loose with the guidelines. A lot of lowered mouthpieces and people standing shoulder to shoulder. Masks don't do any good if you uncover your mouth to speak. What they should be doing is having only the 9 or 10 (with the DH) players actually in the game sitting in the dugout. The rest should be spread out in the stands with their equipment. You make a substitution- the player from the stands goes directly to the field. The player being replaced should head to the clubhouse- or leave the ballpark entirely if they drove there in their own vehicles. The players who are injured or definitely not playing that day shouldn't be there at all. No reason to come to the park.

UCD baseball (assuming it still has a team come winter quarter) can do all of this. I've said it before- there's no reason for injured players and redshirts to be in the dugout. They don't even need to be in uniform. Starting pitchers who are charting pitches on their off- days can sit in the stands. Reserves can just chill out in either the baseball or soccer stands (or even bring a chair and sit on the soccer field) until needed with one of the coaches, All these extra players in the dugout means they don't have room for a bucket of baseballs and that means someone running down the steps almost every inning to give them 3 or 4 balls and blocking people's view. I don't know why they even have redshirts fetching bats + delivering baseballs anyway. There aren't any skills learned. The regulars are not exempted from menial tasks. If they get hurt picking up a bat during a timeout it's their fault.

I think if UCD baseball does play in 2021 they might as well close the games to spectators (even parents) When you consider all the people getting free passes and bringing outside food. the ticket and concession income probably does not offset all the costs of having fans in attendance. Every penny is going to matter going forward.

How was the game experience ? That must not have been the game where the Steelheads' owner went on the field and got into a fight with former Giants' player Kevin Mitchell. An article I read said he then had a t- shirt promotion mocking Mitchell. Bush league stuff.

I remember after his senior season former Aggie catcher/outfielder Chris Stretch played in that same league briefly, and it might have been for the Steelheads. It was odd because the Western League advertised that they only wanted players with Division I or professional experience and he had neither (unless you count those non- conference mid- week games against the likes of Sac State and St. Mary's). It was probably that they urgently needed a catcher and he could play.

Anyway Stretch played very little, but his first (and maybe only- he got very little playing time so it's possible) professional hit was off of former A's pitcher Steve Ontiveros. Later that season Ontiveros signed a Triple- A contract with the Rockies, but somehow wound up with the Red Sox, with whom he returned to the majors for 3 games after he'd been away five years- at the age of 39.

Some independent league teams have rinky- dink operations but others are class acts, like the St. Paul Saints. They supposedly have a new and fancy ballpark with a baseball museum and high- end farm-to- fork options in their concession stands. Some of the affiliated teams don't do nearly so well. I was not impressed with the ballparks for the San Jose Giants and Boise Hawks. I was really put off by the Giants' experience. They were a little elitist there. I verified with one of the ushers where my seat was. Then when some of the richy- rich regulars showed up I saw that same usher point in my direction and speak to another usher, who came over and verified my ticket again, as if I couldn't possibly be of enough means to afford an $18 ticket in the section where their valued customers sat. In my opinion Excite Ballpark is one of those places you go for a different experience and then never feel much of an urge to visit again, like the entire city of Seattle. Some people love Seattle- don't see it.

USF has such a strange ballpark. I have no idea how left fielders avoid running into the scoreboard- why did they put it on the field ? I've never seen a ballpark where they have bleachers with attached chairback seats that have no stairs alongside to climb into them. And the bleachers are only along the 1st base side. The only seating on the third base side is at picnic tables where you can only sit if you're a big donor or something. Still a better experience than Excite.

I find it's helpful to watch as little live tv as possible. You are inundated with ads full of people taking trips and enjoying themselves outside, many of them taped before COVID- 19. The ads for the psoriasis drug Skyrizi are particularly annoying. None of those people are wearing masks or practicing social distancing. And then there are the ads from the companies trying to one- up each other in promoting their philanthropy/progressiveness. Just do your good work and shut up about it I say. Wishful thinking. Also those tongue- in- cheek ads where people are video- conferencing their social activities and pretending most people aren't visiting. CoVID- 19 didn't magically spread itself.

If you have DVD movies/tv shows/some service through your cable provider allowing you to skip ads that's a good way to enjoy shows without having constant reminders of what you can't do.
If you have a Goodwill store near you you can get a lot of movies very cheaply without having to deal with delivery people (though you probably want to sterilize them before use) My local Goodwill is open.

And I agree with the music. It helps to pick mellow stuff.

:grin:

Experian Boost also has a purple cow as a mascot. It would be nice if those commercials were suspended. The man is in love with a cow for Pete's sake !

Really ? Their baseball team didn't even last half a season !!! At least they didn't go ahead and build a ballpark. I feel bad for their coach though. He spent more time building the program than he did coaching it.

Cut football, basketball, and baseball. Aggie Stadium can be used for the new ultimate frisbee team. Or better yet cancel all the sports + let the homeless camp on the fields. Give them free hooch, drugs, and clean needles, but close all the restrooms. UCD can become an overflow lot for San Francisco. Ok, worst case scenario out of the way...

University of Washington has a big- time rowing program. How many schools have their own lake ? Not many.



It's not an indicator of where baseball is headed, but I don't have any leads yet on the 2021 season. Usually there are a few non- conference games displayed on the websites of opponents by now. It would seem that teams might be hesitant to schedule games involving significant travel due to COVID- 19. If they do play I wouldn't be surprised if all the non- conference games are against the likes of Sac State and UOP.

Yeah, the basketball and football teams were pretty good during Descalso's time. Unfortunately he was on the baseball team, which had losing records all 3 years he was at UCD.

To be fair UCD was just at the beginning of the transition to D- I, so some losing seasons were to be expected. The 2005 team played that first D- I schedule, and they had to do it without several big offensive contributors from the 2004 team that basically decimated the CCAA (including 4 game sweeps against Chico State, Sonoma State, and Cal State LA). Descalso was very good, but he couldn't replace Robby Tulk and Ryan Coultas' offense by himself, for example. It's relative to context though- we don't know what Tulk and Coultas would've done against a full schedule of D- I teams. However they both were drafted, so it's fair to assume they both would've been able to at least hold their own at that level. Ironically, Coultas only pitched in a couple of games (mostly a shortstop) for the Aggies, but he ended his professional playing career as a starting pitcher for the Mets' AA team in Binghamton.

Descalso's sophomore season (2006) was a mess for the team because they had so many injuries to the pitching staff. They had 1 pitcher who barely got any work at the JC the year before, and he was pressed into the weekend rotation as a result of the injuries. Tyler La Torre had to move from catcher to the mound, and he was good. Interestingly, La Torre is now Sac State's pitching coach. Phil Rasmussen came over from the basketball team and gave them some quality innings, even locking down a save. I saw Rasmussen pitch once in person. He really looked like he knew what he was doing, but he'only pitch to a couple of hitters each time. If he'd devoted his collegiate career to baseball instead I think he would've been really good. The team actually looked really good the first couple weeks before all the pitchers started dropping like flies. They beat Oregon State, the eventual national champion.

The 2007 season (after which Descalso signed with the St. Louis Cardinals) was a big improvement. They added a couple of JC starting pitchers- Trevor Fox and Jeff Reekers- who gave them some much needed pitching depth, and the offense improved. Unfortunately they had kind of a brutal non- conference schedule that ruined their record. There was that game against Northridge in which he had two homeruns, 7RBI, and three errors at third base. The Aggies neded every bit of that offense and more to beat the Matadors that day.

The idea about the more open football tournament got me thinking about the spring sports again. It's not just that they would lose practice time in the fall; it makes scheduling games a pain. Football schedules a good number of its games a year or more in advance but this is not really as true of softball and baseball. Softball has a significant number of its pre- season games locked up in tournaments. We will still be dealing with the fallout from COVID- 19 well into next year and that makes the prospect of 4- 6 teams using the same diamond and dugouts each day quite difficult. If you have a softball complex with multiple fields available you can make it work, but there's still the matter of all that travel.

Baseball often doesn't release its schedule until December, and I've come to learn that is because they often really are finalizing it that late. What a pain to have to schedule non- conference games with so much uncertainty about your season. It's not like you can just back out and have no financial commitments. It's the NCAA, not hotels.com.

Anyhow, to minimize travel and give schools more time to prepare their safety plans I wonder if perhaps non- conference games would be cancelled for 2021 (assuming the season takes place). The season starts when conference play normally begins (roughly mid- March ). You play your conference opponents and that's it. First place team from each conference goes into the NCAA playoff field, then you have true regionals (no CA teams playing in VA or TN in the first round). Of course this would hurt UCD's record quite a bit, but they could pick up surprise wins against teams just as under- prepared as they.

I don't know- I don't really care for the games with no spectators idea. That's fine for sports like tennis or golf that can be pretty dull to watch anyway, but the main point of sports is showcasing the amazing things highly- trained athletes can do that most people can't. Take away the spectators and what's the point ? Watching on TV is definitely a poor substitute. For the most part I don't care much about UCD football + basketball, but that's because I rarely go. I care plenty when I actually do attend. However, I do understand they have to go through these baby steps first. It's just quite frustrating.

Thanks for making my case for me lol. Getting your generation ridiculed is a rite of passage. Everyone goes through it. To tell the truth just about every generation is worse than the one that preceded it in some ways. We all grow up thinking our elders are backwards. Then there's that one day when you wake up and realize they were right. Someday that will happen to you. Hopefully that will be before you run your rented e- scooter into a pole because you were busy texting about the location of the next "Every Caucasian Man Over 30 is a Bigot" club meeting.

I realize this is a lot of words for the average younger person. Unfortunately this site doesn't offer enough types of emoji for me to translate this into millennial- speak.

Have a nice day.

Did you use that California Aggie article link I provided ? If so, I finally contribured something useful lol.

Thinking of this like a pie if you eliminate the 57% then the 43% that wasn't student fees becomes 100% of the budget, and that amount will be shrinking significantly due to no ticket revenue, fewer donations, sponsorships, etc. If students are shut out for the year you may not even have enough to cover the salaries of the coaches. Now, they'll probably find a way to take care of as many of their obligations in the meantime (move money around, ask coaches to take pay cuts) as they can, but even the eventual return of the student fees doean't allow them to return to normal. The more we discuss it the more likely it seems they won't keep all their sports. I could see a bleak future in which maybe there's only football, men's + women's basketball, and however many women's sports it takes to meet the Title IX requirement (Softball ? Track ?) Or perhaps no sports at all ?
I believe universities whose sports don't bring in a lot of money look at their offerings and athletic scholarships as both a way to gain publicity and attract those dynamic student-athletes who will be enormously successful and donate lots of money. It's a pretty big investment and we'll see what UCD's appetite for this is.

One thing we haven't talked about- will this eventually lead to many universities re- classifying to a lower division ? I don't think UCD would do it, as long as they still have football. I could see some schools moving down to cut costs. However, it's not that simple sometimes. Even though you eliminate some scholarships and pay less for your conference affiliation you don't necessarily cut travel costs. CA is unique in that it has enough universities to almost completely contain Division 1 (Big West), Division 2 (CCAA) and NAIA (GSAC ?) conferences. No other state can match that. Some of these lower division schools elsewhere have to travel a lot. Even the UCSC Banana Slugs traveled to face the fearsome Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrils in basketball.

The title of this topic is "San Jose Game Out ?" And why would it be out ? So COVID- 19 DOES have a rightful place in this discussion. And really, how much can you really analyze a game that probably won't happen, or that you probably won't be allowed to attend if it does ?

What I believe does not have a place is using this as a forum to belittle the president and people who support his politics. We do have a right to criticize the president's actions on the job, but the world doesn't need 800,000 Trevor Noahs right now. They need people to shut up and do what's best for everyone's safety. He's not even that funny, and probably has people writing his jokes.

I took heat on here and lashed out at some people the last time I defended Movielover. Apparently some people on here value the opinions of trash- talking Gaucho fans more than his. Had I known that I would've stayed silent.

Movielover seems to be the lone voice advocating a quicker return to normal. That's fine. It gives a differing viewpoint for discussion. Those of you who disagree (most people), could you please limit your comments to addressing his ideas (relevant to the topic) and not what qualities you're projecting on him? This is how these discussions get out of control. All this baseless snark is a trademark of generations Y and Z, only they do it with GIFS and video clips and mostly on newer forms of social media. You know, the ones hellbent on portraying their elders as backward racists. Never mind those backward racists invented the very thing that forms the backbone of their lives. Come on, we're better than the terrible smartphone obsessed generations, and we're losing soldiers due to COVID- 19. And no this isn't because I was wrong earlier. I graciously admitted to that.