I honestly didn't even know ARC had a good football team until I heard about Hunter Rodrigues' accomplishments. Of course I follow community college football not at all so that's to be expected.

Forgot about Blais. You're right. That's too bad about Loar. I wonder if he'll redshirt. Have you seen Guillermo Salazar play at all ? Is he still with the team ?

The problem as I see it with Kelly's situation is he's not a bad hitter. He just needed more time to develop, but he was banished to the bench (and Bily moved into CF) when he struggled. In hindsight they should have given Bily some opportunities in center his junior year, start 2016 with Bily, and let Kelly earn playing time at all 3 outfield positions. I think there may have been too much pressure put on him initially. He had a really good season in Chico. There are some positives you can take away. One is that he hit well with a wood bat. Of course we have to temper our enthusiasm a little with the knowledge that he was facing lower- quality pitching on average than he will see in the regular season.

Brown should do better with a more consistent role. I don't think he's well- suited to be a late- inning reliever. He just seems like one of those pitchers who needs to be or out there at the beginning of games, when he has a little margin for error. I'm encouraged by Denholm coming back to catch. It just doesn't seem plausible that he wouldn't be better defensively than in 2016. There was a tremendous amount of room for improvement there.

I saw packed houses versus Chico State each year. The women's team used to regularly draw more than the men's team does now. Of course they were piggybacking on the attendance for the men's games to some extent.

There's just so many more distractions for young people these days. In my time people were just barely getting used to the internet. You had very few other options in Davis. I went to volleyball games purely because I was bored waiting for football games to start up (and not the girls). There's not so much emphasis on being well- adjusted socially, which includes showing school pride. I do not equate wearing a UC Davis sweatshirt with school pride. Everybody does it. That's what you get if you need a sweatshirt and do most of your clothes shopping at the bookstore..

I continue to think there's just something not quite right with the atmosphere surrounding athletics at UCD. Not the teams themselves. There's just sort of a palpable distance, as if you're watching a favorite movie you haven't seen in a long time, and you realize it's not quite as good as you remember, not even close. I don't feel this kind of distance when I go to Sac State events, but I think that's because the experience really hasn't changed

I think the "do your own thing" vibe these days hurts attendance too.

Ok, I have to turn the topic briefly back to streetwalking because I thought of some good puns. You can blame movielover and 69aggie (for the 69) for putting my mind in the gutter:D

Ok, it just occurred to me when I saw streetwalker and naughty movies at drive- ins being mentioned that there probably is a naughty parody of Star Wars (Star W****s?) out there. It would star the following characters among others:

Anaked Streetwalker (later Dark Vader for diversity purposes)

Princess Lay- ya

Hand Solo (doesn't see much action).

Lol. Ok, I got it out of my system now :D That sounds like something Hand Solo might say.

Well, I didn't know.. I could've been wrong

Are you sure that's Rommel Romentz and not ROMMEL MARENTEZ ?

Why, as a senior, does she not have a parking pass ? And where the heck does she live that she can't walk or take Unitrans ? Seriously Davis is so small you can walk most everywhere, maybe not out to the golf course.. If Unitrans doesn't go to where you live you can walk to where it does.

Freaking millennials- have to go and moan to people online every time something doesn't go their way. It's fortunate she's a good basketball player, or I would have a poor opinion of her for that.

Glad I decided not to make the trip to Bakersfield for the start of the baseball season. Is it a worse destination than Fresno ? Sacramento probably has that many streetwalkers. I've only personally seen two. They tried to solicit in a coffee shop.

So I guess I'll take a new stab at the opening day lineup:

C: Denholm
1B:Gedestad ?
2B: Van Blake
SS: Pluschkell
3B: Lara
LF:Hooper
CF:Aguiar
RF:Anderson
DH:Briggs ?

SP:Hannah ?

I guess getting the roster out just before the season starts is not unique to UCD baseball. SAC City College only put theirs out yesterday..and they open the season tomorrow. How interesting that they have a pitcher from Japan.

I guess Anderson's injury history has played a role. If you ask me he's just as likely to get injured playing first base as left field.

Y

I think your potential infield/outfield sounds good. Ideally they would return at least 1 starting outfielder for 2019. I know the incoming JC transfer Cooper Morrison will probably be able to handle center field.

Glad to hear I didn't make up Spencer Gedestad being on the team. I don't think UCD ever recruits for first base specifically. Sometimes there's a pitcher who can also play there (Evan Wolf) Seems like it's the best of the infielders left after the other 3 spots are filled. It didn't occur to me Lara was 6'3. I was concerned he wasn't tall enough, but that's not a problem.

Thanks, I deleted him from the list. Maybe he graduated in the fall/winter quarter ?

Do you know who's been playing first base in practice ? I'd have to think if it's not Denholm it would probably be a new player. Anderson I believe has been playing RF with Hooper in LF.

If Payne doesn't get in they seriously need to re- evaluate the standards

I remember one time I was sitting in the student section (as a student) at Rec Hall. During a game against Grand Canyon one of the Antelopes ran halfway up the steps after a loose ball. As his momentum carried him he yelled, "Oh, @&#? !!!" The students taunted him with the same expletive every time he got the ball.. This would have been either the 98- 99 or 00- 01seasons

Have you ever noticed the Aggies don't often play non-conference weekend series against opponents within a few hours' drive, excluding tournaments ? (Sac State, CAL, San Francisco, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, San Jose State, Fresno State, Stanford, and Nevada- Reno...Pacific being the exception). SAC State will somewhat regularly do home- and home series with St. Mary's, San Francisco, sometimes SJSU.

My guess is that the explanation lies in a few things..

1) 6 of those teams fancy themselves playoff contenders most years + don't want to mess up their chances by losing a series to Davis. They have bigger fish to fry. Having said that Fresno State did just that in 2015. Stanford was swept in a two- game weekend series in 2006. Memorable because that Aggie team only won about 13 games.

2) Sac State doesn't play as many mid- week games. I believe they have to leave room for the ones they might play in the WAC tournament. I have it on good authority that UCD finalizes its mid- week games last, so they try to save those close road games for those dates.

3) They probably think it's a waste of money to stay overnight in the Bay Area. I can sympathize there. Try to get a hotel in San Francisco under $200 a night and see if your room has its own bathroom...or air conditioning..or a refrigerator. It's a real crapshoot. Santa Clara's more reasonable, but San Jose thinks that a $150 room at America's Best Value Inn isn't a contradiction for some reason.

Wow, look at all the messages here ! I was going to start topic about a dream team for the women, but it occurred to me I can't name 3 guards who played for UCD prior to this year. My team would probably have 4 forwards and 1 guard. That's what happens when you don't see any games from 2006- 2012 and 2013- 16 I guess

Oops ! I just made a liar of myself. I will be in the 0- 4 category with 6thman this year I believe.

As far as which sport might be cut it will likely be either football or baseball. An additional question to ask is in what sports does the conference require participation ?

Obviously the Big West couldn't give a hoot about football. They've sent some mixed messages about baseball:

In the 90's into 2001 SAC State was an affiliate member for baseball. They were booted after the season with the official reason being that they didn't want affiliate members. However everybody knew it was because the Hornets were usually cellar- dwellers, and their abysmal records made the conference look weaker.

Prior to the Aggies' entry into the Big West the conference had members that did not have baseball programs. These were Idaho and Utah State. Also there were a couple of decades where UC Irvine did not have a baseball program. These schools were allowed to remain. Could it be because the credibility their men's basketball teams lent the conference outweighed the inconvenience of having to schedule additional non- conference games ?

When Bakersfield was making it's transition to D1 it was told by the Big West it had to have baseball to join. To its credit Bakersfield went out of its way to comply. It even funded and built its own stadium (with lights), rather than copping out and trying to do a time- sharing agreement with the Class A Bakersfield Blaze in 70+ year- old Sam Lynn Ballpark, where they can't play until the sun goes down because the park was built facing the wrong direction. They did all of this, and CSUB was still denied, until just recently.

I believe UCD will do everything it can to stay in the Big West. It not only saves on travel costs, but also limits how long the students have to be away from classes. Can you imagine the scheduling nightmares of the WAC/Big Sky ?

So let's say the Big West allows a non- baseball member again. Then it becomes a question of scholarships. Baseball has at most 11.7, probably less. Football has how many ? If there's a big scholarship imbalance it will either be football or baseball AND other sports. Men's golf would probably be on the chopping block too...possibly Men's water polo as well. It wpuldn't be just baseball. Cutting baseball would relieve some of the strain on the athletic budget, but it wouldn't resolve the Title IX issue on It's own.

Regardless of where that is going I think baseball will see cuts to balance the books. It won't be to the coaching staff, as I believe only Vaughn and Acosta are paid employees. They could see a reduction in games, especially home games. I don't know what the minimum # of games is, but you look at the Ivy League..most of those schools seem to play at least 10- 12 games less. Gonzaga hosts at most a handful of non- conference games. Lastly the school may flat out tell Vaughn he can only keep so many players, scholarship or not. I know the school probably doesn't pay travel expenses for some walk- on players, but there's more costs involved than that. I remember in 2014 SAC State only had 27 players on It's roster. Do you think Reggie Christiansen left 8 roster spots vacant because all the other players that tried out were terrible ? Think he would've liked to have had more than 1 reserve middle infielder ? It's clear the administration dictated those limits, and something similar will probably affect UCD as well.

It's difficult for me to envision the football team going anywhere, especially with the newish stadium and the fact that it brings in the most money per game of any of the sports, but is that revenue even that great ? I can't imagine they even come close to covering all the expenses. I see you guys talking a lot about empty seats, and there are only 5- 6 home games a year ? If there were no football, what would Aggie Stadium be used for ? I can only guess the soccer teams would use it + The field @Dobbins Baseball Complex would just be for practice.