Better than 715

I gave up my tickets behind the first base dugout for Sunday’s game. My buddy Ray gave his tickets behind Larry Baer to his wife and her friend.

We missed 715. And we didn’t get the Omar Vizquel bobblehead.

We went to a sporting event that major league baseball can’t beat. We went down to Stanford to see the NCAA Tennis semi-finals.

Now I understand that isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but it had everything I love in a sporting event. First, Ray and I are tennis players. That’s our sport. I really don’t do anything else. Ray sometimes goes for a run. We’re tennis nuts, and it is really fun for us to watch good tennis. The players that reach the semis of the NCAA’s can really play.

Second, give me college athletics, particularly the smaller sports where money isn’t such a big deal, any day over pro sports. Some day I’m going to Omaha for the College World Series. Give me the Sweet 16 over the NBA. I can even watch girls softball (ok, not really, but I’m trying to make a point). I’ll bet that NCAA rugby final between Cal and BYU was fantastic.

It was played in the Taube Tennis Center, which is a gigantic tennis setting, but still only seats maybe 3-4,000 looking out over 3 courts. We were in the 3rd to the top row, and it still felt intimate. Nice, refined crowd, with actual rules about not yelling negative things. You are supposed to only shout positive stuff (“You positively suck?”). There’s the occasional whining about line calls (the line callers do positively suck), but for the most part the players were polite.

And they can hit. This is a generation that plays mostly from the baseline, so the volleys aren’t crisp, which really shows in the doubles. But the guys, particularly, can just crush the ball, shot after shot. It was great entertainment, and a beautiful day.

So I missed Barry hit one to the guy standing in line at the BBQ stand in centerfield. Just another homer. It was on ESPN last night a million times, so I’ve seen it.

But you guys didn’t see that great 3 set victory by Virginia’s Somdev Devarrman over the big K.C. Corkery from Stanford. It’s always nice to see Stanford lose.

But I am missing out on that Omar bobblehead.