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Post by agibson on Apr 6, 2010 21:25:37 GMT -5
I mentioned that in Syracuse the Cornell men's basketball team was staying at my hotel?
When I pulled into my hotel in Tuscaloosa this evening, there was an LSU bus in the parking lot. I hurried in to try to get in line ahead of them. Turns out it was the LSU softball team, in town for a double header tomorrow.
A bunch of them were hanging out in the lobby.
I guess they're pretty good (#14? To Alabama's #6/7?). Unfortunately, I think the games are too early in the evening for me to attend. I did see the stadium - just down the street, halfway between the hotel and the physics department.
One of them was complaining that her only employment offers were in Germany, and that she thought she'd go to PT school instead. (They play professional softball in Germany?)
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Post by vuweathernerd on Apr 6, 2010 22:01:08 GMT -5
you're having all kinds of luck with sports teams and hotels. who's your travel agent?
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Post by valporun on Apr 6, 2010 22:16:06 GMT -5
I mentioned that in Syracuse the Cornell men's basketball team was staying at my hotel? When I pulled into my hotel in Tuscaloosa this evening, there was an LSU bus in the parking lot. I hurried in to try to get in line ahead of them. Turns out it was the LSU softball team, in town for a double header tomorrow. A bunch of them were hanging out in the lobby. I guess they're pretty good (#14? To Alabama's #6/7?). Unfortunately, I think the games are too early in the evening for me to attend. I did see the stadium - just down the street, halfway between the hotel and the physics department. One of them was complaining that her only employment offers were in Germany, and that she thought she'd go to PT school instead. (They play professional softball in Germany?) Do they even play softball in Germany? She just said employment, and maybe she's wanting to see what other options she has here before a definite 'yes' to PT school in the fall?
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Post by agibson on Apr 7, 2010 7:00:47 GMT -5
Yeah, it's possible that she was just talking about the bad economy and how grad school seemed easier than getting a job.
But, it really sounded like an offer to play softball, or at least sports. One of the other girls, who seemed like a manager type maybe, was kind of saying "Wow, since I don't have these kind of opportunities, it sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe you could get somebody to go with you? I'd love to _coach_ in Germany some day."
I even have some vague notion of women's softball on TV in Germany, but it's weird enough when I see it on TV in the US very occasionally. Maybe I'm just transferring the weirdness.
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Post by granny on Apr 7, 2010 8:38:02 GMT -5
They do play softball in Germany & throughout Europe. There have been some big youth tourneys held there over the last couple Summers. They are always looking for coaches from USA. Softball in the SEC is something,beautiful stadiums & pretty good crowds for games.Teams like Alabama,Florida, etc.actually sell out all tickets before season begins. You can see softball on TV every day in the South & out West through networks like Cox Sports,Bright House,Sun sports. For us Midwest fans we have to watch ESPN2, CBS College sports & ESPNU for games maybe 1-2 x week....sometimes you have to stay up & watch it at 11pm. Probably not something the average poster on this site would do. Either way,fast pitch softball is a great game & one you all ought to give a look. Would be cool to see what I saw at many SEC schools at Valpo, a large group of male students actually sitting on the visitors side & cheering their team on & cutting up,having a great time...SUPER FANS of sort.
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Post by valporun on Apr 7, 2010 10:57:11 GMT -5
They do play softball in Germany & throughout Europe. There have been some big youth tourneys held there over the last couple Summers. They are always looking for coaches from USA. Softball in the SEC is something,beautiful stadiums & pretty good crowds for games.Teams like Alabama,Florida, etc.actually sell out all tickets before season begins. You can see softball on TV every day in the South & out West through networks like Cox Sports,Bright House,Sun sports. For us Midwest fans we have to watch ESPN2, CBS College sports & ESPNU for games maybe 1-2 x week....sometimes you have to stay up & watch it at 11pm. Probably not something the average poster on this site would do. Either way,fast pitch softball is a great game & one you all ought to give a look. Would be cool to see what I saw at many SEC schools at Valpo, a large group of male students actually sitting on the visitors side & cheering their team on & cutting up,having a great time...SUPER FANS of sort. The Big Ten Network has already had a handful of games on too, plus ESPN3 (ESPN360) has shown many SEC games as a part of the package deal the conference signed with ESPN. Softball is the small ball that Dusty Baker tried to make happen in Chicago, only it didn't work with most of the batters for the Cubs having arms as big as their bats, and no speed. Softball is a strategic game where speed on the base paths is key to winning big, along with solid pitching and defense. Offense is manufacturable in softball, and is great to watch when managed effectively. This is why we're seeing Coach Schneider using some of the freshmen as role players in pinch running situations where he needs their speed on the basepaths. Softball works in the South and out West because they don't have as much worry about temperatures going below 50 degrees, or consecutive days of pounding rain. More games can be played early out there, and it doesn't affect the record because some of those teams plan as many games as allowed in case of weather, plus taking advantage of the weather to get more games in whenever they can.
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Post by agibson on Apr 8, 2010 8:21:10 GMT -5
They must have left more time between the two games than I assumed - I probably could have caught most of the second game. I watched a bit on TV (! but, no surprise for granny).
LSU brought in a freshman pitcher in relief. In HS she set some sort of a record, with 25 or so perfect games. ERA of 0.03 or something. In the record setting game she apparently struck out the side, every inning. 21 strikeouts?
She's not been quite that sick in college - but has apparently had a pretty good SEC debut. ERA of 1 something.
I play slow pitch myself, but do enjoy watching fast pitch from time to time. Being a small ball guy myself, it's fun to watch.
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