| Monday, June 22, 2015 |
| Higher ed briefs: Mississippi State researcher studies heart disease, salmonella | |
 | A Mississippi State University researcher is directing two international studies that could help scientists better understand the role of the body's natural immune system in preventing heart disease and the rise in drug-resistant bacteria. Matthew Ross, an associate professor of molecular toxicology in the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Basic Sciences, collaborates with scientists at the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Nanjing, China, to investigate whether the endocannabinoid system (originally discovered in the brain) can help the body's immune cells become more efficient at breaking down cholesterol and fighting microbial infections, such as salmonella. |
| Mississippi State scientists study tie between insecticides and bee health | |
 | "Just mentioning bees and pesticides in the same sentence is sure to get a buzz," said Angus Catchot, an entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Media skirmishes about bee health, agriculture practices and the role of pollinators in food production are a mixture of fact, propaganda and general misunderstanding, Catchot said. "The plight of bees and beekeepers facing substantial losses over the past several years has motivated scientists all over the world to search for the causes," he said. |
| Mississippi State Vet Student Honored For Talking The Talk | |
 | A Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine student has won an award for his communication skills. Steven Hutter from Hot Springs, Arkansas has been selected as the 2015 Bayer Excellence in Communication Award winner for MSU. "Bayer's viewpoint that effective communication is a key to success in the veterinary profession is a sentiment shared by the faculty of MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine," said Dr. Kent Hoblet, dean of the college. "We are proud that Steven's submission proved how instrumental good communication is to veterinary medicine. We believe Steven and our other students will continue to develop this skill, ultimately benefiting animal health." |
| Starkville stormwater board finds issues with development | |
 | Starkville's stormwater hearing committee tabled an ordinance relief request from Dan Moreland Friday, but final approval from the group is unlikely after members said his Louisville Street development is projected to increase water discharge in the area. Moreland is seeking relief from a required detention pond -- one of many waivers sought by the former Starkville Parks Commissioner and Republican mayoral candidate -- mandated by city ordinance as he plans to build ministorage units, a recreational vehicle storage building and six RV pads on 4.23 acres adjacent to Louisville Street. Members tabled the request since Moreland's plan awaits variance requests from other city boards. |
| Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce earning state, regional recognition | |
 | The Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce/Main Street has been racking up awards and accolades of late. Last week, the chamber was the winner of the Best Special Event award during the annual Mississippi Main Street Association awards luncheon in Jackson. In addition, the Mississippi State University Extension Service has chosen the Ocean Springs chamber to be spotlighted as an example of how to methodically create sustainable community development and establishing the community as a tourism destination. The Ocean Springs chamber will be featured in a "toolkit" MSU is developing to provide to other communities seeking information on best practices for community and tourism development. |
| Newcomb biscuit venture heating up | |
| Don Newcomb of Oxford was inspired when he read a story in Garden & Gun magazine that described a biscuit renaissance in the South. So inspired he invited Earline Hall, who then worked at the Biscuit Pit in Grenada to Oxford, to teach him how to make biscuits. Garden & Gun contributing editor John T. Edge had described Hall as "cutting a low-rent version of Crisco into a low-rent grade of flour, while stirring in buttermilk for rise and sweet milk for flavor." Hall's biscuits so impressed Newcomb that he asked her to move to Oxford and be part of the team for a restaurant he was assembling from the ground up. Biscuits have been part of the fast-food scene in the South since the 1970s, said Edge, who directs the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi that "documents, studies and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the changing American South." |
| Mississippi Development Authority to lead business development mission to Japan, South Korea | |
 | Representatives from Mississippi Development Authority will lead a delegation of Mississippi companies on a business development mission to Asia Oct. 14-21, 2015. Designed to connect Mississippi businesses that want to expand trade and create new business relationships with qualified buyers in Japan and South Korea, the mission may include an additional stop in a third country, depending on a company's potential in that market. The trip will be a multi-industry mission with prospects in the fields of aerospace, biotechnology, cloud computing, chemical manufacturing, computers and electronics products, defense equipment, healthcare IT, scientific instruments, medical equipment and devices, renewable energy technology, paper products, pharmaceuticals, pollution control equipment, safety and security and telecommunication equipment. |
| Mississippi ground zero for double trailer debate | |
| Mississippi has become ground zero for the battle in Congress over whether to force states to allow larger double-trailer trucks on their roads. The House recently passed a transportation appropriations bill with a provision tacked on to allow trucks nationwide to pull "double 33s," or two 33-foot trailers. Now, the issue is before Sen. Thad Cochran's Appropriations Committee. So both sides have focused the PR battle on Cochran -- who has not taken a position on the issue -- and Mississippi, where interests appear divided. Mississippi's three elected transportation commissioners have spoken out against allowing the bigger trailers. |
| Analysis: Opening meetings, College Board ruling turns 30 | |
 | The Mississippi Supreme Court's landmark ruling on open meetings and the state College Board is 30 years old this year. The ruling removed any doubt the constitutionally created public bodies -- including the state College Board -- must comply with the Open Meeting Act. Justice Lenore Prather wrote in the 1985 unanimous decision: "The open meeting legislation is no intrusion into the decision-making power of the board. The Open Meetings Act was enacted for the benefit of the public and is to be construed liberally in favor of the public." Will Bardwell, a Jackson attorney and president of the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information, said the Open Meetings Act was "running straight into the wind of a long-existing culture of government secrecy, and the law was going to be only as powerful as the Supreme Court made it." |
| Fiscal analysis points out initiative differences | |
 | The mandated costs to the state of a citizen-sponsored education funding initiative and a legislative alternative would be starkly different, according to a fiscal analysis conducted by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee. "There is no determinable cost or revenue impact associated with this initiative," the analysis said of the legislative alternative. On the other hand, the analysis points out that under the citizen-sponsored Initiative 42, it would take an additional $271.1 million to fully fund kindergarten through 12th-grade education (specifically the Mississippi Adequate Education Program) for the current fiscal year and an estimated $33 million per year increase to maintain full funding through 2020. The ultimate goal of supporters of the citizen-sponsored Initiative 42 is full funding of education. They say the legislative alternative does not ensure full funding and that the fiscal analysis confirms their claims. |
| Congressman Kelly sees committee assignments | |
| Following his first full week in Congress, Rep. Trent Kelly will join the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee as well as the Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit Subcommittee. Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway announced the addition of Kelly to the committees Friday. Kelly, a Saltillo resident, was elected to Mississippi's 1st District Congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month. "Agriculture is vital to the economy in the state of Mississippi, and I am proud to have the opportunity to represent the 1st District on the House Committee on Agriculture," Kelly said. "I look forward to being a voice for Mississippi ...to promote policies that encourage rural development and allow the agriculture industry to grow. |
| States Take Few Steps to Fill Gap if Supreme Court Blocks Health Subsidies | |
 | As the Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether to block health insurance subsidies in 34 states that use the federal insurance exchange, Pennsylvania and Delaware are the best prepared. They have submitted detailed plans for creating their own exchanges by next year, a move intended to keep subsidies flowing to their residents, though possibly with an interruption. Mississippi's insurance commissioner, Mike Chaney, says he has a tentative plan for establishing a state exchange, but federal officials would have to loosen the rules. In Illinois, the state hospital association laid out options for quickly establishing an exchange in a blunt memo to Gov. Bruce Rauner and state legislators this month. But in the vast majority of states that rely on the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, there is little or no evidence that anyone has a plan to preserve the subsidies that help more than six million residents of those states afford their insurance premiums. |
| Claude McInnis Sr., noted Democratic leader, dies | |
| A longtime Jackson public servant and avid Jackson State University supporter has died. Claude L. McInnis Sr., a noted leader in the Democratic Party, served with the Hinds County Youth Court for 41 years. He died Saturday night. Mississippi Democratic Party Executive Director Ricky Cole also issued a statement, saying "Mississippi Democrats lost one of our greatest fathers on Father's Day eve." "The irreplaceable Claude McInnis, a true Happy Warrior for the Democratic Party and one of the finest men I have ever known, lay down his burden last night," Cole said. "My heart is saddened beyond words. I loved Claude McInnis, and he loved me. I shall miss him terribly. He gave his heart and his soul to the Democratic Party, and it was a big heart and a great soul." |
| After Charleston, Republicans Wade Into Confederate Flag Debate | |
 | The murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., has thrust the Republican Party's presidential contenders into a discussion that many would seemingly like to avoid: the rightful place of the Confederate battle flag. The issue was rekindled after the alleged killer in Charleston, a white man said to be harboring racist views, had an image of the flag on his license plate, and a website being investigated by authorities displayed photos of what appeared to be the 21-year-old waving Confederate flags. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, fueled the debate Saturday when he restated his long-held stance that the flag should be taken down. None of the Republicans running for the 2016 GOP nomination have so far followed suit. |
| These hackers warned the Internet would become a security disaster; nobody listened | |
 | The seven young men sitting before some of Capitol Hill's most powerful lawmakers weren't graduate students or junior analysts from some think tank. No, Space Rogue, Kingpin, Mudge and the others were hackers who had come from the mysterious environs of cyberspace to deliver a terrifying warning to the world. Your computers, they told the panel of senators in May 1998, are not safe --- not the software, not the hardware, not the networks that link them together. The companies that build these things don't care, the hackers continued, and they have no reason to care because failure costs them nothing. And the federal government has neither the skill nor the will to do anything about it. Seven years later the world is still paying the price in rampant insecurity. What happened was a tragedy of missed opportunity, and 17 years later the world is still paying the price in rampant insecurity. |
| Mini UAVs Spark Heightened Interest In Countering Threat | |
| They may only cost a few hundred dollars to buy but the growth of incidents involving micro-UAVs has given birth to a potentially multimillion dollar industry to protect people and infrastructure from these threats. You would have struggled to find much counter-UAV technology on public view at previous Paris Air Shows. Last week's exhibition, though, was different; there was plenty of evidence military, security forces and even industry organizations have turned their attention to the threat posed by mini and micro machines in the wrong hands. Controp, MBDA and Thales Nederland were among the companies marketing equipment ranging from electro optical/imaging infrared turrets to radars and laser attack weapons. |
| Earth is on brink of a sixth mass extinction, scientists say, and it's humans' fault | |
| A vast chunk of space rock crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula, darkening the sky with debris and condemning three-quarters of Earth's species to extinction. A convergence of continents disrupts the circulation of the oceans, rendering them stagnant and toxic to everything that lives there. Vast volcanic plateaus erupt, filling the air with poisonous gas. Glaciers subsume the land and lock up the oceans in acres of ice. Five times in the past, the Earth has been struck by these kinds of cataclysmic events, ones so severe and swift (in geological terms) they obliterated most kinds of living things before they ever had a chance to adapt. Now, scientists say, the Earth is on the brink of a sixth such "mass extinction event." Only this time, the culprit isn't a massive asteroid impact or volcanic explosions or the inexorable drifting of continents. It's us. |
| USM makes appointments | |
| Vickie Stuart, director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program in the College of Nursing at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been inducted as a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow of the National Academies of Practice. Maureen Ryan has been named interim dean of the College of Arts and Letters. She joined the faculty in 1983 as assistant professor of English and director of the Writing Lab. Ryan has served in the Department of English as director of Undergraduate Studies and director of Graduate Studies. Pam Moeller of Ocean Springs has been named the new director of external relations for USM's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. She has a bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University. |
| Amy Wolgamott named Holmes Community College chair | |
| Amy Wolgamott of Ridgeland was recently named to chair the Speech and Theatre Department at Holmes Community College. Wolgamott, who also serves as an instructor of speech, has an associate degree from Jones County Junior College, a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and a master's degree in applied communication from Mississippi College, and a doctorate in community college leadership from Mississippi State University. |
| Co-Lin Community College adds workforce program | |
 | Copiah-Lincoln Community College is offering the key to more work opportunities through a millwright program. Workforce coordinator Chuck McCall said this is the first time such a program is being offered and that the decision to add it was in response to industry's desire to have workers who could handle such jobs as maintenance and troubleshooting while on the job. "They're generally like a jack-of-all-trades," McCall said. "Somebody who can do about anything." |
| Lee High School plows new ground with LSU ties, focus on computer science | |
 | Still months away from completion and more than a year from opening, the new Lee High School is resembling less a high school and more a Silicon Valley office complex. The plans for what will happen inside the four large buildings sprouting up along Lee Drive, though, could prove even more unusual. "This is going to be something no one has seen anywhere in Louisiana and not just the building itself but the concept of it," incoming East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake said. Frank Neubrander, LSU math professor, co-director of the university's Cain Center and a member of the team, acknowledged that Lee High is one of many schools in the country that focuses on STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- but he said Lee's theme sets it apart. |
| Summer provides full-time research experience at U. of Tennessee | |
 | It's summer at the University of Tennessee, but several chemical engineering laboratories are buzzing with activity as students work and prepare for a conference later in the week. Across campus, another student is using her research to fill curator duties at the McClung Museum. And at the UT Institute of Agriculture campus, more students are working in laboratories. "Students are coming in saying they want to do research," said Kimberly Gwinn, associate professor of plant pathology. "They are high-level students with an innate curiosity." Undergraduate research is becoming more popular with students nationwide, and at UT, it's especially popular with students who want to attend graduate or medical school, said Marisa Moazen, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. |
| UGA coal boiler coming down, and Athens' air will be cleaner | |
 | Workers this week are removing the last vestiges of coal burning on the University of Georgia campus as workers dismantle and haul away tons of steel at the University of Georgia's steam plant, where gas, oil and electric boilers generate steam to feed 7 miles of pipe buried beneath the UGA campus. The steam heats and also cools about 100 UGA buildings, as well as feed such laboratory equipment as sterilizers. After about a month of work cutting with torches and disassembling, workers with Demolition and Asbestos Removal Inc., have hauled away nearly 59 tons of steel, with about 19 tons now on the ground waiting to be shipped out. Those totals will rise much higher over the next two months before the job is finished, said David Spradley, UGA's director of energy services. |
| Drifting dollars: Student housing boom changing face of downtown Athens | |
| No stranger to metamorphosis, downtown Athens is in the midst of another cycle of change, this one fueled by a proliferation of student housing that is beginning, if slowly, to boost the downtown economy. For many years a traditional downtown retail center, hosting major department stores, movie theaters, car dealerships and other local businesses, downtown Athens began to change in the 1980s as major department stores left for the then-new Georgia Square mall, situated alongside what was a far less crowded Atlanta Highway. Eventually, those abandoned downtown spaces filled up with commercial, retail and some residential uses, not to mention numerous bars, clubs and restaurants, as downtown Athens developed the character that would help make it a nexus for the town-gown interface between local residents and University of Georgia students. |
| U. of Florida president explains academic freedom to board member | |
| While discussing the University of Florida's development of a common curriculum for all incoming freshmen to share, administrators had to give a brief refresher course on academic freedom to one of the state university system's governing board members. Mentioning the firestorm over the objection by Oklahoma and other conservative state legislatures to an Advanced Placement history course and exam, Board of Governors member Ed Morton asked what was being done to assure that this new curriculum has no "injection of politics into education." He asked whether the university's board of trustees should require the core curriculum to be free of political content. President Kent Fuchs gently reminded Morton that faculty have the academic freedom to set their own course material. "The curriculum belongs to the faculty," he said. |
| UF leads the way in building a better blueberry | |
 | At the Flavors of Florida -- a cornucopia of science-enhanced produce, seafood and meat recently held at the University of Florida president's mansion -- the blueberries stood out, not only for their eye-popping color but also their mouth-watering flavor. Pureed "Kestrel" blueberries swirled through a lemon-lime canape topped off with vanilla ice cream. "Chickadee" blueberries dotted a "limone" basil and tapioca parfait swirled with a strawberry liqueur and topped with a crunchy streusel. Both varieties are the result of decades of painstaking research by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty and graduate students dedicated to figuring out how to build a better blueberry. |
| U. of Arkansas Plans To Revamp Passenger Plane Donated by Tyson | |
 | The nine-passenger turboprop plane that Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale donated to the University of Arkansas is getting a makeover. The university is requesting bids to refurbish the 1989 King Air B200 with upgrades to several pieces of equipment, including its avionics, and get a fresh paint job. The total cost of the project has not yet been determined, Laura Jacobs, the university's spokesman, said in an email. The university is also seeking a complete renovation of the interior of the plane, including new laminate, headrests and cockpit seats covered by sheepskin. All proposals for the work are due by June 30. Jacobs said the plane is used to take administrators, faculty and staff "to meetings involving fundraising, intercollegiate athletics, student recruitment, professional meetings and special events." |
| U. of Kentucky president should give an annual State of the University address, report says | |
 | Amid complaints that the University of Kentucky administration was not clear about its long-term vision for development, a consultant told the Board of Trustees on Friday that university President Eli Capilouto should give an annual State of the University address. The recommendation was part of a yearly presidential performance review that surveyed faculty, trustees, students, donors and others. The trustees voted to accept the report and to consider its recommendations, which also included making Capilouto's inner circle more diverse and improving communication between the president and the board. |
| Bob Walker's new book details efforts that helped shape Texas A&M campus | |
 | Bob Walker's impact on Texas A&M is evident during a stroll across campus. Many of the buildings that have sprouted up over the last half-century are a result of Walker's time as a fundraiser for the university. Walker tells the stories behind those buildings in his new book, Footprints in Aggieland. Among the featured structures in the book's 60 vignettes are the Bright Complex, the Jack E. Brown Chemical Engineering Building and the George P. Mitchell Physics Building. The book also shines a light on the creation of various scholarships and endowments that helped A&M become the university it is today. |
| Texas A&M professor: Heavy rains also affecting Gulf Coast waters | |
| While recent rains across the region certainly have left an impact, they might not be done yet: Steve DiMarco, a Texas A&M University professor of oceanography, said the same rainwater that flooded area rivers could cause problems in the Gulf of Mexico as well. DiMarco said fresh rainwater flowing directly from the Brazos River into the Gulf of Mexico could lead to a lack of oxygen in the salt water gulf from Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi along the Texas coast. "The analogy that we like to use is that it's just like oil and water," DiMarco said. "Fresh water is much lighter than salty water because it's less dense. Because of that, when the fresh water comes out it tends to remain on the surface of that salty water." The fresh water, DiMarco said, creates a layer above the salt water below it, preventing the salt water -- and the sea life inhabiting it -- from accessing the oxygen in the air above. |
| Participants praise U. of Missouri sexual violence summit | |
 | Participants in a Saturday summit between University of Missouri officials and members of the university's Greek community praised the event. "This could be a national model," Cathy Scroggs, MU vice president for student affairs, told reporters after the Chancellor's Summit on Sexual Assault and Student Safety in Fraternity Houses. MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin was unable to attend his own summit because of flight delays. Reporters were not allowed in the room. "The majority of people in the room were students, and they were looking for solutions," Scroggs said of the more than 200 people who attended. She said there is a chance additional meetings will be held in the future. |
| Employees of 2 colleges were among those killed in Charleston church | |
 | For two colleges, the murders in a historic black church Wednesday night struck especially close to home. Among those killed were Cynthia Hurd, a librarian at the College of Charleston, and DePayne Doctor, admissions coordinator at Southern Wesleyan University's Charleston learning center. Hurd has been identified in most press reports as a librarian in a regional county library. She also has worked as a part-time librarian at the College of Charleston since the 1990s and was the longest serving part-time librarian at the college. A letter to the campus from President Glenn McConnell called Hurd "beloved" for the way she assisted students and faculty members. In an odd twist in the case, the Associated Press reported that Dylann Roof, charged in the nine murders in the church, by all accounts racially motivated, talked earlier of carrying out a mass shooting at the College of Charleston. |
| BILL CRAWFORD (OPINION): Education standards review process is a joke | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "'When all is said and done and the board votes in December, we will finally have a set of Mississippi-centric college- and career-ready standards that every person in the state has had an opportunity to comment on,' touted state Superintendent of Education Carey Wright. Not exactly. The input tool provided by the Mississippi Department of Education works for education experts, but not the general public. ...That the general public can provide meaningful input to MDE using this system, truly, is a joke. But the standards, themselves, are no joking matter. Serious review is appropriate." |
| JASON MORGAN WARD (OPINION): Dylann Roof and the white fear of a black takeover | |
 | Jason Morgan Ward, an associate professor of history at Mississippi State, writes in the Los Angeles Times: "For most of the South's history, the fear of African Americans 'taking over' has permeated mainstream political culture. That paranoia ran deepest in states like South Carolina, where African Americans constituted a majority of the population well into the 20 century. ...For those who persist in this phobia, the mere sight of black people engaging in American civic life -- whether peaceful protestors and voters, a South Carolina state senator or the president of the United States -- can be too much to take. Indeed, for decades, the central lesson of white supremacy was that any black engagement in public life could and would ultimately destroy the nation. As a native white Southerner, I had heard echoes of these fears straight from people's mouths long before I encountered them in the archives." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Shooting highlights mental illness, gun violence | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "In the wake of the stunningly senseless murders of nine worshipers at one of the nation's most historically significant black churches in Charleston, South Carolina, the debate again rages over the cause of this tragic crime. So where does the debate begin? Racism? Access to guns? Mental illness? ...In short, the building blocks of senseless violence in our streets, in our schools, and, yes, our churches, are more complex than relatively easy access to guns. The insanity that is the kind of racism Roof espouses should not excuse the clear commission of a hate crime. But offering the argument that stronger gun laws will keep racists like Roof from acting out on their impulses is a fool's errand." |
SPORTS
| Five biggest questions for Mississippi State football heading into the fall | |
| Eleven Saturdays remain until Mississippi State kicks off the 2015 regular season in Hattiesburg against Southern Miss. The unofficial start of football comes much earlier at SEC Media Days in 25 days. Coaches, players and media trek to Hoover, Alabama, beginning on July 13 for a four-day event that acts as the pregame tailgate to fall football. In anticipation of Media Days, The Clarion-Ledger will release 10 football-geared previews and lists looking ahead to Mississippi State's August camp and the regular season. It starts with the five biggest questions facing MSU this season. |
| Mississippi State's Ally McDonald nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year | |
| Ally McDonald spent four years at Mississippi State rewriting the women's golf record books. The final chapter of her time in Starkville may not be complete. McDonald was named a nominee for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award, the NCAA announced Friday. "She represents the program, our university and our state with the integrity and honor," MSU coach Ginger Brown-Lemm said. "She is much deserving of this distinction." The award, in its 25th year, honors graduating female athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their career in academics, athletics, service and leadership. |
| Trustees approve money for designs of new U. of Kentucky baseball stadium, tennis center renovation | |
| The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved financing Friday for the design of a new UK baseball stadium and a renovation and expansion of the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The money for both projects will come entirely from UK Athletics, which doesn't take money from tuition or state appropriations. The trustees approved spending $4 million to begin designing the 4,500-seat Cliff Hagan Baseball Stadium. The current stadium, built in 1969, has been renovated twice, the last time more than 13 years ago. Jason Schlafer, executive director of athletics for external operations, said the planned stadium's proximity to the other sports complexes will help consolidate and brand UK Athletics. Schlafer called the area an "athletics village." |
| Vanderbilt revved up for rare College World Series rematch | |
 | And so we meet again. Vanderbilt and Virginia will play only the third national championship rematch in College World Series history, beginning with Monday's game (7 p.m., ESPN) to start a best-of-three series. The Commodores (50-19) are the defending national champion. The Cavaliers (42-23) are still chasing them as last year's runner-up. But both made it back to the final stage of the college baseball season. "It's so difficult to play great baseball for a long period of time," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "...It's tough to be the one team (at the end)." |
| They Don't Forgo the Fungo in College Baseball | |
| One of the lasting daily traditions at the College World Series began about 40 minutes before Louisiana State faced Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday afternoon. And hundreds of fans crowded around the railing at TD Ameritrade Park under sunny skies to see it. It was time for pregame infield practice. If you have attended a Major League Baseball game in the last 15 years, pregame infield practice, known simply as infield, may be unfamiliar. All but abandoned by the early 2000s, the ritual lives on at the C.W.S. and at college stadiums all over the country. On Monday night, the routine will be repeated before Virginia takes on Vanderbilt in the first game of the finals. In the right hands, it is beautiful to watch. |
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