By Mel Franks
Associate Athletics Director
June 17, 2007

Off days are not something college baseball players are accustomed to away from home. With stringent restrictions on how many hours before competition NCAA teams can travel, in the regular season or otherwise, there are usually only travel days and game days.

With a day for Opening Ceremonies and a one-hour practice on Thursday and not playing a game until Saturday, the Titans navigated their third off day of the 2007 College World Series on a surprisingly comfortable but sunny Father's Day in Omaha. It was a late wake-up call (unless your roommate set a 5:45 a.m. alarm for a golf date) and breakfast on your own before a noon practice at Bellevue East High School.

As unique an envrionment as Rosenblatt Stadium is, the practice sessions provide an even more incredulous setting. Oregon State practiced at 10 a.m. and at least 100 fans, family and friends as well as local residents were allowed to mingle among the players as they wrapped up their drills. Up pulls the Fullerton bus and the two teams who had battled so fiercely 18 hours earlier, passed through each other with numerous courteous greetings.

The Fullerton practice drew fewer spectators -- losers' bracket syndrome, no doubt -- but included several youngsters from local teams who were allowed to "shag" in the outfield with the Titan players and even some old staff members who are foolish enough to think they can catch a line drive off an aluminum bat, even from 100 yards away (even with red shoes from Bobby Bonds). The "enemies in passing" routine was repeated when Fullerton left the field as Monday's opponent, the UC Irvine Anteaters, strolled in. Of course, George Horton and Dave Serrano visited for many minutes.

Now try to picture a similar scene prior to an NCAA basketball regional tournament or a BCS football event. Can you imagine local kids on the practice floor or field? Unknown locals observing from the stands? The teams exchanging social pleasantries? No, never and not a chance in heck! Remember the take-no-prisoners University of Miami football team? "Did the Japanese go sit down and have dinner with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them?" snarled Jerome Brown. Draw the same parallels with the baseball teams sharing charter jets on the way to the competition sites. Only in college baseball!

After practice it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and then back on the bus for a ride across the river into Council Bluffs, Iowa, for a picnic hosted by the Concord Club of Omaha at Progressive Park, which is owned by a University of Arizona graduate for what it's worth.

The Concord Club, an independent service club indigenous to Omaha and nearly 100 years old, has hosted the Titans before and both staffs recognized familiar faces. The dress and program were casual as the local businessmen and their families mingled with their distant "relatives" from California. The highlight of the function was an informal golfing contest that would bring out the "envrionmentalists" in protest in many parts of the country. The players lined up along the banks of the Missouri River and tried to hit golf balls across the water and into the woods, a carry of at least 300 yards. Six players accomplished the feat but the "winner" had to be pitcher Dustin Birosac, a lefthanded swinger who did it with a right-handed club (Yes, that means the club face was vertical instead of horizontal). Honorable mention goes to Nick "Happy Gilmore" Mahin, who used the movie character's method of a running start before lashing the ball into the swiftly moving brown water. An observer had to keep a lookout for all the golfers to halt their swings when an occasional pleasure boat cruised by. The worst of the duffers in the group were asked to retrieve the balls for use next CWS.

Coach George Horton introduced his staff and players individually and each member of the official traveling party received a plaque featuring a team photo taken Thursday next to the CWS statue behind home plate at Rosenblatt Stadium before the autograph session.

Back on the bus, back to the hotel and then free time with many players rendezvousing with family members fortunate enough to be able to make the trip. The Titans' following has been estimated at about 300 out-of-towners, with the number fluctuating daily. The evening would make for a most memorable Father's Day for most. But work wasn't totally done. Late Sunday night the itinerary called for a "mental session" with sports psychologist Dr. Ken Ravizza. The CSF faculty member who also contracts with professional teams and even collegiate rivals -- including Long Beach State -- is assigned the task of relaxing the players. The practices of Thursday and Friday were filled with anticipation. Trepidation was a more likely emotion this day as the possibility of a season-ending loss on Monday was a negative vibe Ravizza was trying to squelch.

Coach Horton, a noted psychologist in his own right, pointed out to the 2007 Titans how many times previous Titan teams had bounced back from losses to advance far through the losers' bracket, including all the way to national titles after losses in game No. 1 in 1979, No. 2 in 1984 and No. 3 in 2004. It was Augie Garrido who originally preached the advantages of the losers' bracket, that usually you are playing a team coming off a loss and questioning its own confidence.

So now it's a battle for survival 1,500 miles from home between two schools located 20 miles apart. Even on a Monday afternoon, more than 15,000 fans will likely show up. Or at least 13,000 more than saw the Anteaters and Titans in their last meeting in Fullerton on Apr. 7. And the NCAA would ever seriously consider moving the CWS out of Omaha?