How Games Turn Out Doesn't Affect Appeal of Sports for Many Hogs Fans
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — My wife often asks why I love to watch sports. The answer is simple: there is no script. You can't predict what'll happen like with most movies. Plus, sports produces incredibly dramatic finishes that defy logic and the most imaginative ideas that could ever be produced for the theater.
But that also means the favored team doesn't always win. Sports isn't a Disney flick where the hero always gets the girl, kills the evil invader, or hits the home run. Upsets happen in all sports.
In fact, the term upset, although used on occasion prior to 1919 to describe surprising results in baseball and horse racing, came into vogue when the great thoroughbred Man o' War was beaten for the only time in his career by a horse he'd whipped handily on four other occasions. That horse was named Upset.
As every Razorback fan will scream to the heavens, Arkansas should've won the Fayetteville Regional in the NCAA Tournament over the weekend. They were heavy favorites, in everyone's minds except the other three teams.
Fact is, at least five of the top seeds in the NCAA Regionals didn't win in their home ballpark.
Arkansas' failure wasn't in losing to Southeast Missouri on Sunday afternoon. It was dropping the 7-6 decision to Kansas State Saturday night while leaving 13 runners on base. Everybody but the Wildcats knew the Hogs would win that game with Hagen Smith on the mound. After all, the superstar southpaw was simply college baseball's best pitcher all season and the presumed No. 5 pick in next month's Major League Baseball draft.
If the Hogs had won that game, the odds were 81 percent that they'd be hosting next weekend's Super Regional -- just as expected. Teams that don't start 2-0 in the regionals have just a 19 percent chance of advancing.
So, the Hogs and their fans are left to ponder what might've been after counting on a fifth trip to the College World Series in the last nine opportunities.
But, consider this: the early ending to Arkansas' season might've been a crushing disappointment to Razorback rooters and the players but it was just another unscripted surprise in the world of sports.
After all, every game, every series, every tournament creates a happy ending for only one team.
It was about 75 years ago when the Brooklyn Dodgers' fans and organization coined the slogan that has become the mantra of teams everywhere: Wait 'til next year!
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• Calipari's roster to feature returner from Musselman Era after all
• Calipari, Arkansas ready for Madison Square Garden
• Docile Razorbacks need to find fight for this one
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BOB STEPHENS