Monday April 21, 2008

Weekend Review

Weekend Review
Like most of you, I am still wondering what the heck happened in Durham this past weekend. The only thing I am sure of is the fact that nothing will come of any complaining or protest. Remember this is the ACC. Do you really think any protesting will amount to anything?

Dan Scott had a great commentary on the subject on the front page of Tigernet today so check it out.

Clemson athletics had a mixed bag of results from the ACC Championships across the board from this past weekend. Here is a quick review of each sport’s weekend:

Women’s Tennis
The Lady Tigers entered the ACC tournament this weekend as the fourth seed but made news when they upset top-seed Georgia Tech 4-3 on Saturday. Clemson finished the deal on Sunday when they upset the second seed Duke squad 4-3.

I know many don’t care about some Olympic sports and I know many don’t care anything about women’s sports at Clemson but others do. ACC championships are few and far between so congrats to coach Harris and her team for a fantastic title. Great job!

Men’s Outdoor Track
Clemson had a strong second-place finish at the ACC Outdoor Track Championships this weekend.

Travis Padgett won the 100m and became the first man in the history of the ACC to win the event three times and did so in 10.17 seconds, an ACC meet record, with a 1.8 headwind. Jacoby Ford took second in only his second race back from injury in 10.43 seconds, an NCAA regional qualifying mark. C.J. Spiller, took fourth in the event, clocking in at 10.60, 0.01 seconds behind the third-place finisher.

Mitch Greeley won the pole vault with a 5.20 mark and the 4X 100 relay team also brought home a title.

Women’s Outdoor Track
The Tigers finished seventh in Atlanta this past weekend at the ACC Women’s Outdoor Track Championships. This is a respectable finish and a continued improvement from the last few years. However, Clemson did not have an individual champion during the meet.

Rowing
Clemson hosted the event this past weekend and finished second to Virginia, who has won the ACC title eight consecutive years.

Men’s Tennis
Chuck Kriese’s squad could not pull out the magic this weekend and lost in the first round of the ACC Men’s Tennis Championships. The Tigers fell 4-3 to Virginia Tech Thursday in Altamonte Springs, FL.

Men’s Golf
Larry Penley’s crew had a fairly disappointing finish in the tough ACC tournament this past weekend. A sixth-place finish is not what the Tigers envisioned but 10-under par was 16 shots behind first-time champion Florida State.

Ben Martin finished tied for eighth overall with a 5-under par 211 score. Kyle Stanley finished T-18th at 213 (3-under) while David May shot a 214 (2-under) to finish T-20th. Phillip Mollica was 2-over and finished T-29th. Sam Saunders tied for 45th with a nine over total.

The Tigers will get a chance at redemption at the NCAA regionals in May.

Baseball
The Tigers showed two signs this past weekend that gave me a little hope even though it was against Duke. First, Clemson broke the losing streak with win Friday night against the Blue Devils.

The other and maybe more important thing I saw on the positive side came yesterday. After Jack Leggett was tossed from the game for arguing with the umpiring crew, Clemson found itself down by four heading into the ninth inning. But for the first time in quite some time, this Clemson team showed some guts and resiliency.

The Tigers put up a four spot in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game when Ben Paulson slammed a three-run shot. Clemson continued the momentum with Kyle Parker’s two-run shot that eventually will be erased from the books but at least they showed some guts Sunday.

Hopefully, yesterday’s game will spark this team to bigger and better things. As I have said a couple of times on this blog, we knew this team had talent issues but many have been disappointed in the way this team has competed. It seems that when adversity struck in the past, this team never really hit back. Maybe Leggett getting tossed had something to do with the comeback but hopefully this will provide an example of how fighting through adversity can create a source of pride.

Ugly Times in Tallahassee
I know it is not Clemson sports but we had an ugly scene in Tallahassee this past weekend with the FSU-Miami baseball series.

For the complete story check out the link on the Miami Herald story at

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/um/story/503499.html

The story states, “After the Hurricanes clinched the three-game series against Florida State with a curfew-shortened, 11-10 victory -- the game was called after seven innings to accommodate Miami's travel plans -- players from both teams had to be physically restrained after a confrontation at home plate. No punches were thrown, but the two teams exchanged heated words.

And then things really got ugly.

As Morris and his assistant coaches escorted their players to their dugout, several FSU fans showered them with obscenities, drinks and anything else that could be thrown through the mesh netting. UM players taunted the fans, making the ''U'' sign and mimicking FSU's tomahawk chop.

After UM's players congratulated each other, they walked to home plate, where they expected the Seminoles to meet them for handshakes.

After a few moments, when it appeared FSU's players might not leave their dugout, some UM players began jumping up and down near the plate. That caused FSU's entire team to sprint from the dugout, and it took several staff members from each team, as well as security personnel, to restore peace.

Martin said both teams did a good job of keeping their composure during the fracas.

''It's unfortunate,'' Martin said. ``That's not what college athletics is all about. It was just an emotional situation.''

Morris said he wasn't certain why tempers flared.

''I don't know if Florida State didn't want to shake hands or what,'' Morris said. ``Our players went to shake hands, and they didn't come out. I don't really know what happened until that point -- somebody must have said something from one club or the other. It kind of got out of hand.''

Too bad the ACC has to suspend both teams from post-season play because they set the precedent with the Clemson-USC fight in football a few years ago. The precedent has been set so let’s see what the ACC does now.

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