L’Observateur / June 10, 1998

Thoughts that crossed my mind while driving back from the Louisiana High School Coaches Association all-star softball doubleheader Saturday.

* Southern California defeats Arizona State, 21-14, in the College World Series championship game? When I heard that score over the radio, I was trying to figure out who scored the winning touchdown for the Trojans, Marcus Allen or Charles White.

Seriously, that game proves what happens when you run out of pitching.

Southern California may not have been the most talented team in the tournament (ironically, the team with perhaps the most talent, Stanford, did not even make the series), but that just goes to show what happens when you get hot at the right time.

* Could the Belmont Stakes be called a $5 million nose job? That was what Victory Gallop’s (which proved to be a most appropriate name) win in the final leg of the Triple Crown cost Real Quiet who would have received that bonus had he won all three races.

Say what you will about the quality of the horses running in the races, this year’s Triple Crown, especially the duels between Victory Gallop and Real Quiet, was one of the best in recent years and helped bring attention once more to the King of Sports.

* Mark McGwire misses a couple of games due to a back injury and some people began to write off his chances at hitting 61 home runs this season.

But he still needs to hit just five home runs this month to break Ken Griffey Jr.’s record for most home runs by the end of June. And Griffey,Andres Galarraga, Juan Gonzales, Vinny Castilla, Alex Rodriguez and now Greg Vaughn are in the hunt as well. It should be an interesting summer.* Cubs win! Cubs win! For the ninth time in a row Sunday, keeping them in a first place tie with Houston. Somewhere, Harry Caray is smiling.* Hey, Utah, nice shooting (their word, not mine) performance Sunday night.

Let me put it this way, the Jazz almost got outscored by the College World Series finale. Unless the Mailman starts delivering, it will MJ and theBulls that will be receiving their championship rings in the mail (that is after the team is broken apart once the season is over).

* This NBA finals is a throwback to the days when of the 1980s when guards and forwards dominated play (of course with Utah’s performance Sunday, it was more like a throwback to the pre-shot clock days of the 1940s).

The teams’ centers, Greg Foster and Luc Longley, combined for 24 points over the first three games of the series.

* Hey, LSU fans, take heart. Only 94 days until the Fighting Tigers take thefield against Arkansas State.

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