Demons are really hard to kill. Ask anyone who has an addiction or depression.
I am one of those who actually believes San Diego State athletics has been cursed over the past several decades. I've seen too many weird things here that I can't logically explain, so I guess I turn to the supernatural.
The past six months or so have shown me, however, that the Aztecs are finally throwing off the shackles. What few big-money men we have shower the university with money so the ineffectual Chuck Long can be replaced as football coach by Brady Hoke, who merely goes out and hires two of the best coordinators in recent history and convinces Brian Sipe to leave his comfortable situation to coach the QBs. The women's basketball program goes worst to first in three years in the MWC and wins an NCAA Tournament game on its home floor.
The men's basketball team missed the Big Dance as part of the major conference takeover of the once thrilling event -- like I say, demons are hard to kill, but cruises to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four and hosts one of the most exciting sporting events in the history of the city. The softball team goes to the NCAA regionals as an at-large participant, continuing a string of recent success.
Now, the baseball team has just been chosen to play in the NCAA regionals for the first time since 1991, an obscene drought considering the talent this area produces. The demons might have clung harder to the baseball program than anything, because there are some SDSU teams over those years that appeared to be good enough, but always fell short.
Even this year, the breaking of the drought was uncertain. The Aztecs were ranked for several weeks at one point, but went through a mid-season slump that knocked them all the way to a fourth place finish in the MWC. Then they reached the conference tournament, caught some breaks to reach the final without a loss and only had to beat sixth-seeded Utah once, and couldn't come through. It was the Utes who were hot at the right time.
With the demons hanging by a fingernail, the Aztecs woke up on Memorial Day unsure of whether they'd make the regionals even though their roster included the nation's best starting pitcher in Stephen Strasburg, the nation's best closer in Addison Reed, some good young position players and Hall of Fame manager Tony Gwynn. Thankfully, the NCAA selection committee -- no doubt with some convincing from ESPN -- gave the Aztecs one more chance and placed them in the regional at UC-Irvine beginning Friday. The Aztecs are seeded third of four teams and will play Virginia. The nationally top-ranked hosts will play defending champion Fresno State in the other game.
The demons have been flogged, stomped on and nearly put out of existence. Maybe that SDSU was put in by far the toughest of all the regionals shows some bad karma is still out there. If SDSU can put forth a good showing, the demon might finally be dead.
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I never figured this Padres team, really with few changes, would get back to .500 so quickly. It's amazing. The biggest turnaround has come from the starting pitching and the bullpen, both of which were getting ripped during the long road trips that marked the season's first two months. After some good home cooking, the Padres head out onto the road at Arizona and Colorado with signs that 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff and RF Brian Giles are finally warming up at the plate. It could be an interesting week.
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