The Agony

Losing. Sucks. There is no two ways about it. The elimination of Rice from the CWS yesterday at the hands of the Tar Heels, was only slightly better than a hot poker to the eye. To make matters worse I got a reply from Academy:

Thank you for contacting Academy Sports + Outdoors. Unfortunately, Rice is not a big seller in the Houston market, so these items are only carried it in select stores. We would love to support all of the local teams with a nice assortment, but it's just not possible due to floor space. We will have College World Series t-shirts and caps if they win at the following locations:

(The stores will have it 2 days after the win.)

Thanks. Not really what I was looking for, but thanks. Apparently Academy is willing to step in as driver for the bandwagon, but doesn’t want to support us the rest of the season. Jerks.

As usual though, just when you are in danger of losing all perspective on things, God inserts himself in your life to remind you of your priorities. Yesterday Shannon and I were commenting that starting pitcher for the Rice Owls, Ryan Berry, was born in 1988 and how old that made us feel. Right after I had that conversation, Shannon’s friend Tim posted this on his blog. How ironic. Now, I don’t know Tim, but I feel like I do. Shannon has been friends with his wife for many years now, and I have lurked on her other blog, for more years than I really care to admit. I feel like I know Tiffany, Tim and their beautiful children, and I got a little (oh who are we kidding, a lot) misty eyed when I heard Tim was deploying. And now this perfect stranger has given me my own wake up call. The Owls losing IS terrible for those boys and their dedicated fans. But it is still just a game. A game those boys are lucky to be playing at any level, much less getting so close to the pinnacle of college baseball. To be honest Rice fans lost that ‘we’re just happy to be here’ attitude about the CWS several years ago. Nowadays, we expect to be there, and falling short of the goal is a disappointment. But this year, in this world, I AM just happy that those boys were there, now that Tim helped me remember all the other places they could have been.