June 11, 2007

Morning Briefing This isn't a titanic mismatch

One of the charming things about college baseball is the little guys sometimes beat the big boys, the way California-Irvine knocked off Texas in Texas.

UCLA then went to Cal State Fullerton for a best-of-three NCAA super regional that began Saturday.

A quick compare-and-contrast:

Most famous thoroughfare - UCLA, Westwood; Fullerton, Nutwood

Nobel laureates on faculty - UCLA 5; Fullerton 0

NCAA Division I championships - UCLA 100 (none in baseball); Fullerton 5 (four in baseball)

Most-famous baseball alum - UCLA, Jackie Robinson; Fullerton, Kevin Costner (though the Titans alum played baseball only on the silver screen)

Coaching sage - UCLA, John Wooden; Fullerton, former (and now Texas) baseball coach Augie Garrido

Current major leaguers - UCLA eight, including Chase Utley and Garrett Atkins; Fullerton 11, including Chad Cordero and Mark Kotsay

All-time major leaguers - UCLA 55; Fullerton 44

Men's basketball series - UCLA leads, 9-0

Baseball series - Fullerton leads, 48-22-2

College World Series appearances - Fullerton 14; UCLA 2

Trivia time

What former UCLA baseball second baseman revived UC Irvine's defunct baseball program in 2002?

And finally

So Kevin Durant couldn't bench 185 pounds at the NBA pre-draft camp.

"There are a lot of guys who can bench-press 300 pounds in the NBA who couldn't play dead in a cowboy movie. Kevin's the best player in the draft - period, at any position."