a few things I would like to get off my chest

[roanoke]

I do feel bad for NC State - their players played hard and well. I respect them. And it had to be a terrible way to end the season for the team to be blocked by COVID.

Of course, that's not our fault. And the anti-Vandy angst and over-the-top response on the internet is not particularly flattering or understandable. I wish we could know who would have won game 3 with NC State by playing it on the field. I feel confident our team feels the same way. In 2019 we had to come from one game down to win the super-regional against Duke and the Finals against Michigan. We did it both times.

The internet seems to be assuming the Wolfpack would have easily won game 3 because they happened to win one game against us by one run. Sorry, but all we can do is beat whoever shows up in front of us. And so far, we have. We are 8-1 on the post-season - not counting the walk-over game. We have, with few exceptions, taken on the highest seeds available at every step - (except for NC State who beat Arky - and #9 Stanford who knocked out #8 Texas Tech.) (Some teams got to Omaha without beating anyone higher than a 3-seed.). Our ERA in Omaha is below 3 - even with games against celebrated batters from Arizona and Stanford. We are pretty good. And we are doing it banged up. Young is still recovering from the separated shoulder; Kolwyck has not played in the field. That is half our infield - not that the announcers have mentioned it. As good as our pitching has been - we all know how many pitchers we also lost to injury this year. We are playing with who we have - next man up - the same as everyone else.

We cannot help that NC State did not weather the COVID protocols that they agreed to. We can feel sorry for their players - and I do: but it's not our fault they fell out of the bracket.

I do recognize that we have not played our best in Omaha. It is a tribute to our guys' grit and determination that we have survived and advanced despite our batting slump. But I hope that this whirlwind of internet garbage will help remove the pressure on us. Hopefully we can circle the wagons and be ourselves. The fact that we are playing a familiar SEC foe who we have already battled during the season will help too. We have been tight and we need to loosen up. But we are still standing. We are the defending National Champs - and I am really proud of our team. The internet critics can say what they want - and they are. But talk is cheap. And most of those doing the talking aren't playing any more. We are lucky to get to watch the VandyBoys a few more times. Anchor down.

[VU1970]

Amen, Roanoke. Thanks for helping separate the signal from the noise. We are the defending national champs. And if we were at full strength, heaven help the opposition.

[thefan]

Great post Roanoke! Have been praying for your health and was hoping you were still fighting on! That said, people seem to forget that Vandy lost last season to Covid protocols and I think that last season Vandy had more talent in many areas than this season. Vandy could complain that they had a championship taken away last season, which of course is pure speculation. I think Vandy would have defeated N.C. State again but in the process have been depleted in pitching depth to face Mississippi State. Feel bad for the Wolfpack but blame it on the Chinese communists, not the VandyBoys! I have read there is thought Vandy has an advantage being a private school; actually it is probably a disadvantage. Vandy's big advantage is talented players, coaches, and Corbin!

[OldDude]

And most of those doing the talking aren't playing any more.

Thanks for another good post, Roanoke. Only thing I would add is that "most of those doing the talking" have never played at anywhere near this level or dealt with anything like the covid mess.

[commadore]

Great post Roanoke! Have been praying for your health and was hoping you were still fighting on! That said, people seem to forget that Vandy lost last season to Covid protocols and I think that last season Vandy had more talent in many areas than this season. Vandy could complain that they had a championship taken away last season, which of course is pure speculation. I think Vandy would have defeated N.C. State again but in the process have been depleted in pitching depth to face Mississippi State. Feel bad for the Wolfpack but blame it on the Chinese communists, not the VandyBoys! I have read there is thought Vandy has an advantage being a private school; actually it is probably a disadvantage. Vandy's big advantage is talented players, coaches, and Corbin!

Amen!

[Wolfpack73]

No vandy fan should take it personal. If yall were the worst d1 ball team in the country it would be the same. It could have been any team

We will get over it. We are used to it. Not vanderbilts fault. Not sure the NCAA played it right but on to the next.

[vebiltdervan]

...Feel bad for the Wolfpack but blame it on the Chinese communists, not the VandyBoys!...

Amen!

There's lots of stuff to criticize about China under Xi, but jumping on this China-created-Covid bandwagon, IMHO, is going to wind up looking not too different from what the anti-Vandy trolls are doing now. It's easy, it's satisfying to the practitioners, but it's 100% thought-free.

Linked below is the best single analysis I've read, & it's impressive how many of the supposedly suspicious arguments about China's Covid behavior disappear if you learn a bit about the facts on the ground (e.g., yes, a few workers at the Wuhan Virology Lab did become ill, but turns out that they came down with normal flu during the last normal flu season; yes, lots of Wuhanese were going to hospitals just before Covid blew open there, but in China going to the hospital is what people normally do, instead of going to see GPs first like we do in the US...). Oh, & the author is a Canadian, without a bone to pick in the US political arena.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/la ... tpcc=34364

[baseball1234]

Expand your reading list.

[Starkiller]

...Feel bad for the Wolfpack but blame it on the Chinese communists, not the VandyBoys!...

Amen!

There's lots of stuff to criticize about China under Xi, but jumping on this China-created-Covid bandwagon, IMHO, is going to wind up looking not too different from what the anti-Vandy trolls are doing now. It's easy, it's satisfying to the practitioners, but it's 100% thought-free.

Linked below is the best single analysis I've read, & it's impressive how many of the supposedly suspicious arguments about China's Covid behavior disappear if you learn a bit about the facts on the ground (e.g., yes, a few workers at the Wuhan Virology Lab did become ill, but turns out that they came down with normal flu during the last normal flu season; yes, lots of Wuhanese were going to hospitals just before Covid blew open there, but in China going to the hospital is what people normally do, instead of going to see GPs first like we do in the US...). Oh, & the author is a Canadian, without a bone to pick in the US political arena.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/la ... tpcc=34364

An Aussie scientist working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology undercuts the lab leak theory. She says it isn’t impossible but there were no signs of it there in November 2019 when the pandemic began.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/p ... n-lab-what

[Johnmn555]

"The lead dog is the one they always try to bite in the ass."

Tom Wolfe

A good quote to explain the behavior of a wolfpack...

[cjdore]

Getting back to situation with NC St, I will only say that at the time of there elimination there were 4 teams still in CWS and other 3 are not having similar problems with Covid. I would argue that we and 2 others utilized protocols that prevented our athletes from getting infected. Obviously NC St did not do this.

[baseball1234]

The Wall Street Journal June 9:

WASHINGTON—A report on the origins of Covid-19 by a U.S. government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis claiming the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, according to people familiar with the classified document.

The study was prepared in May 2020 by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and was drawn on by the State Department when it conducted an inquiry into the pandemic’s origins during the final months of the Trump administration.

It is attracting fresh interest in Congress now that President Biden has ordered that U.S. intelligence agencies report to him within weeks on how the virus emerged. Mr. Biden said that U.S. intelligence has focused on two scenarios—whether the coronavirus came from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.

People familiar with the study said that it was prepared by Lawrence Livermore’s “Z Division,” which is its intelligence arm. Lawrence Livermore has considerable expertise on biological issues. Its assessment drew on genomic analysis of the SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, they said.

Scientists analyze the genetic makeup of viruses to try to determine how they evolved and spread in the population. Proponents on both sides of the debate over the origins of Covid-19 have cited such analysis to try to make their case.

[Starkiller]

The Wall Street Journal June 9:

WASHINGTON—A report on the origins of Covid-19 by a U.S. government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis claiming the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, according to people familiar with the classified document.

The study was prepared in May 2020 by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and was drawn on by the State Department when it conducted an inquiry into the pandemic’s origins during the final months of the Trump administration.

It is attracting fresh interest in Congress now that President Biden has ordered that U.S. intelligence agencies report to him within weeks on how the virus emerged. Mr. Biden said that U.S. intelligence has focused on two scenarios—whether the coronavirus came from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident.

People familiar with the study said that it was prepared by Lawrence Livermore’s “Z Division,” which is its intelligence arm. Lawrence Livermore has considerable expertise on biological issues. Its assessment drew on genomic analysis of the SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, they said.

Scientists analyze the genetic makeup of viruses to try to determine how they evolved and spread in the population. Proponents on both sides of the debate over the origins of Covid-19 have cited such analysis to try to make their case.

It’s totally plausible and should be investigated. But thus far there is no solid evidence to support the theory.

Remember that every known virus that has ever jumped from other animals to humans in the span of history has happen in nature, not in a lab. We don’t need to be convinced that this happens. We need some evidence to support some theory that goes against the norm.

Also, it took a decade to fully identify where SARS came from. Don’t assume this is something that can be determined immediately.

[dore74]

clearly it was a Chinese plot inspired by Coach Corbin to enable Vandy to get NCSt knocked out in the semi finals. i mean who can't see that...

[Starkiller]

clearly it was a Chinese plot inspired by Coach Corbin to enable Vandy to get NCSt knocked out in the semi finals. i mean who can't see that...

I thought it was a Chinese plot to keep Vanderbilt from repeating in 2020…