Thank god, its finally over

May 19, 1999

Originally Published by The State Hornet (Sacramento State)

THANK GOD, ITS FINALLY OVER

So far as the Sac State sports world has been concerned, one of the best highlights of this past year was that the nine months came to a merciful close.

This is supposed to be an ideal location for recruited athletes to migrate to. Not everyone can attend a campus where both the mountains and the sea are two hours down the road on either side. Our administration must have been pretty inept to screw that up.

Our athletes' hands this year were tied. Not so much by the coaching or the inadequacies of the programs to provide decent facilities in which to play and practice; but by administrative incompetence.

Charles Roberts, Rene Jacques, and Antoine Bailey serve as whatever optimism Sac State can generate for next season's football and basketball campaigns.

Obviously it can't get any worse, but Hornet football and basketball fans can look to the future with confidence with the above names.

Despite all the musical chairs played upstairs, and all the promises to get us competitive, it was all a bunch of hot air - again. In the end, it was a year not unlike many other dismal sports years here - a lot of talk, but going nowhere. It was only made bearable by some dazzling performances by a select few.

Roberts nearly willed Hornet football to just below .500 with his NCAA rushing record of 2,260 yards. Andi Arnold was a standout for an excellent gymnastics squad all year. The duo of basketball leaders - Jacques and Bailey - will serve as a nucleus for what is hoped to be a very competitive Hornet men's hoops program in the very near future.

Leave it to the people up top to make it a difficult go, however, as evidenced by the short, unhappy tenure of Judith Davidson as athletic director. She was pushed out for Debby Colberg, head volleyball coach. But had we really heard the last of Davidson?

Obviously not. To compound this egregious middle-of-the-year shakeup, Gerth assigned Davidson to what is essentially a do-nothing position - and she still kept her salary.

The spring sports were a bit easier to stomach, but not much. The baseball team slumped this season, finishing the most games below .500 in quite a while.

They didn't hit well when they needed to, they didn't pitch well when it was necessary, and worst of all, they resembled mannequins at the plate with bats constantly on their shoulders.

Consequently Hornet batters suffered an inordinate amount of "caught looking" strikeouts. At first I thought it was because the umps behind the plate were visually impaired, but then I quickly realized there had to be a reason.

You don't score runs and win games if you can't get to first base first. And you sure don't get there if you don't take at least few cuts at the ball on a three-and-two count.

For turmoil and news impact then, none could top this year, and that's quite a statement, considering the long suffering silent seasons of sports years past.

Happily my readers should take note that I am going to stick to the newsroom and forgo any more baseball playing for the Hornets. It's just not conducive to my brain-matter functioning to get beaned.

I would also like to thank wholeheartedly all my loyal readers for taking interest in my column each week. Without you people, I'm nothing...