Perhaps they did an internal investigation and found that Knebel was a really reluctant party in this transaction, that Cox was the one who really pushed it, blah blah

Or, you know, that one player is more important to the team than the other..

Adderall is definitely a good drug to have a prescription for, but it's puzzling why it's not banned, at least during competitions. It's basically speed, although a controlled release of it. It has a fairly short half life, so it's conceivable they could allow it in your system (it would definitely help for coursework and paying attention in class), but under some threshold for games. Enforcing that would be a problem though.

(05-07-2013 02:19 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Perhaps they did an internal investigation and found that Knebel was a really reluctant party in this transaction, that Cox was the one who really pushed it, blah blah

Or, you know, that one player is more important to the team than the other..

I'm pretty sure (in the words of Carla del Ponte) that UT had "concrete suspicions" that the former was true and only after rendering their decision realized they had the good luck of the latter being coincident.

(05-07-2013 02:19 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Perhaps they did an internal investigation and found that Knebel was a really reluctant party in this transaction, that Cox was the one who really pushed it, blah blah

Or, you know, that one player is more important to the team than the other..

Maybe Cox put Knebel's hand in warm water while he was sleeping and collected the urine without his knowledge. Or maybe that Cox hid inside the toilet with a urine collecting jar when he saw Knebel coming and Knebel never knew. Possibilities are endless and certainly have nothing to do with their relative importance

(05-07-2013 02:19 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  Perhaps they did an internal investigation and found that Knebel was a really reluctant party in this transaction, that Cox was the one who really pushed it, blah blah

Or, you know, that one player is more important to the team than the other..

Unbelievable (but, actually, quite expected given we're dealing with Augie and UT), especially given this is Knebel's second suspension this season. The only reason he was drug tested was because he was caught smoking the weed just last month (with a stash found in his room).

The "new normal" is still better than the old normal where Rice did not get a SWC championship or NCAA appearance until we won the final SWC tournament of all time in 1996. (The best was saved for last). Some of the past teams were good but did not cross that hurdle. It was nice to see Wayne giving David Hall the credit for putting the foundation in place to make the rise of the Rice baseball program possible. It took Wayne to get us to the top but there would not have been much to build on without David.

The Chronicle article is saying that Augie is making no excuses but it is full of Augie's excuses. He says he can not help that he is age 74, but Wayne Graham is 77 and he does not make that excuse. As for the recruits going pro, it should be obvious that you are going to lose many of the good ones who go high enough in the draft to get good money but you have to recruit good players anyway. The problem with the 5 1-0 games is that Texas was on the losing end. Augie would not have a problem with UT winning a 1-0 game since he has always liked small ball.

(05-06-2013 11:10 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(05-06-2013 08:45 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(05-06-2013 08:10 PM)13thOwl Wrote:  

(05-06-2013 07:39 PM)Old Sammy Wrote:  

(05-06-2013 04:56 PM)owlsfan Wrote:  Do we recruit against UT in baseball head-to-head, or do we take what they turn down? It would sure seem like a nice year or two to make some hay if we do recruit against them; this has not been a pleasant 2 years for them.

I'm sure we recruit against UT and every other Texas school. What puzzles me is the state of college baseball in Texas. The highest rated Texas school in RPI is Rice at 37. UH is 54, Baylor, A&M and UT are 59-62. Is the talent not coming out of Texas HS baseball in the last few years? Is the talent turning pro out of HS at a greater rate than usual (this is Augie's excuse)?

How about everyone signed before slotting went official, so there is a hole where some studs would be?

That definitely makes sense to me but should impact all schools not just the Texas ones. Look at UNC from earlier this year, they still had that stud freshman come to campus. The SEC schools never seem to have a shortage either. I also like the argument that teams with historically strong pitching (like the powers in Texas) are losing an edge with the new bats.

That's the argument I saw in the thread on the U of H board (or was it the Aggie Board? or one of those Boards quoting the other?).

It made a lot of sense to me.

I don't think this is a bad Rice team at all. I think we've be playing a new paradigm for a few seasons now, and the 'new normal' isn't something most of our fans like or can get themselves fully accustomed to.

I think the situation in Austin (and the rest of the state) is pretty telling. The environment we have now is not like it in 2003, and not like it was when we had Jose Cruz Jr. and Lance Berkman.

But from what I can see, there's still no better place to play baseball in Texas or our region than on South Main.