Breakfast at The Brick
There are a handful of games each season when the Oklahoma City RedHawks have an 11:05 a.m. start at Bricktown Ballpark. Usually it’s Field Trip Day for local students. Sometimes it’s a helpful early start for a team on getaway day.
It is currently 8:57 a.m. on Wednesday and it’s opening day of the Big 12 Tournament at The Brick.
Kansas and Kansas State are a few minutes away from their opening pitch. There are 112 people in the stands and two ducks waddling down the right-field line, getting shooed away by the grounds crew.
It is 67 degrees under blue skies. There is a gentle breeze rather than straight-line gusts. No lines. Plenty of parking.
In a word, the setting is “perfect.”
Jack Nicklaus has said the best time to see a golf course is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon when shadows are cast. Baseball is very similar, especially in a setting as beautiful as The Brick.
Wednesday morning reminded you of your Little League days, when you played early Saturday, then spent the rest of the day either watching your friends ball or playing more ball yourself.
You could hear the player chatter, the thump of the catcher’s mitt, the moment of impact between bat and ball, the words of encouragement from fans and parents, the quack of two ducks down the right-field line.
As great as the RedHawks’ 11:05 a.m. starts are, a 9 a.m. start is even better.
Sometimes baseball’s best settings are not in front of sellout crowds. Sometimes the best setting is with barely anyone is in the stands, when people relax under blue skies and think about nothing but ball.
Wednesday was all-ball all-day at The Brick. Saturday’s schedule will be the same, with games scheduled to start at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4 and 7:30.
If you missed Wednesday’s full schedule do your best not to miss Saturday’s offering.
MLB’s top thief almost came to Oklahoma
Last Sunday, Tampa Bay leftfielder Carl Crawford tied a major-league record with six stolen bases in a game.
Crawford’s name should sound familiar to those who follow college recruiting closely. He signed a national letter of intent in 1999 to become an option quarterback at Nebraska. Crawford also strongly considered Oklahoma and Tulsa, plus USC and Florida.
Crawford lettered in football, baseball, basketball and swimming at Jefferson Davis High School in Houston and was offered a basketball scholarship from UCLA.
All other athletic options ended when Crawford .637 as a senior and was drafted in the second round by the Rays. In 2002, Crawford was named the franchise’s Most Outstanding Rookie and was tabbed International League Rookie of the Year while playing for the Durham Bulls.
Crawford reached the majors at age 20, is a four-time American League stolen base champion and leads the league again this season. Though only 27 years old, Crawford is sixth on the active steals list with 322.
Now Crawford playfully is being cursed by NU football bloggers.
“He was a complete kind of quarterback — a guy who could throw the ball well but obviously had great running ability,” former Cornhuskers coach Frank Solich, the man who recruited Crawford, told the Lincoln Journal Star this week. “We thought he could really fit everything we wanted to do. In fact, his kind of ability would’ve allowed us to do a great number of things. If Carl would’ve been in the program, Jammal Lord would’ve been a strong safety, and Jammal would probably still be playing pro ball.”
That’s right, Crawford playing pro baseball actually shortened Lord’s pro football career. Weird how that works, huh?
