Originally Posted June 2007
Let’s REALLY talk about THOSE INCREDIBLE MOOCHIES of Mike Fox …. Odds are The Road To Rosenblatt will not repeat as incredibly as last year but what da heck …. Maybe it will! ….
I swanney …. There simply is nothing in all of sports better than watching the UNC Baseball team in June. I figured last year was as good as it would ever get so just savor those memories. Doggone it if those scratching, clawing never-say-die little rascals aren’t doing it again.
Every inning of the Super Regional was “goosebump good” ….. as fine as sports can be! OK, the Duke Lacrosse final games were darn good too. None of the extraneous crap that has taken over college FB and Basketball.
I would say “where does Mike Fox find these terrific kids?” but I know where he gets a lot of’em. Remember my story about The Boys From Post 9? Well, Post 9er Garry Hill now operates a Baseball Academy in Charlotte and a core group of Mike’s Moochies come out of Garry’s development program. They develop those incredible baseball instincts playing for Garry and his sons in their summer instructional league.
Whats this “Moochie” stuff? Back in the 60s, Walt Disney had a series called Moochie of The Little League. It starred a kid actor named Kevin Corcohran as “Moochie” …. this tow-headed kid that somehow comes thru in the clutch in assorted baseball situations. It was sort of a Bad News Bears kind of show but not as much “dead-end kids”. I decided a year ago that these baseball-lovin’ Boshamer Boys were retro-Moochies.
I watched all three “Super Regional” games versus South Carolina on TV. I have never heard anything but terrific reports about USC coach Ray Tanner (from Benson) so I knew it would be just “good baseball” whichever team “advanced to Omaha”.
At no point in the three games did “good versus evil” even enter my mind. I simply saw two well-coached teams of darn good kids bustin’ their butts on every pitch knowing every “ping” of the aluminum bat could swing the game and the series.
As long time readers will recall it was right after Omaha last year that our favorite baseball announcer
Harold Reynolds got busted for an intern dalliance in Bristol. Harold pretty much disappeared after that. This past weekend two whozits were doing the game for ESPN2. One of them was a former star pitcher for Stanford. That dude was an endless fount of baseball minutiae. He knew tendencies and trivia about every player in every situation. Maybe he was just making it all up but HE WAS GOOD.
USC (Tanner) had beaten UNC (Fox) three previous times on The Road To Rosenblatt but in Old Boshamer’s Last Hurrah, Dame Fortune was awearin’ light blue insteada garnet. This one had Ring Lardner’s imprint all over it. When one takes the “good vs evil” crap out of a sports event it makes all the difference at least to me. ….. just transfix on every pitch and lose oneself in the drama of the competition without all that morality play garbage.
Then first thing Monday I heard from two dear friends and solid BobLee Buddies. One did a whole bit about Spurrier and The Scoreboard and the other recounted how Mike Fox over-managed the final game last year in Omaha. Whatever floats a fella’s boat I suppose …. but for BobLee … I just enjoyed the heck out of three terrific baseball games. Ol Roy was sitting with Dave Odom and both guys seemed to be enjoying themselves just like I was.
Will I be watching every pitch I can from Omaha this weekend and into next week …. YA THINK? Go Moochies Go.
Who remembers Prince Tassel Loafer’s first official act as AD when he took over from Little Johnny Swofford? HINT: He replaced a beleaguered Brian Roberts’ daddy with some unknown small college alum named Mike Fox. It has worked out pretty well but don’t tell the Dickie-haters. They do so like to drink sour milk and walk around with thumbtacks in their shoes.
