Tuesday, April 27, 2004
INsite: The Pregame Tailgate (May 04)
A week or two before the Texas Longhorns opened their 2002 baseball season; I had the privilege of meeting Augie Garrido.
I recognized him immediately. He was dining on a platter of sushi rolls at the bar at Kenichi, a popular downtown restaurant. My friend Stephanie had turned me into quite the sushi connoisseur just a few months prior, and hitting Kenichi on a Saturday night had become a fairly regular event.
Normally I’m not one to fawn over celebrities, even quasi-celebrities, like the University of Texas baseball coach. But the 2002 preseason ranking had come out that week, and Texas checked in at No. 9, so I had baseball on the brain.
I nudged Steph and pointed out Coach Garrido. She shrugged and said it was no big deal. “I met him here; one time a while back. He’s a funny guy.” Our friend Chris didn’t seem impressed. Her days as a cocktail waitress in Dallas provided encounters with real celebrities, or so she said. The only one she ever mentioned, though, was Mavericks coach Don Nelson, and only then to complain about the lousy tips he left her.
I didn’t press the Garrido issue, But it didn’t take him long to recognize Steph, and he soon pulled up a chair and joined our group. For the next hour or so, Coach Garrido hung out with us, eating sushi, talking baseball, and indulging in Kenichi’s overpriced adult beverages.
He was both friendly and affable, and Coach Garrido even impressed Chris with his candor. Before he left, we toasted to a successful 2002 season, and to top it off, he picked up the sizeable tab. Steph, already set to move to Omaha with her boyfriend that June, pledged to return the favor. If Texas made it to the College World Series, she said, Coach Garrido could count on her support at Rosenblatt Stadium.
She kept her end of the deal. Steph and her boyfriend, just a week into their Omaha residence, took time out from unpacking boxes to witness the fifth national championship in Texas’ storied baseball history. In essence, they witnessed what makes Garrido – winner of five national titles during his illustrious career – the best coach, possibly in all of major college athletics.
I say that because of one thing in particular that the coach told me that night. I had asked him what he thought about being ranked ninth in the preseason poll. His face crinkled and he gave me a puzzled look. “Son,” he said softly, as he moved in closer. “Do you ever go to a game and start cheering, ‘we’re number nine! We’re number nine!’?”
I just sat there, silent. He continued, “of course you don’t. You play to be number one, not number nine. And that’s what we want to be – number one.”
Five months later, his team finished number one.
I thought it relevant to relay that story this month, because the Texas baseball team has spent a lot of time in that lofty position during the 2004 season. The Horns sit at 41-6 entering the last week of April, a record that almost defies believability, especially when considering who a lot of those wins have come against.
Stanford, currently ranked second, is the only team to win a series against the Horns this year, taking two of three in Palo Alto back in February. And their 31-7 mark is also impressive, but when you think about Big XII competition, and Texas’ willingness to play anyone in the country, I have to give the Horns the edge.
Rice isn’t far behind Stanford, posting a 33-7 record. If you remember, Rice ended Texas’ season last year, just one round shy of the CWS title game. But the defending national champions have had the misfortune of facing and losing to, Texas four times in 2004. How many teams can say that more than half of their losses came against one opponent. The third-ranked Rice Owls can, that’s who.
Texas’ remaining schedule includes Big XII foes Missouri and Texas A&M, as well as a non-conference double-header with North Carolina State. And as Coach Garrido prepares his top-ranked team for the regular season’s final month, I have to believe he’s telling them the same thing he told me on the January night more than two years ago: “You play to be number one.”
A lot can happen between now and Omaha, and sure, Texas will face some good teams just to get to the College World Series. But if I am sure of anything, it’s that Augie Garrido’s team won’t feel satisfied with just getting there. They won’t play to finish anything but first.
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I recognized him immediately. He was dining on a platter of sushi rolls at the bar at Kenichi, a popular downtown restaurant. My friend Stephanie had turned me into quite the sushi connoisseur just a few months prior, and hitting Kenichi on a Saturday night had become a fairly regular event.
Normally I’m not one to fawn over celebrities, even quasi-celebrities, like the University of Texas baseball coach. But the 2002 preseason ranking had come out that week, and Texas checked in at No. 9, so I had baseball on the brain.
I nudged Steph and pointed out Coach Garrido. She shrugged and said it was no big deal. “I met him here; one time a while back. He’s a funny guy.” Our friend Chris didn’t seem impressed. Her days as a cocktail waitress in Dallas provided encounters with real celebrities, or so she said. The only one she ever mentioned, though, was Mavericks coach Don Nelson, and only then to complain about the lousy tips he left her.
I didn’t press the Garrido issue, But it didn’t take him long to recognize Steph, and he soon pulled up a chair and joined our group. For the next hour or so, Coach Garrido hung out with us, eating sushi, talking baseball, and indulging in Kenichi’s overpriced adult beverages.
He was both friendly and affable, and Coach Garrido even impressed Chris with his candor. Before he left, we toasted to a successful 2002 season, and to top it off, he picked up the sizeable tab. Steph, already set to move to Omaha with her boyfriend that June, pledged to return the favor. If Texas made it to the College World Series, she said, Coach Garrido could count on her support at Rosenblatt Stadium.
She kept her end of the deal. Steph and her boyfriend, just a week into their Omaha residence, took time out from unpacking boxes to witness the fifth national championship in Texas’ storied baseball history. In essence, they witnessed what makes Garrido – winner of five national titles during his illustrious career – the best coach, possibly in all of major college athletics.
I say that because of one thing in particular that the coach told me that night. I had asked him what he thought about being ranked ninth in the preseason poll. His face crinkled and he gave me a puzzled look. “Son,” he said softly, as he moved in closer. “Do you ever go to a game and start cheering, ‘we’re number nine! We’re number nine!’?”
I just sat there, silent. He continued, “of course you don’t. You play to be number one, not number nine. And that’s what we want to be – number one.”
Five months later, his team finished number one.
I thought it relevant to relay that story this month, because the Texas baseball team has spent a lot of time in that lofty position during the 2004 season. The Horns sit at 41-6 entering the last week of April, a record that almost defies believability, especially when considering who a lot of those wins have come against.
Stanford, currently ranked second, is the only team to win a series against the Horns this year, taking two of three in Palo Alto back in February. And their 31-7 mark is also impressive, but when you think about Big XII competition, and Texas’ willingness to play anyone in the country, I have to give the Horns the edge.
Rice isn’t far behind Stanford, posting a 33-7 record. If you remember, Rice ended Texas’ season last year, just one round shy of the CWS title game. But the defending national champions have had the misfortune of facing and losing to, Texas four times in 2004. How many teams can say that more than half of their losses came against one opponent. The third-ranked Rice Owls can, that’s who.
Texas’ remaining schedule includes Big XII foes Missouri and Texas A&M, as well as a non-conference double-header with North Carolina State. And as Coach Garrido prepares his top-ranked team for the regular season’s final month, I have to believe he’s telling them the same thing he told me on the January night more than two years ago: “You play to be number one.”
A lot can happen between now and Omaha, and sure, Texas will face some good teams just to get to the College World Series. But if I am sure of anything, it’s that Augie Garrido’s team won’t feel satisfied with just getting there. They won’t play to finish anything but first.
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