Winning Losers. Losing Winners.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010


Winning Losers. Losing Winners.

It is no secret that my go to college team will always be the Florida State University Seminoles.

College football, basketball and baseball are sports I always followed very closely. Part of that might have been that I lived in and was President of the Athletic Dorm when I went to school way back in my college days. College sports never went on strike.

The football players were a little too rowdy back then, even for me. I remember sitting by my window in that seventh floor room watching some of the linemen carry the drunken quarterback up the stairs after curfew the nite before some big games. I did become pretty good buddies with Grant Guthrie the FSU place kicker. I used to long hike the footballs to Grant's girlfriend Leslie who held the balls as Grant kicked them through the goal posts at the high school field that was across the street from the dorm where the track team held its meets.


Dorm life was exceedingly interesting. I had the five starters on the basketball team living in the suite upstairs above my room. I was hardly intimidating at 3AM when I had to go up there to ask the guys to have a little mercy and stop dribbling the basketballs. Their court was the ceiling of the echo chamber where I slept. Dave Cowens, that great center for the Boston Celtics would be sitting on the bed, while his teammates sat on the other bed or standing around dribbled their balls. Dave used to love to dribble the ball a couple of times, palm it and then make that dunking motion or the sky hook shot. Especially at 3AM. He would then start the process all over… Lather, rinse, repeat. Go upstairs again, ask them to knock it off… Lather, rinse, repeat.

Every day during the off season Dave went to Tully Gym and shot basketballs from the top of the key and performed aerial acrobatics dunking the ball or shooting hook shots. Dunking was banned in college basketball in 1967 and the dunking ban was lifted in 1976. Even though he could not do it in college games Dave was getting ready for the pros. Dave knew he was going to play professional basketball. Once in a while he missed a shot but mostly I stood below the rim and caught the ball right after the swoosh.

Cowens led the Seminole five to the NCAA Tournament in 1968 and ’69. As a senior, his Seminoles had a 23-3 record. Dave was the number 1 draft pick of the Boston Celtics. There was a lot of talk about this team breezing though post season play and giving the Bruins their comeuppance. That never happened because Florida State went on probation in end of the season. Dave was not allowed to participate in post season play that year. FSU like many of the other really great sports programs back in those days was always in trouble with some NCAA regulation and up to its ears in recruiting violations. It was a lot like Nixon. Even though everybody did it, we got caught. I am still quite embarrassed by my losing winners.

I also used to go to the weight room in the dorm and spot Dave when he was working out. This was before the mega weight lifting gyms in sports training facilities now on most university campuses. I helped him load the weights on the bar. I was there to help if he dropped the weights when doing bench presses. I seriously doubt that I would have been much help because I could barely lift off the floor what he was doing reps with.

The weight lifting room in the athletic dorm doubled as the television room. In the middle of the night on July 20, 1969 we sat next to each other in that smelly room and watched the men hopping around on the moon while we slammed down Coca Colas in the dark because we had some scam to outwit the soda machine.

I am not sure if Cowens was as talented as he was dedicated. Dave was pretty good at all sports. He was extremely imposing standing at home plate with that giant wood bat in his hands, guarding the plate.


After the basketball probation was over, in my senior year in college, Dave had graduated, but some of the men that were recruited because Cowen’s played for FSU again went to the NCAA Tournament. From Wiki: “In 1972 at the age of 34, Durham led FSU to the NCAA Championship game coaching against Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith and John Wooden in three consecutive NCAA Tournament games. Durham's Seminoles knocked off Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats and Smith's North Carolina Tar Heels. In the NCAA Championship game, Wooden's UCLA Bruins edged the Seminoles to win the title. Wooden, Rupp and Smith combined to win 16 NCAA Championships in their careers.” Kentucky, North Carolina and especially UCLA were the basketball dynasties of that era.

They ‘Noles won 27 games that season and set a team record. They managed to lose the most important game of them all… the last one. They fell to UCLA, 81-76, on the Bruins' home court in the Championship Game. Coach Hugh Durham (an old FSU point guard turned head coach) might have bested John Wooden and his Bruin protégé Bill Walton if Dave was on the floor. It became the eighth championship for UCLA in nine years under their legendary head coach John Wooden.

FSU did win two NCAA Championships under that Dad’GumIt football Coach that had more than enough of his own problems with NCAA sanctions and probations. The football team still seems a little too rowdy for me. FSU recently forfeited 22 games because some athletes preferred to try to cheat the system on tests instead of going to summer school to stay eligible like Dave did. Bobby retired under a bit of a cloud and somehow did not have all of those forfeits deducted from his record. He can no longer compete against Joe Paterno to be the winningest college football coach. That race is over and the winner declared.

Unlike when Neon Deon played football and baseball at FSU... you get the drift. I am still quite embarrassed by my losing winners.


Florida State also has had more than its share of chances in Omaha in the College World Series. Florida State’s home away from home is Omaha. The team has gone to the tournament twenty times. Only three teams have gone to the CWS more times than FSU. Each of them has won the final game.

In 1968 – ’69 Jack Stallings was named head baseball coach. He inherited a pretty good team from former head coach Fred Hatfield, who resigned several months before the new season began to return to professional baseball. Hatfield coached FSU into NCAA postseason tournament play in four of his five seasons and to the College World Series in 1965.

I had gone to high school with Jim Gurzynski, FSU’s first baseman. He was two years older than me and was a senior. He hit a lot of home runs over FSU’s right field green monster. Gurzynski did not live in the athletic dorm because he was married.

A fellow I did know well from the dorm was Craig Richard Skok #33; one of our Southpaw aces in 1969. I liked Craig. He was soft spoken, confident and very talented. Like me, baseball was one of Craig’s first loves. I arranged my class schedule around the FSU home games. It there was a conflict, baseball always won. My German suffered a bit that quarter.

When I think back to Craig I remember two things. I remember what a wicked curve ball he had in college. I caught him several times on the grass in front of the dorm. His first pitch to me was a curve that went sharp right and then hung a hard left as it crossed the plate. That one crashed into my left elbow. I had a hard time trying to decide if the pain from the ball hitting my elbow was worse than the sting of the palm of my left hand still in my old catcher’s mitt when I caught his third pitch. I went inside to the janitor’s closet to get some hard sponges to cushion the next blow. If his curveballs had that much heat on them I was not looking forward to the fastballs. The other thing I remember was how hard Craig always worked when he was on the mound.

IIRC Craig did get drafted after his junior year but did not go high enough to get the signing bonus he surely deserved. He decided to come back for his senior year. He was a workhorse of the pitching staff. Back in the days when coaches thought pitchers ought to all be like Sandy Koufax and pitch complete games, Craig was in the starting rotation, one of the four regulars.

Pitchers took their at bats and tried to contribute to their own destiny. Everyone was supposed to be a designated hitter. Skok batted a magnificent .143. His contribution was mainly on the mound. He fielded his position flawlessly for the entire year. He never had even one E charged to him. Craig had about a 3 to one average of K’s (strikeouts to the uninitiated) vs. Base on Balls.

His season record was six and two. He only had one undecided game. He won all of his games before the length of the season and his pitch count overpowered his ability to deliver victories. He lost his last two games. Craig had pitched three complete games and two 8.1 inning games. He was sore and broken by the end of the long season when twice he pitched only 6.1 innings in the games where he got the L's. Even with those two losses he ended the season with a .94 ERA.

According to the official stats in his last away game at Auburn, he pitched his second 6.1 inning game in a row. Craig left the game when the score was tied. He is listed as the losing pitcher. Baseball is as much a game of statistics as it is a game of tradition. I cannot understand how he could lose a game that he left when the score was tied. How can that happen? The winning run was not on base or across the plate when he was pitcher of record.

Sometimes college scorekeepers did not cross their eyes or dot their T’s properly. Statistics can be pretty brutal once they are in the books.

Five Seminoles went on to the major leagues that year. Craig was one of them. After his senior year he signed with the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent. I think if he hadn’t been pitching injured at the end of that year he would have gone high in the draft. One of my mentors, the local sports editor sure thought it was going to happen. He did not mention that Craig ended the year in pain and suffering. He did not want to hurt the young man’s chances in the draft. Craig loved baseball and he went to the minor leagues for his on the job training. There wasn’t much time for recuperation. Minor leaguers had two or three seasons a year depending upon how highly their team thought of them and often went to spring training with the club. Craig was one of those kind of guys. The better they were the harder they had to work.

Craig spent four years in the Show… finally making it there in 1973. He had one year with the Red Sox pitching 28.2 innings… an 0-1 record with a 6.28 ERA. He relieved in 11 games. After a trip down, he went to the Texas Rangers in 1976 and had a pretty miserable year. I don’t know how it was possible unless he was shelled and threw a home run ball to his first batter in almost every appearance, but according to his official stats he pitched a total of 5 innings in 9 games. His 12.6 ERA seems to support that theory. He spent some more time recovering from injury back in Triple A. He next was called up to join the Braves for the ’78 - ’79 seasons where he ended up with 3-2 and 1-3 records. Over those two years he pitched a total of 87 innings. He was a workhorse not only at the end of his pitching career in college but also in his last two years in the pros.

In 1969 FSU did not make it to the CWS or even the Regionals. They ended up in the FINAL COLLEGIATE BASEBALL POLL a solid #10.


FSU’s current baseball head coach is Mike Martin. Mike has been around FSU baseball for a long, long, long time. About thirty years as head coach. He followed Dick Howser who followed Woody Woodward who followed Jack Stallings. Mike is a heck of a baseball coach. He is one of the best coaches in college baseball with one of the highest winning percentages out there. Coach Martin has never won the Big One. No team has been to Omaha more times (20) without winning a championship than Florida State has. Fourteen of those appearances were under Head Coach Mike Martin.

Florida State University Seminoles Baseball is nothing but tradition. The ‘Noles are to college baseball what the Chicago Cubs are to professional baseball. The Seminoles have a little better winning percentage than the Cubs except when it comes to winning World Series’ titles.

After this year, although the College World Series will still be held in Omaha, it won’t ever again be played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, formally known as Omaha Municipal Stadium, a stadium which has been in operation since 1948. For this loss of tradition we will all be losers. It is akin to abandoning Tiger Stadium, tearing down Yankee Stadium or even the Cubs leaving Wrigley Field.

I wish in 2010, the year of the last College World Series at Rosenblatt, maybe, just maybe Mike can walk off the field with an even bigger smile on his face showing how proud he is of the team he has stuck with all of these years. Maybe this year FSU can come out of the Loser’s Bracket and go all the way. Maybe Coach Martin can win his first World Series and the last series ever at that stadium.

That would be one for the statistics and one for tradition. I only have a little advice for Coach Martin: Don’t leave your pitcher in too long and let TCU crush us like they did in the first game that sent us to the loser’s bracket. Don’t let your pitcher become injured worse by pitching injured.

Maybe Mike McGee will still have enough gas left in his tank to hit two home runs and a double to beat these guys like he did against those dreaded rivals, the Florida Gators, in the last elimination game the day before yesterday. Then he can again come in from left field in relief in the ninth inning to record the final two outs just like he did against the Gators, including that stunning line-drive double play with the bases loaded that ended the game. Holt the other team captain said. "The talk was, 'Hey, we know what it's about. We're going to stick around this time.' " I wish that wish comes true.

If the ‘Noles can beat TCU on their second try they have a few more games to win before they will meet one team standing between them and the national title: the UCLA Bruins. UCLA is the one team still in the Winner’s Bracket on FSU’s side of the draw. All their players and coaches have John Wooden’s initials on their ballcaps to honor that great coach that died earlier this year. Baseball is all about tradition… to win the title the Seminoles might even have to beat UCLA… only TWICE this time. UCLA has been to the College World Series three times. They can wait for their turn.


The other side of the draw has Clemson as the only undefeated team and FSU beat them to win the ACC Title before the Regionals. They went to different Regionals and Super Regionals.


I wish that Jim Gurzynski, Dave Cowens and Craig Richard Skok were available tonite. Craig’s rotator cuff should have had more than enough time to heal by now. The Seminoles could use Gurzynski’s and Cowens’ bats. They could probably hit one outta Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium… almost to the moon with those new fangled aluminum bats. Even in their sixties we might need them in the lineup tonight. It would give each a chance to participate in a championship game if it comes to that.

At a minimum they will be rooting for our team from their recliners... just like me. If FSU loses to TCU or UCLA it really won’t be the end of the world. They can be winning losers and just like the Cubs; there is always next year.


DakotaDawg is rooting for her ‘Noles! She is helping me with some of that German I missed in college while I was at the ballpark. I hope she is not too talkative. I have a miracle in the works to watch. I wish we are the home team. I wish someone will crush that walk off home run. I wish FSU and Coach Martin win it.


If wishes were horses, the Seminole Baseball Team will ride home from the series instead of taking an early flight home.


IIf the ‘Noles can beat TCU on their second try they have a few more games to win before they will meet one team standing between them and the national title: the UCLA Bruins. UCLA is the one team still in the Winner’s Bracket on FSU’s side of the draw. All their players and coaches have John Wooden’s initials on their ballcaps to honor that great coach that died earlier this year. Baseball is all about tradition… to win the title the Seminoles might even have to beat UCLA… only TWICE this time. UCLA has been to the College World Series three times. They can wait for their turn.


The other side of the draw has Clemson as the only undefeated team and FSU beat them to win the ACC Title before the Regionals. They went to different Regionals and Super Regionals.


I wish that Jim Gurzynski, Dave Cowens and Craig Richard Skok were available tonite. Craig’s rotator cuff should have had more than enough time to heal by now. The Seminoles could use Gurzynski’s and Cowens’ bats. They could probably hit one outta Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium… almost to the moon with those new fangled aluminum bats. Even in their sixties we might need them in the lineup tonight. It would give each a chance to participate in a championship game if it comes to that.


At a minimum they will be rooting for our team from their recliners... just like me. If FSU loses to TCU or UCLA it really won’t be the end of the world. They can be winning losers and just like the Cubs; there is always next year.


DakotaDawg is rooting for her ‘Noles! She is helping me with some of that German I missed in college while I was at the ballpark. I hope she is not too talkative. I have a miracle in the works to watch. I wish we are the home team. I wish someone will crush that walk off home run. I wish FSU and Coach Martin win it.


If wishes were horses, the Seminole Baseball Team will ride home from the series instead of taking an early flight home.


In baseball anything is possible, even Winning Losers. I am very proud of my Winning Losers regardless of the outcome against TCU, any of the others still left... even UCLA.


It ain't over 'til it's over.

Thank you fellow catcher.

© 06.23.2010 steven d philbrick SR+ DakotaDawg


POSTED BY SRPLUS AT 2:25 PM 0 COMMENTS