2008 College World Series begins tomorrow afternoon

Flordia State and Standord open things up tomorrow at 2:00 pm ET, while Georgia and tournament favroite Miami occupy the night game slot at 7:00.  Both games can be seen on ESPN, and you can find the complete College World Series TV schedule here courtesy of Rivals.  You can also find team breakdowns, hisotry and analysis here.

I'll obviously be pulling hard for my beloved Dawgs, who'll be seeking their 2nd Baseball National Championship, but it sure as hell isn't going to be easy for them to taste glory this time around.  Hopefully Miami will pull a "Big Brown" tonight, or maye Georgia can at least carry the momentum from their Super Regional win against N.C. State over to Omaha (Chuck Amato...?).  Prospects like the Dawgs' Gordon Beckham (.401, 26 homers and 72 RBIs), the #8 overall pick in this year's MLB Draft to the White Sox, and Miami's Yonder Alonso (.367, 23 homers, 71 RBIs), who went 7th overall to the Reds, should make this game enjoyable even for the neutral spectator. 

Oh yeah, Miami had two other guys taken in the first round as well:  Jemile Weeks, Rickie's little brother (#12 overall, Oakland), and reliever Carlos Gutierrez (#27 to the Twins).  No wonder they're favorites to win it all.  Georgia actually had another 1st rounder this year in closer Josh Fields (#20 to Seattle).  I just hope they get a chance to use him.  A couple other first round picks to check out are Florida State catcher Buster Posey (.460, 26 homers, 92 RBIs (!), #5 to the Giants), and Stanford's very own backstop, Jason Castro (.379, 13 homers, 69 RBIs, #10 to Houston).  The draft talent obvoiusly runs much deeper than the first round too, so the names mentioned here are really just the tip of the iceberg. 

Fresno State, the other Bulldogs making their way out to Omaha, could present a nice little storyline as well.  Having become the first Regional 4 Seed to reach the College World Series, it should be interesting to see how they fare now.  Of course, if you follow the general idea that Vegas knows best, at least more often than not, things don't look particularly good for either squad of Bulldogs this year...

From Sportsbook.com 

Miami, 3-2
UNC, 5-2
FSU, 7-2
LSU, 9-2
Rice, 11-2
Stanford, 6-1
Georgia, 12-1
Fresno, 12-1

From Cappers Mall, via The Greek Sportsbook (I think)

Miami, +200
UNC, +250
FSU, +400
Rice, +450
LSU, +600
Stanford, +650
Georgia, +1000
Fresno, +1200

Some slight differences there I suppose, but it's clear we should be expecting, as unfortunate as it is, a Miami vs UNC championship game.  Of course, in College Baseball, with metal bats, kids high on emotion, playing for glory instead of money, etc., etc., etc...you never know.