Pat Murphy's ASU Sun Devils Trippin' Out Over Upcoming College Baseball World Series

Bar none, our favorite sporting event in the world is the the College Baseball World Series, played every year at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Been there just once, though, to watch and report on Arizona State's third-place finish in the 1994 tournament. That was the one during which the Sun...

By Paul Rubin

June 10, 2009

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Bar none, our favorite sporting event in the world is the the College Baseball World Series, played every year at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Been there just once, though, to watch and report on Arizona State's third-place finish in the 1994 tournament. That was the one during which the Sun Devils' longtime coach (and our story subject) Jim Brock died of cancer.

Years passed, and in 2006 we spent time with Coach Brock's successor, the controversial Pat Murphy, for a piece entitled "Tough Coach." We wound up enjoying the experience, as Murph (in the photo) is a complex, compelling, and generally likeable character.

No one expected a champion team to emerge out of Packard Stadium this season, but Murphy's Devils pulled a fast one, riding a late-season wave to a Super Regional win against Clemson last weekend en route to the Promised Land of Omaha.

ASU is one of eight teams that will vie for the crown starting this weekend, The team plays highly ranked North Carolina on Saturday afternoon, in a game that will be televised on ESPN.

Not all of us on board here are big on ASU. But we'll make an exception and pull for the Sun Devils and its remarkable coach to win the coveted College World Series,

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