Tennessee-Arkansas Might Be the Most Must-Watch Event on Television This Weekend
Whether or not you're a big college baseball fan, if you love storylines, there is nothing more must-watch this weekend than Tennessee and Arkansas facing off in Fayetteville with a trip to the College World Series on the line — and I'm including the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final.
In what has become one of the fiercest rivalries in college baseball, the defending national champions head to the team that has never quite been able to get over the hump — the Razorbacks have been to Omaha seven times under current head coach Dave Van Horn, but still don't have a title to show for it. The lightning rod that leads the most controversial team in the sport, Tony Vitello, left his role as an assistant under Van Horn at Arkansas to take the head coaching job in Knoxville. Each team has one of the three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, with the Vols led by ace Liam Doyle and the Hogs' lineup anchored by shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. The teams are the two most talented in the country, according to ESPN.
I don't remember the last CWS championship series that had this much intrigue and we're getting it on campus for a Super Regional.
And oh yeah, the fanbases hate each other. Arkansas hates everyone, but that is ratcheted up when they look in the opposing dugout and see the coach they wanted so desperately to be theirs who has turned an also-ran program into the sport's preeminent power. I'd be upset, too.
All that is to say that this matchup could be the best we've ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if it's better than most of the games in the College World Series. Five potential first round picks in the upcoming MLB Draft. The student returning to face the teacher having already overtaken him. A ballpark that will be out for blood.
This is why we do it, folks.
