The rest of the nation continues to deal with SEC burnout.
Fans from Arkansas to Florida and from Mississippi to Kentucky beat their collective chests every time the Southeastern Conference dominates a sport.
It’s what has made it the most-hated league in all of college athletics — that, and well, unprecedented success on the field.
Winning championships by one team and bragging about it from the other 13 in the conference quickly wear thin.
I can understand, but here is a warning for SEC haters — stop reading now.
The conference has won four of the last six College World Series and is well-positioned to win another in 2015, considering SEC teams make up half of the eight-team field.
Having four SEC teams in the field ties the high-water mark for College World Series teams from the same conference. But that doesn’t guarantee an SEC team will win it all.
But it might mean that Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh will be holding a satellite camp in Omaha this week.
In 2006, the Atlantic Coast Conference had four teams, and in 2004 the SEC did as well. However, the only time a four-team conference ended up winning the national title was in 1997, when LSU beat Alabama in the championship game.
On one side of the CWS bracket, Arkansas faces Virginia at 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by Florida vs. Miami at 7. On the other side, LSU takes on TCU at noon Sunday, followed by Cal State Fullerton against Vanderbilt at 7.
Only half of the field is made up of the top eight national seeds: No. 2 LSU, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Miami and No. 7 TCU.
That means history is on the side of Vanderbilt, Virginia, Arkansas and Cal State Fullerton. In the past 11 College World Series, a non-national seed has won nine of them. Only LSU in 2009 and South Carolina in 2011 are the exceptions.
After looking at the first round of the Major League Baseball draft this week, it should be no surprise the SEC is so well-represented in Omaha.
Overall, the SEC had four of the top eight picks, five of the top 20, and seven of the 36 total first-round selections for the 2015 MLB Draft.
Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson and LSU shortstop Alex Bregman were taken first and second, respectively.
Vandy has three players who were taken in the first 24 picks of the draft. The Commodores are my pick to advance from that side of the bracket to face Florida.
Yep, an all-SEC championship series. I told SEC haters to quit reading a long time ago. I can hear the chants from TD Ameritrade Park already: S-E-C, S-E-C.
Las Vegas considers Florida and LSU the favorites to win it all, and that often can be an albatross.
According to Bovada, an online betting site, odds of the Gators bringing home the championship are 5/2, with the Tigers listed at 11/4. Vandy is next at 4/1.
So expect a Virginia-Cal State Fullerton final, right? That would be a snoozer — even for a college baseball enthusiast like myself.
The SEC is also dominating in other sports as well. Yes, there is football, but I am talking about softball.
The conference recently sent five teams to the women’s CWS in Oklahoma City, where Florida won its second straight national title in softball in May.
Now we’ll have to wait at least 12 days to see if the league can add to its hardware.
