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Thursday, June 17, aoio | The Red a Black
Mcßee: Baseball or bicuspids?
By MITCH WLOMERT
The Red & Black
When Georgia pitcher
Alex Mcßee was drafted
by the Los Angeles Dodgers
in the 14th round of last
week's Major League
Baseball Draft, he was
faced with two options for
the future go profession
al and leave academics
behind, or continue the
pursuit of graduate school.
Mcßee’s choice? Both.
The senior, who is pur
suing a pre- dentistry
degree, will play in the
Dodgers' minor-league
system this summer while
preparing his application
to dental school.
“I’m going to go ahead
and apply in the fall, and if
I’m doing good in the pros
111 defer,” Mcßee said. "I’U
either make the bigs, and if
I’m not going to. I’ll go to
dental school from there."
Mcßee signed a $5,000
contract with Los Angeles
following his draft selec
tion and will report to the
Ogden Raptors, the team’s
rookie affiliate, on Sunday.
The e-foot-6 lefty will
play for the Raptors until
August, when he returns
to Athens to finish his
degree and take his Dental
Admission Test.
Although the hectic
schedule of professional
baseball on top of a dental
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school application may
seem like pulling teeth,
managing time between
sports and academics has
become the norm for
Mcßee. who has a 3.4
grade point average and is
a four-time member of the
SEC Academic Honor
Roll.
“That’s just how It was
growing up,” Mcßee said.
“If you want to make A’s,
you have to do whatever It
takes.”
Mcßee’s choice to do
whatever it takes has left
him with both athletic and
academic opportunities
ahead of him. If his base
ball career doesn’t pan
out, he can earn his Doctor
of Dental Medicine at the
Medical College of Oeorgia,
the school he is applying
to, In four years.
The short length of the
program Is what attracted
Mcßee to dentistry over
his second choice, ortho
pedic surgery.
“It’s four years to do
medical school, then six
years to do residency, and
I wasn’t too sure about
that,” Mcßee said. “But
with dentists It’s four
years, then you’re done.”
But Mcßee isn’t taking
any of his possible future
plans for granted after
watching his draft stock
fall the past the two sea
sons due to injuries and
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▲ Alx Mcßee will prepare his application for
dentistry school while playing for the Los
Angeles Dodgers’ rookie team in Ogden, Utah.
Inconsistencies. After a
successful sophomore
campaign that included
seven wins and a 3.98
eamed-run average, his
performance declined,
making only 15 appearanc
es his Junior year while
battling mononucleosis.
Control Issues pocked
his senior year, finishing
with a career-worst 7.25
eamed-run average while
walking 32 batters and
throwing 14 wild pitches in
20 appearances.
The pitching struggles
SPORTS
Mcßee encountered his
last two seasons reminded
him that even though he is
now a professional base
ball player, it Is not a bad
idea to be professional in
something off the field as
well.
“Baseball is never a
guarantee, as I found out,”
Mcßee said. “You don’t
ever know what is going to
happen. You’ve got to have
a backup plan.
“You want to devote 100
percent to baseball, but
you have to split time.”
Money at the root of
conference changes
It is a very rare event in
college athletics when
the big-time decision
makers elect to keep
things the same, or God
forbid, downsize.
Everything in college
sports is always about get
ting bigger, and supposed
ly, better.
Witness the expansion •
of the NCAA Tournament
to 68 teams in late April.
Though the format still
must be approved by the
men’s basketball commit
tee later this summer, it
seems like a foregone con
clusion it will go through.
Another example of the
“bigger equals better” phi
losophy of the NCAA is to
look at how many teams
go to bowl games now.
There are 35 (!) bowl
games approved for the
next four years, with the
addition earlier this year of
the New Era Pinstripe
Bowl in New York City and
the Dallas Football Classic
at the Cotton Bowl. This is
not to be confused with
the old Cotton Bowl game,
which moved to the new
Cowboys Stadium In
Arlington, Texas.
So count me among the
surprised when earlier this
week it was announced
that the Big 12 Conference
would not “dissolve,” as
some people forecasted
after the departure of
Nebraska to the Big Ten
Conference and Colorado
to the Pac-10 Conference.
ESPN’s Andy Katz
reported June 15 that “a
number of influential peo
ple Inside and outside of
college athletics mobilized
over the past week to save
the Big 12 Conference,”
mainly due to the fact they
did not like how the Pac-10
went about trying to
poach six teams from the
Big 12, and then turn
themselves Into a “super
conference" involving 16
teams.
I was all but ready to
give Texas, Texas A & M,
Oklahoma, Oklahoma
State and Texas Tech a
pat on the back for not
going after the money and
head westward to the
waiting, open arms of the
Pac-10 Conference.
However, that was only
until I realized they stayed
in the Big 12 for one rea
son money.
Quite a shocking revela
tion, right?
Katz reported Texas
will see increased revenue
from television rights and
the chance to have its own
network, and this new con
figuration stands to make
UT between S2O and $25
million annually.
There’s a reason for the
phrase “everything’s bigger
in Texas," you know.
But now that the dust
has settled and revealed
the Big 12 will not be going
away, where does that
leave the state of college
athletics?
One of the biggest
doubts I have is the Big 12
will stay at only 10 teams.
Is the Big 12 comfort
able not having a confer
ence championship game
in football? And if not, .
\UJ Ryan
Black
what schools will they go
after to return to 12?
Texas Christian seems
like a logical fit for geo
graphical purposes and
Utah seems like an
upgrade over Colorado
football-wise.
Utah has been much
more of a BCS contender
than Colorado in the last
half-decade, going unde
feated and winning two
BCS bowl games In 2004
and 2008.
And while Nebraska is
on the way back towards
prominence with head
coach Bo Petal, there is no
doubt that TCU owns a
better program than the
Comhuskers at this Junc
ture.
The Pac-10 is in a simi
lar quandary to the Big 12.
With the addition of
Colorado, they now have
11 teams, Just one short of
the NCAA minimum need
ed to hold a football con
ference championship
game.
Now spumed by the Big
12 schools, who would they
look at?
Utah would have to be
considered the front-run
ner, and reports from
Comcast Sports on June
15 said the Pac-10 will
extend an invitation for
the Utes to join the confer
ence.
If for some reason Utah
does not accept the Pac
10’s overture, don’t count
out Brigham Young.
They certainly would
not pass up the chance to
head to a guaranteed BCS
conference, and BYU could
hold that as a recruiting
advantage over Utah, their
bitter in-state rival.
Though most experts
feel the Mountain West will
be awarded an automatic
bid to the BCS party next
time the talks come
around, one can never be
too sure.
One less serious issue is
the way the three confer
ences in question Big
Ten, Pac-10 and Big 12
are misnomers.
The Pac-10 now has 11
teams, and added a team
in Colorado that isn’t close
to the Pacific Ocean.
And for the Big Ten and
the Big 12, there is a rever
sal of sorts going on, where
the Big Ten has 12 teams
and the Big 12 has 10.
Might I propose they
just trade conference
names?
Or would that make too
much sense?
But the NCAA isn’t in
the business of making
“sense” they’re more
about making “cents.”
This recent reshuffling
of conferences reminds us
that though the NCAA is
open to change among its
member institutions, one
thing, one phrase, always
stays the same money
talks.
SPORTS
NOTEBOOK
USC LB transfers to UGA
The University line
backer corps is about to
welcome anew addition.
Jarvis Jones, a transfer
from Southern California,
was a star linebacker at
Carver High School in
Columbus who chose USC
over Georgia, LSU, Texas
and Florida in a heated
recruiting battle in 2009.
This time around, the
Georgia native felt the
Bulldogs were the right
choice for him. picking
Georgia over Clemson,
Florida State and North
Carolina.
Jones spent June 14
and 15 in Athens, touring
the school and meeting
with fellow football play
ers.
Most importantly, Jones
met with UGA doctors,
who cleared him to play in
2011. Jones ir\jured his
neck in USC’s eighth game
last season and missed the
remainder of the year.
Per NCAA transfer
rules, Jones must sit out
the 2010 season before
being eligible to play next
year.
Jones appeared in eight
games in 2009, accumulat
ing 13 tackles and 1.5 tack
les for loss.
Ryan Black