All teams fall on hard times at some point during the season, and the two carrying Long Beach State’s highest hopes have been no different.

 

“To reach the top, first you gotta fall before you make it.”– Nas

 

Women’s volleyball and women’s soccer expected a lot out of themselves heading into 2007, and both formed challenging early-season schedules to prove they belonged.  But each has stumbled—enduring grueling road trips against ranked opponents.

 

While soccer fared poorly on a road swing to the Carolinas—dropping games to #20 Clemson and then-ranked-#24 Wake Forest—volleyball surprisingly suffered its losses at home, losing their first three games in the Pyramid before finally sweeping Florida State on Saturday.  Volleyball at a disappointing 3-4, and soccer is just 2-3-0 after another loss at #24 BYU last night.

 

Let’s not sound the alarms quite yet, folks.  Soccer’s losses were gritty affairs to top-flight clubs, and the volleyball team fell to some of the nation’s best.  Those teams are ranked highly for a reason.  But Long Beach State scheduled those games to prove that they should be mentioned among the country’s best, and have thus far failed to prove it.

 

Don’t expect head coaches Mauricio Ingrassia and Brian Gimmillaro to sit idly by and watch the Beach’s hopes wash away.  Two of the most respected coaches you’ll ever meet, rest assured they’ll be working day and night to right the ship.  Soccer hosts Oklahoma this Friday and Baylor on Saturday, while volleyball travels to the Denver Pioneer Classic this weekend to face Denver, Washington State and Ohio—three games in two days will certainly test their mettle.

 

The schedules will get a bit easier down the road—as the teams get into a regular rotation and find a better feel for their strengths and weaknesses—and only then will we know just how good they can be.

 

Two years ago, former Dirtbag and current Angel pitcher Jared Weaver sent shockwaves through the major leagues as he tore his way through his rookie season—tying an MLB record by winning his first nine games.

 

This year, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki carries on that pristine Dirtbag legacy.

 

Tulowitzki has performed above and beyond expectations with the Colorado Rockies, setting an NL rookie shortstop record with 21 home runs, passing legend Ernie Banks and garnering early Rookie of the Year talk from experts.

 

Are we supposed to be surprised?  Long Beach State has turned into somewhat of a major-leaguer factory over the past few years, and don’t be shocked to see Evan Longoria—who filled Tulowitzki’s shoes at shortstop—or Danny Espinosa—who filled Longoria’s—donning an MLB cap in the future.

 

Lastly, with the baseball season winding down—or at least is seems so, now that football is in full swing—end our pastime this year by remembering one of the all-time greats: both as a baseball player, and a human being.

 

Roberto Clemente will go down in history as one of the greatest all-around baseball players of all time—a lightning-fast Puerto Rican with an arm that consistently fired lasers from right to third.  His days ended in 1971—shortly after his 3,000th career hit—as his plane crashed into the sea while delivering goods and supplies to the needy in Nicaragua.  We lost a legend, but more importantly, a humanitarian.  One of my greatest regrets is that I never got to see him play.

 

But I’ve spent the last week catching up on all that I missed with Clemente, by David Maraniss, a great biography that any baseball fan should get through pretty quickly.  In my recent tradition of recommending sports books at the end of my posts, check out this gem and I’m sure you’ll agree that there will never be another Roberto Clemente.