A big and loud crowd packed into Reckling Park last night to welcome back the National Champion Rice Owls baseball team. The Chron did not give an estimate of attendance, but the consensus on the Rice Sports Forum is about 4000. Some of those folks were not very happy with the long list of speakers, a sentiment only touched on by the Chron:
As the celebration dragged into its second hour, the crowd became increasingly restless to hear from Graham, even interrupting one speaker to chants of, "We want Wayne!"
Amazingly, Rice will be in a good position to repeat as champions, since all four starting pitchers will return. Some of the players who were drafted, especially Enrique Cruz (a 14th-round pick), may choose to return.
Finally, there's this John Lopez column, which has some nice things to say about Wayne Graham, and this unsigned editorial which lauds Rice's commitment to having genuine student-athletes.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 25, 2003 to Baseball | TrackBack