Rantin’ & Ravin’: another reminder of NCAA’s absence
06/06/2025
By Chris Marler
The NCAA Postseason in any sport continues to be absolute cinema as the kids say. As we enter June, it’s baseball’s turn to literally and figuratively step up to the plate. Regionals have come and gone which means we have made our way to Supers, and 16 teams are one series win away from a trip to Omaha.
Through all the home runs, Cinderella 4 Seeds, and over the top celebrations, one thing has been painstakingly obvious – the NCAA is nowhere to be found.
The NCAA has been a joke of an authoritative figure for years now. They seem to only show up at the worst and most unnecessary times, making a bad situation somehow worse against all odds. Ever since they lost power from NIL, the portal, etc., the entire organization has operated like Andy Bernard in Season 9 of The Office. Not the fun Andy desperately seeking others’ approval like Season 8 and before.
Season 9 Andy. The one who disappeared for three months, and then waltzed back in like nothing had happened expecting to still have his job that he abandoned.
That’s the NCAA.
The only time they’ve been involved in the tournament so far was when an umpire threw out Duke OF AJ Garcia for “illegal use of home run props.” In case you missed it, after hitting a home run in the eighth to cut the lead to one, he put on a hard hat in the dugout which is what Duke uses for their post-home run celebrations. The next batter then drove in two more runs to take the lead for the Blue Devils 3-2.
Keep in mind this isn’t game one of the regional or a regular season game. This was the Regional final with a chance to advance to Supers. After the go-ahead hit from his teammate, Garcia took roughly two steps out of the dugout to celebrate with his team. However, by rule you can not exit the dugout with a “prop.” So in the height of the celebration and heat of the moment, he was ejected by the umpire and thrown out of the game.
If all that wasn’t dumb enough, he will also miss the first game of their Super Regional series against Murray State.
That simply cannot happen. We thought eligibility rulings or targeting calls were bad, but how about missing the biggest game of the year because common sense couldn’t prevail.
For the first time in the history of college sports, almost every issue we have is almost no fault of the NCAA. It’s incredible. Now, granted, their lack of leadership did a whole helluva lot to push us to this point. However, for the most part, all the consistent and potential problems driving fans insane aren’t because of the NCAA. Which means for the first time in their entire existence, the NCAA has a chance to do something it’s never done before – be likable.
Not only that, but they have a chance to make common sense decisions, alleviate some of the negativity surrounding college sports, and for once be the cool kid at the lunch table. Not the obnoxiously annoying, power tripping hall monitor who looks at a rule book and becomes less flexible than me at a Hot Yoga class my girlfriend drags me to.
I know it seems odd that we would ever look to the actual governing body whose sole job is to oversee collegiate athletics. Normally, we would ask anyone else, including the government apparently. However, we could actually use some help right now. Whether that’s coming in to celebrate more or easing off the brakes on dumb calls, a more merry presence would be nice.