Football may be king in Texas and in the Houston area ..... but when you have 3 of our college teams in the NCAA Tournament baseball .. one could make the argument that baseball is actuallyl our best sport.

Coach Wayne Graham's Rice Owls are seeded #6 nationally. The Owls will host a Regional and will play Sam Houston State Friday night. Texas and St. John's are also in the Houston Regional. Graham says,"Sam Houston has as good of hitting as any team we played all year. Look at their stats ... they swing the bat really well. We're gonna have to pitch well and put some runs up there to beat 'em." The Owls played the Bearcats twice during the regular season ... and lost both games. Still the Owls ... who stumbled badly by losing twice in the C-USA Tournament ... believe they can still get to Omaha. Senior J.P. Padron says he appreciates what Coach Graham's experience brings to the team,"I appreciate all the things he's done for this team ...he's brought us together really well. This team has more chemistry than any team I've ever been on. We enjoy each other's comapany more than anything, so I'm looking forward to making this journey and see if we can get back to Omaha."

U of H will play Dallas Baptist in the College Station Regional after the Cougars rolled to the Conference USA Tournament title over the weekend. If the Cougars play next weekend like they did in their conference tournament ..... they could very well advance into the Super-Regional that would follow. Head Coach Raynor Noble was at the watch party at Skeeter's Grill in Southest Houston this morning,"Our opponent, Dallas Baptist, we played them last year and they are very scrappy with a fairly young team. They've gotten more experience and they've beat some very quality teams so we've got our hands very full ... but I wouldn't have it any other way. I think that's what our mentality is right now ...whoever stands in front of us we're just gonna play the best we can."

Then there's Texas Southern. The Tigers are headed to the NCAA Tournament for only the 2nd time in school history ..... but it's also the 2nd time in the past four years. The Tigers will play L.S.U. in the Baton Rouge Regional. Head coach Candy Robinson was expecting to play Rice in the local Regional but the Tigers played great in Baton Rouge last week as they won the SWAC Tournament at Southern University. Robinson says,"I told my kids that wherever we go we've gotta come ready to play. I had hoped to go to Rice because of the fan base ...but since we didn't ... we still have to do the same exact thing that we were gonna do at Rice...and that is ...we still gotta win a ballgame." T.S.U. shocked Rice in 2004 and won their first round game before being eliminated ... if the Tigers could do that again .... it would be great. And if they get hot .... they might even be able to do more than that. For me though .... a sports guy who is Houston proud ....I'm thrilled that we have 3 schools in the NCAA'S.