 "Photo: Courtesy of SDSU Athletics")
Most college students enjoy the summertime. There's baseball, trips to the beach and reckless disregard for skin cancer - what's not to love?
But when you run the sports section of a college newspaper, summer is just a constant struggle of searching for stories.
Fortunately, my esteemed editor came up with a fantastic column idea: an All-San Diego State All-Star team (ok, maybe it's not great, but his girlfriend was in town for the week and he's not allowed to write any more Kevin O'Connell stories, so it was up to me to fill the page for this issue).
Last week's MLB All-Star game featured the top athletes and most popular players from all across the major leagues.
But the burning question on everyone's mind was, "What would a baseball team entirely made up of SDSU all-stars look like?" Well, I'm here to answer that question.
First, you'd have to start out with Stephen Strasburg on the mound. The junior hurler has established himself as one of the best pitchers in the nation. With a 1.57 ERA from last season, a 23-strikeout game under his belt and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, Strasburg is the best thing to happen to SDSU since the trolley started going all the way to the Mexican border.
Behind the plate is Russell Allen, team captain and leading tackler for Aztec football in 2007. Allen has the smarts required to be a solid catcher, and the thought of a collision at the plate with a linebacker will be enough to keep base runners on third far too terrified to try to take home.
At first base will be Marshall Faulk. I don't really have any witty remarks about him, so instead I'll just give you the stats from his second game ever at SDSU: 37 carries, 386 yards, seven touchdowns. I'm not positive, but I'm fairly certain that's more offensive production than SDSU had in all of last season.
Second base will be covered by Tony Gwynn. Gwynn set the all-time assists record as a point-guard for the SDSU basketball team and is regarded as one of the best passers in school history. Also, he apparently played some baseball too, so hopefully he can swing the bat half-decently.
Aime Cordeiro's status as all-time digs leader for Aztec volleyball makes her perfect for covering ground balls at the shortstop position. But from what I remember after covering volleyball last year, she's about three and a half feet tall - so pulling line drives out of the air could be a problem.
SDSU alumnus Carl Weathers, best known for playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, will be the third-baseman. After getting killed by that large Russian man in Rocky IV, you know he's looking to go yard and do the "Living in America" dance around the bases.
The outfield, however, will be the strongest aspect of the team. With Fox Sport's Jeanne Zelasko, award-winning actor Gregory Peck and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge Simpson), covering the deep ball, the opposing team's baserunners will not have an easy time advancing on the diamond (Zelasko has an absolute rocket for an arm and Peck can rob a homer or two with his trademarked mad hops).
They may not have the raw talent of the boys from "The Sandlot," nor the likeability of the "Bad News Bears," but with Ralph Rubio as team manger, there will be plenty of fish tacos at the post-game party. And if they can convince the San Diego Chicken (who really did go to SDSU) to come in as their closer, they'll be close to unstoppable.
-David Pope is an English junior who is buying Sports Editor Edward Lewis a Kevin O'Connell calendar for his birthday.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
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