Randy Smith: Murray State Is CWS Cinderella

The College World Series begins in Omaha, NE this week and none of the eight teams were there a year ago. There is one team however that is making perhaps the most improbable appearance of all. Murray State is one of the final eight teams to play for the title, and to say everyone is surprised is a huge understatement. Quite obviously it's the Racers' first trip to the CWS and they're seeded eighth, while Arizona is the number one seed.

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Murray State's baseball stadium seats only 800 fans. Head Coach Dan Skirka cuts the grass at the field himself, while his players are responsible for covering the field with tarps. And in case you're wondering, Skirka makes $68,000 a year. That's compared to the $3 million annually that Tennessee's Tony Vitello makes. Most college baseball fans likely feel the Racers shouldn't be there but they earned their way to Omaha.

Murray State won its regional tournament by beating out top seed Ole Miss and perennial power Georgia Tech to advance to the Super Regionals. They played at Duke and took two of three from the Blue Devils to earn the trip to the CWS. It's kinda like when the Racers' basketball team surprised the college basketball world by advancing to the " Elite Eight " in 2010. The Racers appearance in Omaha is one thing that makes the game of baseball so wonderful. Any good team can beat any other good team on any given day. All you need is a strong pitching staff but the Racers also have a lot of pop in their bats. In the regional wins, they scored at least eight runs in each game including 12 runs in the final win over Ole Miss. They are a long shot to win it all but they were also a long shot to win the regional then the super regional.

It's all good for baseball. It's also all good for college sports and it's all good for our country. It will hopefully give us all something to be happy and to cheer about....rather than the political chaos that's going on right now. That chaos is not what we are used to in America. We're used to freedom of speech and the other freedoms that our Constitution has provided for 250 years. Let's put that behind us for at least a while....and pull for the Racers!