I've got a horrible case of poison oak at the moment, so I've spent a lot of time the last few days watching TV. As some of us might realize, the Women's College World Series is going on right now. Since I'm stuck at home on a Friday night - I don't think my swolen, pussy face would go over well at the bars - I thought I'd go ahead and share my thoughts.

Obeservation the first - If you want your sport to be taken seriously, when you're introducing the lineup, you shouldn't have the women telling us that "in my spare time, I like to do other people's makeup." While I'll admit that I'm not watching solely for the love of the sport, they're not doing themselves any favor in developing real fans by telling us that a certain player's favorite actress is Jennifer Garner. Softball is a good game. If you're a Joe Morgan fan, you should love it, since the game is almost entirely about small ball. It's fun to watch and this is their opportunity to develop new fans and gain legitimacy for women's sports in general. This is not the way to do it.

Observation the second - Cat Osterman is a pleasure to watch pitch. Apparently she's the best left handed pitcher in the world - at least that's what the commentators said. As little respect as I give to national broadcastors of men's sports, that I actually know something about, it's rather surprising that I'm willing to take that simply at face value - but, heck, why not? Last night she threw a shutout, allowing one hit, striking out fifteen. Tonight (yes, back to back games) she's already making the best offense in the country (Michigan look foolish. At present, through 3 innings, she has 8 strikeouts - the ninth out was caught stealing. Though she throws a radar busting upper 60s, what truly makes her dominant is the ridiculous movement she gets. I don't think more than about 1/3 of her pitches have actually been in the strikezone, even though something like 3/4 of them have gone for strikes.

Observation the third - Cat Osterman is a pleasure to watch pitch. At 6'2, she has an athletic, but surprisingly feminine frame. After every pitch she does this cute little thing, where she pops up and stands up completely straight - very dainty, very cute. She has something of a baby face with a button nose, despite her slender figure, she attempts a menacing appearance by wearing thick stripes of eye black under each eye. Her legs truly seem to go on forever and appear even longer because of the high socks she wears under her baggy shorts. I must say, I'm starting to realize why the ladies on this site so thoroughly obsess on that style of dress.

Observation the fourth - Cal is one of the top teams in the country and will be playing tomorrow morning at 9 am. It's on ESPN. I know there are a lot of Cal fans here - or at least people that aren't interested in watching Arm Wrestling, which is scheduled against it on ESPN2.

[update] Naturally, Cat got into trouble after I wrote all of that, having given up 2 runs, with one out (another k) in the fourth. It broke a 60 inning scoreless streak by Cat. Btw, the Wolverine's babip (average on balls in play) is 1.000.

[update] Cat went 5 2/3, allowing 3 runs, striking out 12. She really seemed to tire after 3. It's not easy pitching every day. They'll play again tomorrow night. I wonder if she'll get the start.