Counting on leaders, champions, quality

There are some things in the sports life you had best heed, or you take the risk of a surprise if you don’t.

“I had a plan and I shook Tek off, and I’ll think ‘What if’? for the rest of my life.” So said Curt Shilling after he lost a no-hitter Thursday with two out in the ninth after he shook off the pitch sign from his catcher and Boston captain Jason Varitek.

One does not shake off the likes of Varitek. He wears the “C” for a reason.

“I was sure he [Shannon Stewart] was taking and Tek was sure he was swinging, and I was wrong,” said Shilling. He is left to think of what might have been. Heed the captain.

One does not discount a champion. …

Last year the Oregon State Beavers won the Division I college baseball championship. They lost half their starters and spent half of this season wondering if they were good enough to repeat.

Few but the most loyal picked them to make it back to the national postseason this year.

Midway through the season, the Beavers decided they were good enough and that they had something to prove.

To advance to the super regionals this weekend they had to sweat out making the regionals. They did not win the PAC 10 championship, but were selected at large.

In the Virginia regionals, Oregon State had to win three consecutive elimination games to advance. They had won six consecutive elimination games last year on their way to the national championship in Omaha. Oregon State won the games.

Now they get to host Michigan in Oregon in the super regional. Michigan should be the host team, but their stadium is under renovation.

Oregon State is pitching rich against a Michigan team that scores runs. Oregon State is also the defending champion. Until they lose, that moniker is theirs.

Living up to expectations in sports is a tough business, but don’t bet against quality. …

In the preseason, the addition of defenseman Chris Pronger made the Anaheim Ducks odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup. That is usually the kiss of defeat.

Not for these Ducks. With everyone taking aim at them all season, with expectations almost beyond hope, and with the curse of no Cup in California over them, they won the Cup.

Meeting predictions in sports is left to those individuals and teams that are immensely talented and mentally capable of playing the games without the distraction of the long term haunting them.

This Duck team displayed one of the most overwhelming defenses in the postseason that has been seen in a while. They dominated the final game, barely allowing Ottawa, a powerful offensive unit, on the ice.

Quality won.

There are just some things in sports that need to be given their space: leaders, champions and quality.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.