The LSU-Tennessee baseball rivalry, a heated one in recent years, is missing something this weekend.<\/p>\n
That would be Tony Vitello, the coach with a knack for getting under LSU fans\u2019 collective skin.<\/p>\n
LSU head coach Jay Johnson always seemed to get along fine with him.<\/p>\n
Vols fans loved Vitello \u2014 he\u2019s basically the father of Tennessee baseball. He\u2019s the basic reason the Tigers and Vols are playing in a state of the art stadium this weekend after tip-toeing around re-construction when LSU visited two years ago (during UT\u2019s national championship run).<\/p>\n
Johnson is trying to win back-to-back College World Series titles this season, which would make it three out of four.<\/p>\n
Vitello, on the other hand, is doing something really unprecedented.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s managing the San Francisco Giants \u2014 yes, the Major League Giants.<\/p>\n
The National League was founded in 1876. The American League (or \u201cJunior Circuit\u201d as my late, great friend Danny Dunnehoo used to call it) came along in 1901.<\/p>\n
The first college baseball game was played in 1859 between Williams and Amherst, neither of which, by the way, have ever been to the CWS in Omaha.<\/p>\n
Anyway, in all of those years, 150 by my count, Vitello is the first to go straight from the college game to Major League manager with no prior professional experience.<\/p>\n
All of these years that Skip Bertman has been smartest baseball mind alive and, even in his prime, he never got so much as a whiff from the big leagues.<\/p>\n
Not that it bothered him, you understand.<\/p>\n
But you can bet Vitello\u2019s arrival has ruffled a few feathers among the big leaguers. They like to believe that their game is brain surgery, and somebody just skipped med school.<\/p>\n
Vitello just might be carrying the torch for all the talented college coaches out there, of which there are many, who were \u201cbranded\u201d by being on a campus of higher learning.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s at this point of our story that Leslie Nielsen sticks his head into the Giants\u2019 cockpit and tells Vitello, \u201cGood luck, we\u2019re all counting on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, naturally, with his old rival Vitello not going to be in Knoxville this weekend, Johnson was asked if he might ever be interesting in taking the giant leap to the \u201cBig Leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson already has the lingo down pretty good \u2014 to him it\u2019s always \u201cthe Big Leagues,\u201d not \u201cMajor Leagues,\u201d which is a clear tip-off that his baseball savvy comes naturally.<\/p>\n
Johnson had a sort of interesting answer about his interest in the pros.<\/p>\n
Basically, he said \u201cRight now, I have zero interest in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But after a pregnant pause, he added, \u201c\u2026 at this time. Now that\u2019s at this time, again, I haven\u2019t been, offered an MLB job, is what I will say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mmmmm.<\/p>\n
After a careful analysis of voice inflections, body language, facial expressions, etc., here\u2019s what I make of it:<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not interested. Really. For now. And probably won\u2019t ever be.<\/p>\n
He likes the college game a whole lot better, probably for no other reason than the college lads still run out ground balls at full speed, no matter the odds against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different game \u2026 it\u2019s a different world,\u201d he said. \u201cIf people think college football and the NFL are different \u2026 what goes on (in baseball), it\u2019s the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pro ball, he said, \u201cis an individual sport. It\u2019s not a team sport until the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to being a part of a team, so that\u2019s, that\u2019s where my head and my heart is.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, he said that egg heads are taking over the Major League front offices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ivy League guys at the top,\u201d Johnson said, \u201ca lot of times make the lineup, make the pitching decisions, this and that. Ask (LSU leading hitter) Jake Brown how Coach Johnson would feel if somebody was telling him what lineup we were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
No, it doesn\u2019t sound like something that would ever interest Johnson. So why would he at least keep a small crack in the door if he changes his mind down the road?<\/p>\n
Maybe he\u2019s thinking the college boys are still feeling their way through NIL (big money) and the transfer portal (unlimited free agency).<\/p>\n
The college game is moving closer and closer to the pros, which is not necessarily a good thing. Who wants that headache with kids when you can at least get them as grown-ups?<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Johnson is wishing Vitello and good luck.<\/p>\n
They talked not long after Vitello got the job. Johnson told Vitello how much he enjoyed competing against him. Vitello told Johnson he was \u201cnot going to miss seeing you\u201d to do battle with him and LSU.<\/p>\n
To which Johnson replied, \u201cWell, you just traded us for the Dodgers\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But \u2026 \u201cI wished him well.\u201d<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n