re: Coach Mainieri says LSU fans will hate the new "dead" bats

maybe we can start juicin again

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why did they change bats in the first place again?

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The stated reason is to improve the safety of the pitcher and infielders because the ball comes off the bat at a slower speed.

But I don't recall an epidemic of injuries from using the previous metal bats.

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Any hope of getting this repealed?

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The only thing the NCAA responds to is $$$$. If they see a money drop off because fans lose interest, which might take years to become evident, maybe they will reconsider.

Other than that, I doubt it.

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The NCAA, in its lack of wisdom, has decreed that the metal bats used in college must meet new standards which make them almost like wood bats.

I don't know why.

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You don't know why? Do a search on the increasing number of injuries to pitchers. I think it's a good change.

LSU has been going towards small ball since Mainieri got here, so that shouldn't hurt us too much. Our pitching staff wasn't exactly good last year, so it can't hurt us there. But like most other things, the NCAA went too far in the wrong direction. The bats they changed back in 98/99 were lethal. But what they implemented was perfect. I doubt many players got hurt because of line drives. But now they've taken it too far. No ability to hit the long ball? Awesome. Hope the team learns how to bunt this year. And Watkins is gonna have to play now. And steal about 50 bases. Mahtook, hope you still got the wheels. Davis, hope you got it.

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the new "dead" bats

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Based upon what I saw Friday, the difference is not subtle. We'll get used to the different sound pretty quickly (who cares about the sound anyway?), but the "deadening" factor is gonna be apparent immediately and is gonna change the game. Not necessarily a bad thing IMO. I hope Mainieri underestimates our fan base. I can appreciate small ball as long as the new bats play like wood bats. If they are "deader" than wood bats, then I have a problem.

shite. It was already hard enough to get my wife to go to a game since she finds baseball boring. But she did like homeruns. My dad can only make so many games.

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The bats they changed back in 98/99 were lethal. But what they implemented was perfect. I doubt many players got hurt because of line drives. But now they've taken it too far.

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Tell that to these guys.

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On April 24, Chris Jakubauskas of the Pittsburgh Pirates was hit in the head behind his right ear, landing him in the hospital and on the 15-day disabled list with a head bruise and concussion. Earlier in the month, two college pitchers were tagged: Vanderbilt freshman Corey Williams had his right kneecap split in half by a line drive April 3 and was out for the season following surgery; and on April 1, Arizona's Kurt Heyer was hit in the head and briefly hospitalized.

These incidents followed an even more injury-ridden March. During spring training, Marc Rzepczynski of the Toronto Blue Jays suffered a broken finger that cost him six weeks of the season beginning March 30, and the New York Yankees' Damaso Marte was hit in the lower back and removed from a game March 17.

California assemblyman Jared Huffman of San Rafael had proposed a three-year moratorium on the use of non-wood bats in state high schools, pending further study, after Marin High School pitcher Gunnar Sandberg, 16, suffered brain swelling from a line shot to the head March 11. As Sandberg lay in a weeks-long coma induced by doctors who had removed part of his skull to ease the swelling, Marin County Athletic League officials banned metal bats for the rest of the season.

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next step: play on the softball field

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It's actually an issue the softball people are addressing too. Starting this year the pitching rubber will be backed up 3 feet.

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I don't have to prove what I know, you do your own homework.

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WOW