Walk the Plank
Posted June 7, 2009, 8:18 PM ET

The College World Series will be filled this week by the nation's top 8 teams, and it appears that Omaha will see some familiar faces.

It might be time for UNC coach Mike Fox to invest in a timeshare in the greater Omaha metropolitan area. Fox and his Tar Heels are making their fourth consecutive appearance in the CWS.

That's impressive for anybody, in any league. Now, all the Heels need to do is win it. Evidently, it is against NCAA rules for an ACC team to win the College World Series. The last team to do it was Wake Forest.....in 1955.

The UNC baseball team has yet to lose a game in the post season. They swept through the regionals, by disposing of Coastal Carolina, Dartmouth and Kansas.

Then, for an encore, they destroyed ECU in front of the home folks by sweeping the Pirates by a combined score of 19-4. The boys in baby blue were impressive. Given all the smack talk by the Pirate faithful leading into the Super Regional, I was expecting a more competitive series.

The ECU baseball program is really good, but the UNC squad appears to be special. Four straight years to Omaha is a testimony to that statement.

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I loved watching Roger Federer make history in Paris.

His straight-set victory over Robin Soldering cemented his place in history as the greatest men's tennis player ever. I know he has won the same amount of grand slam events as Pete Sampras, but Federer is now only one of six men's players to have won all four grand slam events.

Sorry, Pete. The French Open is the tie-breaker between you and Roger.

Even Sampras concedes that Federer's win puts him at the top. One thing about both Sampras and Federer is that they are both great players and classy gentlemen. Given the status of Rafael Nadal's knee, it might be a safe bet to think that Federer can add to his list of major accomplishments before he decides to hang 'em up.

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I had to vent last week when I saw that the USA Men's Soccer team got waxed in Costa Rica.

I personally find soccer to be a snooze-fest, but watching our guys attempt to be competitive on the world stage is even worse. I know the Euros and the Brazilians are incredibly talented, and they possess amazing skills....but I'm not talking about those guys.

Our guys stink....and why is that?

How many decades have we heard from US soccer brats that our turn is coming? How long have we heard that we're catching up to the rest of the world in soccer?

It's all BS.

We suck. We've never won at Costa Rica.....Costa Rica! How can you be winless on the road at Costa Rica? Clemson will win in Chapel Hill against Roy Williams' guys before we win at Costa Rica.

It's embarrassing.

Every weekend, I see thousands of kids running around on soccer fields. How can we be this uncompetitive against the rest of the world?

It's hard for me to believe that we can't find 15 guys that are athletic enough, and have been taught the fundamentals, to beat some of the world's best teams.....and apparently that must include the mighty Costa Ricans.

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Dale, Junior finished 27th at Pocono.

With his new crew chief, he now has finishes of 12th and 27th.

Yep...it was all Tony Eury, Jr's fault.

The good news for Dale, Jr. is that he returns this week to Michigan. It will mark the one year anniversary of his only win as a member of Hendrick Motorsports.

And if he doesn't repeat as the winner....blame Tony Eury, Jr.