See you back here July 5. In the meantime, here's George Washington saving children. But not the British children. 

The tremendous seasons by Gator Football, Baseball and Softball gave UF their best finish in the all-sports Director's Cup, but still second place to winner Stanford. The Cardinal scored 1508.50 points to Florida's 1237.25 and Virginia's 1189.25. It is Stanford's 16th consecutive win. UF won two national championships (Men's Indoor Track and Women's Swimming and Diving) and had 14 teams finish in their sport's top-10. UF has finished in the top-10 for 27 consecutive years and was third last year.

Here is the point in which we remind you Stanford has a truck load of sports. Florida, either because of funding concerns (likely) or because they play in the SEC (more likely) do not have enough sports to compete with Pac-10 or ACC schools that support men's soccer, women's rowing or men's wrestling. In fact, of Stanford's three National Championships this season, two were in sports UF does not sponsor; men's volleyball and women's lightweight crew. Since it was such a big deal for UF to step out and play women's lacrosse outside of the SEC, I can't imagine another such move is on the horizon.

But, with the crapton of money UF will make from new football and basketball contracts, it's time to expand again. I submit to the UAA a Gator Men's Soccer program.

Not only would we have a better chance at winning a Director's Cup (if we could add wrestling and women's rowing too), but Florida is a hotbed of soccer talent. Unlike women's lacrosse and to some extent volleyball, UF wouldn't have to spend the budget recruiting kids from cold climates. You could build a team just from North Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale. Plus, if the U.S. is serious about competing for more than the World Cup Round of 16, U.S. Soccer needs a deeper farm system. That includes more college soccer. Heather Mitts and Abby Wambach have already shown the Gators can produce World Cup players. It will happen on the men's team too.

The biggest barrier, other than the ass-backwardness of the SEC only sponsoring 19 sports, is Title IX. The federal law requires each gender to be given equal funding and opportunities as it relates to their population size (that's not the exact meaning, but close). With females increasing on campus, UF might need a 12th women's sport before it adds a 9th men's sport. Women's rowing could easily be that 12th women's sport. 

Jeremy Foley has done a fine job as athletic director and is just as deserving (if not more) of a statue in front of the stadium (the man is responsible for Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer). If Foley is worried about the local scene, he sticks with the current sports roster and continues to keep the SEC chasing him. If he wants to become a bigger national player, he expands and Men's Soccer should be his first target.

FUCK AND YES. Landon Donovan puts the US into the round of 16. If you don't care, you hate America or you are Glenn Beck. The video from the awesome Dan Levy from the On The DL podcast.

It was interesting at the end, but Florida was knocked out of the College World Series today by Florida State, losing 8-5. In their two games in Omaha, UF was outscored 19-8.

The Gators had a chance to win in the 9th inning against the Noles. Trailing 8-2 to start the inning, Preston Tucker hit a bases-clearing double to make it 8-5. Tucker advanced to third on a hit by Austin Maddox and Matt den Dekker was hit by a pitch to load the bases again. But Mike Zunino lined into a double play, ending the game.  It was the second time in the game Zunino had lined into a double play.

Florida starter Hudson Randall had another poor outing against FSU, lasting only 2.2 innings and giving up four runs. UF tried to stop the bleeding with third starter Brian Johnson entering in relief, but he was only slightly better. He allowed two runs in 3.1 innings. FSU starter Brian Busch was not great, but kept UF from scoring. In 5.1 innings, he allowed four walks, but only two runs on two hits. 

Good pitching always beats good hitting, which was true in both of Florida's CWS games. But UF allowed runs in 13 of 17 innings played. No matter how good you hit, it is impossible for the offense to be clicking when the pitching is so dismal. The blame for this performance lies squarely on the young shoulders of the staff. Under the heat of Omaha, they wilted. This isn't being critical, but the facts. When your best pitchers are sophomores and younger, and have never played in the CWS, expecting them to get beyond the first week was a dream too far. Talent is not a replacement for experience. UCLA was an old team and FSU has been hardened by tournament play. Youth also played a part in how the Gator batters worked. Even on the biggest stage, they still waste at-bats and lack the on-base percentage of a team of this quality.

As bad as it might all sound, the Gators have nothing to be concerned about. The mistakes they made were those of a young team. If they were juniors and seniors, that would be a problem. For Florida to win the SEC in 2010 with a completely new lineup and two freshman starting pitchers was tremendous. They will just have to wait another year to see if they learned from the experience of two losses in Omaha.

The Gators could be two-and-out in Omaha. Following their 11-3 loss to UCLA Saturday to open the College World Series, the Gators (47-16) face FSU today in an elimination game. FSU (47-19) lost to TCU 8-1 also on Saturday.

Against the Bruins, the Gators finally looked like a team stacked with freshmen and sophomores. Not only was UF unable to shut the Bruins down on offense, they had poor at-bats and the usually solid Mike Zunino became swiss cheese behind the plate. When an older team would have locked down, the Gators couldn't flip that switch, leading to today's game.

FSU is not a dominant team of previous years, but they have turned it on in postseason play. They won the ACC Tournament after losing the opener, swept a road Regional and defeated Vandy in Game 3 in the Super Regionals. The Noles have to be excited about playing UF as they took three of four games from the Gators. 

Florida's starter Hudson Randall doesn't have good marks against FSU, either. Randall is 0-1 in three appearances against the Noles. In 9.1 innings, he has allowed eight runs (7.71 ERA) and 13 hits. FSU starter Brian Busch also has seen the Gators a few times. In two outings against UF, he is 1-0 and has allowed only three hits in seven innings. Busch is 5-2 this season, with a 3.97 ERA.

As a team, FSU does not have the quality of pitchers that UCLA did. But FSU has the knowledge of defeating the Gators 3 of 4 times. If Florida wants to win today, they must overcome that history and the youth that sunk them in the UCLA game.

Monday's game is set to begin at 4:30pm. However, bad weather canceled one game Sunday and there is a 60 percent chance of rain Monday.

Florida has never won a baseball National Championship. Tonight, they begin that quest, playing UCLA at 7pm in Omaha. 

The Gators (47-15) send sophomore Alex Panteliodis (11-2, 3.26) to the mound. The southpaw has won his three postseason starts this season, with a 3.12 ERA in 20.2 innings. His last outing was a dominant complete game over Miami in which he had 12 strikeouts and allowed two runs on three hits. 

UCLA (48-14) also will put a sophomore on the hill in Trevor Bauer (10-3, 3.02). Bauer has pitched 116.1 innings this season with 141 strikeouts for a very good UCLA staff. The Bruins have a 2.97 staff ERA, second best nationally and a run better than the Gators. They can also match the Gators in the 9th inning, matching up UF's Kevin Chapman (3-0, 11 saves, 1.48) to UCLA's Dan Klein (6-0, 9 saves, 1.93). 

Both teams hit around .300 (UF at .300 and UCLA at .307), but the Bruins are 20 points better in on-base percentage; .381 to .401 for UCLA. The Bruins strength is in their depth, with four players hitting better than .300, better than .400 on-base and with at least 30 RBI. UF's advantage is in power. UCLA has no one close to the Gators' Austin Maddox with 71 RBI, 17 homers and .333 average.

The College World Series is double elimination. The winner would play the surprising TCU. The loser would play FSU, who lost to the Horned Frogs today 8-1. 

The Gators continue to find ways to win. Saturday night in Gainesville, it was forcing Miami into making plays and the Canes spectacularly failed, giving the Gators a 4-3 win and Super Regional series sweep. The two game sweep sends the Gators to their first College World Series since 2005. The victory followed UF's 7-2 win Friday night in Game 1. 

Florida (47-15) entered the 9th inning losing 3-2 after Kevin Chapman made a mess of Hudson Randall's 6.2 inning, three-hit effort by allowing a 3-run homer to give Miami (43-20) their first lead of the night. Florida went quietly in the top of the 8th, looking like a team ready for Game 3. 

Preston Tucker singled to start the 9th and Matt den Dekker followed two batters later. That finally chased Miami starter Chris Hernandez who allowed three hits, but only one earned run as UM finished with seven errors. (Apparently, fielding the ball cleanly is not a Canes thing. You wouldn't understand.) With first and second and one out, Mike Zunino reached on an error, loading the bases. Following Brian Johnson striking out looking, Josh Adams reached a throwing error, pushing across Tucker to tie the game.

In the 10th, Nolan Fontana reached after an error by Miami RF Chris Pelaez, who misplayed a pop-fly into a two-base error. A sacrifice put Fontana on third, from where he scored easily on Austin Maddox's two-out double for the winning run. Steven Rodriguez got the win (2-0) and Greg Larson got his third save.

Who is standing between the Gators and a trip to the College World Series? Those bastards from Miami. Hit it Tom.

It is only right that No. 4 UF (45-15) has to face the hated Hurricanes (43-18) to get back to Omaha. Game 1 is tonight at 7pm, Game 2 is Saturday at 7pm and a possible Game 3 would be Sunday at 7pm. Friday's game is on ESPN and the weekend games are on ESPN2.

As is always the case with the Canes, they have a team stacked with prospects and studs. Catcher Yasmani Grandal is hitting .411 this season (and .538 OBP) with 14 home runs. Third baseman Harold Martinez leads Miami with 21 homers and 69 RBI. UF actually has the edge in team hitting, .303 to .298 for UM. But as good as Austin Maddox (.339, 17 homers, 69 RBI) and Matt den Dekker (.361, 13 HR) have been, Miami might have a slight edge on offense.

Pitching wins championships though and UF's starters and bullpen have a slight edge over Miami's staff. UM's Chris Hernandez (10-3, 2.77) has 106 strikeouts, 41 more than UF's number one, Alex Panteliodis (10-2, 3.39). But UF has Kevin Chapman (11 saves, 1.28) who has shown he can get six-out saves. UM has four guys who combined for 12 saves. Down the line, UF and UM have even second and third starters. UF builds on their pitching advantage by having slightly better long men (Tommy Toledo) and middle relief (Jeff Barfield). It's important to note as well that Miami was extended to a playoff game against Texas A&M in the Regionals and did not finish the Aggies until Tuesday.

Florida took 2 of 3 in the regular season series during March in Coral Gables. The Gators have homefield advantage this time, but UF will need great pitching to get to the College World Series.