(Mets first round draft choice Reese Havens, who apparently, no one has ever heard of before)

“I don™t know Ike Davis or Brad Holt. I didn™t know who David Wright was till he joined the Mets organization. Anyone who gets drafted today most likely won™t be seen at Shea for at least two to three years. So who cares about all the hype, let Omar do his job and wake me up in two years when its time to misspell their names in posts” writes Hot Foot‘s Dan Lerner, an alleged fan that finds the charms of the First Year Player Draft and amateur baseball somewhat elusive.

Its not that I don™t care, well. Not entirely that I don™t care. I understand the importance of restocking the farm system. I grasp that these prospects do in fact come from somewhere. But as far as that process is considered, lets face it, most of you don™t really give a damn. Sure, all six Andrews that write for this site, and that new guy all seem pretty excited. All giggly and giddy like school girls, making their predictions. Me, I couldn™t even name one college baseball player, and I know a guy who plays college baseball.

Here™s the thing. College football has all these long standing traditions (like Duke sucking), and old school rivalries. College basketball has March Madness and young phenoms that will go straight to the NBA after their freshman year. Baseball¦.seriously, can you watch college baseball without physically being at a game? I spent a good, lets call it five, years in college. Baseball games I attended: 0. I even went to more college hockey games. When push comes to shove, no one cares about college baseball. Which means, no one knows college baseball players. So basically, the draft to me is meaningless.

This may come as a minor mind blower to Mr. Lerner, but interest in college baseball is at an all-time high. Whether that’s because the games themselves tend to be pretty exciting (tonight’s NCAA Super Regional between Arizona and Miami is a credible example, televised by an obscure cable network called ESPN) or due to the quick ascent of many college players (Joba Who?) is anyone’s guess, but if indeed, no one cared about college baseball, Baseball America would’ve been outta business a long time ago.

Whether Lerner is just a lazy motherfucker or he lacks the intellectual capacity to put college ballplayers into any context beyond “who gives a shit?” I can’t say for sure. Perhaps the above was an attempt at satire. But many of the same reasons I’m given by devotees of college football and hoops for why those sports are more exciting or “pure” at the amateur level can equally be applied to college baseball. But if one jackass wants to dismiss the legitimate interests of others purely because they’re outnumbered, that’s not merely stupid. It’s downright cowardly.