While it may not have the national recognition its gridiron counterpart enjoys, the Miami-Florida State baseball rivalry is alive, well, and intense -- and for now, it belongs to 7th-ranked Miami, and to unlikely displays of sportsmanship as two sparring coaches actually touched each other on purpose when they shook hands before the game.
The three game series with no. 23 Florida State didn't start well (4-14 is never a good look), but UM made up for it by taking the second game 6-4 and demolishing the Seminoles in the third, with 14 runs powered by two grand slams in the first two innings.
Harold Martinez and Yasmani Grandal accomplished the 'Canes' first multi-grand-slam game since UM beat Pace University in 2003.
''I never expected this to happen,'' said Martinez, who secured his first multi-hit game as well as extended his hitting streak to 8 games in the 14-8 victory. "It surprises me every time I hit a home run because I am more of a line-drive hitter.''
Improbable comebacks, however, don't hold a candle to the real drama of the weekend: UM coach Jim Morris and FSU coach Mike Martin shook hands for the first time since 2004.
That was the year Martin accused Miami of using walkie-talkies and a TV feed to steal the Seminoles' signs during a 2004 game between them, and it's been a bit frosty between the two coaches ever since. After ESPN broadcast a game last year and noted that Martin didn't leave the Seminoles' dugout to shake hands with Morris afterward, the resulting furor prompted Martin to release a statement noting that the two "have not shook hands for the last few seasons." In other words, national media, we spurn each other all the time, and will also start nasty rumors about the other in the lunch room and you can't stop us.
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Perhaps the two grown men realized after last April's three-game series in Tallahassee that poor sportsmanship trickles down.
After clinching the victory, the 'Canes celebrated exuberantly (imagine that!), which didn't exactly make the Florida State players anxious to line up for the customary handshake line. Rather, it prompted them to refuse (how dare anyone celebrate a victory!), and then petulantly rush the field, where the two teams had to be kept from one another by coaches and campus police. When fans began to rain debris and spit down upon them, the Miami players were forced to beat a hasty retreat to their bus and sped off into the night as security escorted fans out of the stadium. In summation, it was hilarious, but, you know, frowned upon.
There is no word yet on what may have prompted the two coaches' new-found willingness to acknowledge the others' presence, but we're guessing it's not unrelated to the recent DVD release of Nights in Rodanthe. That Nicholas Sparks gets us, too.
Janie Campbell is a Florida sports fan who thinks that whole Jay Cutler situation could have been solved by a group gathering to watch The Notebook. Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the Internet.
