Understandably, quite a few more fans have shown up for the last game of the day, South Florida vs. regular season conference champ Notre Dame. However, I am not sure if the growth in attendance is due to the "home town" favorite USF Bulls or the enchantment with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

By far the most applause during the starting lineups came for a guy that isn't even playing tonight, Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija (yes, I did have to look it up to be sure I spelled it right). Maybe you heard that Jeff plays for another semi-popular team in South Bend (hint: football, for those of you like my mother who have no idea who he is). Anyway, Jeff is hanging out in the dugout tonight, keeping pitch counts and playing shadow to his coach.

You have to wonder with a kid like Samardzija if it gets tired. Getting asked the football/baseball crossover questions and the always pressing "what if you hurt yourself?" line. I admire him for playing two sports and appearing like he enjoys it. After all, he is not like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf who runs the show and does not see the error of his ways until it is almost too late. Baseball is a more team sport than basketball even though it many times comes down to pitching. They could never had made a movie with Alex P. Keaton as the pitcher, would have moved too slow.

But I digress, USF is haning in there as of now, still 0-0 in the bottom of the second. I feel a Notre Dame run coming on, however.