The Thursday Thorns column series reminds us all of the uncomfortable facts and realities in the sports world today, so with much bitterness, we’d like to point out something about the final eight teams in the NCAA Championship for baseball, a.k.a the Men’s College World Series (MCWS or whatever acronym they use now). First off, six athletic conferences are represented in a great display of diversity and equity. Sweet.

Also, three of those teams represented the now-dormant Pacific-12 Conference a year ago … you know, the Conference of (real NCAA) Champions. The Arizona Wildcats (Big 12), the Oregon State Beavers (Pac-X), and the UCLA Bruins (B1G) qualified for the final round this year, just a season removed from all playing together in the historical grouping that was torn apart by the greed of football powerbrokers somewhere.

What’s more is that the Murray State Racers did beat the Duke Blue Devils on Monday night to make it, too, so in addition to the three former Pac-12 teams, Murray State and Coastal Carolina also are representing their little leagues in the College World Series. The other teams still alive are Arkansas (SEC), Louisville (ACC), and LSU (SEC). Last year, only two conferences were represented, strangely, in an inequitable way.

There’s no rhyme or reason to the participants, of course, which is the best part of how the NCAA fulfills its mission statement declarations of fair and equitable championships. This isn’t football or basketball, where the money attracts corruption and greed while ignoring that mission statement. College baseball and college hockey still represent the good dynamics of what is possible in this day and age of “amateur” sports.

The MCWS kicks off tomorrow, and it’s always worth a watch on the television. A double-elimination event, these eight schools play until only one team is left standing at the end. Many of these schools have won the College World Series before, although Murray State is not one of them. Wouldn’t it be something to see Western Michigan win the hockey title and the Racers win the baseball title? That would be a win for equity.