The large influx of new readers recently means there's a good chance that this is your first season following FSU baseball with Tomahawk Nation. With just one week left until the beginning of the Seminoles' 2010 baseball season, we here at Offbeat Friday thought it appropriate to post some of the important information you'll need to know to carry you through the upcoming campaign.

First, the minor details...

First Game: Friday February 19 @ 4pm in Dick Howser Stadium (PS- While many people refer to FSU's football stadium as "That Doak", Offbeat Friday does not encourage the usage of the term "The Dick" as it causes funny looks and sexual harassment charges around the office.)

TNation coverage: TNation's director of baseball coverage from last year, pbysh, has a really sweet new job and no free time.  This year's coverage will be brought to you by everybody's favorite comment moderator, RaysnNoles!  Welcome aboard RnN!

Fan Day:  February 13th at Dick Howser Stadium from 10:30-4.  Tallahassee readers can meet the team, get pictures, autographs, and watch a team scrimmage at 2:30.

Are the Noles any good this year? ACC coaches picked FSU to win the Atlantic Division as an overwhelming favorite (10 out of 12 coaches put the Noles in first place in the division.)  Most of the collegiate baseball polls place the Noles within the top 10 to begin the season.

Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get down to the more important stuff.  After the jump, we'll introduce you to the Mike Martin Drinking Game, fun facts about the FSU players, and a few of the traditions that make the FSU program one of the top collegiate baseball programs in the country.

The Mike Martin Drinking Game

While watching games last year, the braintrust at Offbeat Friday and several TNation readers began to notice some very particular habits of FSU's coach, Mike Martin.  For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Mike Martin is more commonly referred to by the following nicknames, Mr. February, Chief Bunts-For-No-Reason, and "Lebben" (Probably meant to be "11," after his jersey number, but it's really hard to understand certain baseball fans when they talk with half a hot dog in their mouth while staring at the scantly clad woman they have paid to act like their friend for the day.)  These habits eventually led to the creation of The Mike Martin Drinking Game!!

Take a drink every time:

• Mike Martin says any variation of the words "poise", "execution", and "competitor."  Martin is particularly fond of attributing the success of physically gifted, All-American catchers to that player's "poise" and "desire to compete."
• If there are two runners on with nobody out and Mike Martin calls for a bunt.  (If the player at bat hits 3,4, or 5 in the lineup, take two drinks.)
• If the announcers spend at least 3 minutes talking about how a pitcher has run out of gas, and Mike Martin walks to the mound, only to return to the dugout without bringing in a reliever.
• If a player gets inexplicable amounts of playing time due to his last name (Note: Formerly the "Jack Posey Rule".  However, Jack is injured this season.  Pay particular attention to Stephen McGee.)
• If a closer walks the bases loaded with nobody out in a 2 run game and Martin does nothing.
• If the same closer appears to be attempting to finish the game without throwing a single fastball.
• If a right-handed pitching recruit with a 95mph fastball arrives on campus and becomes a side-armed left-handed knuckleballer.

A few new rules, based on our best guesses at things that will be popular this season:

• If an FSU pitcher is sidelined for 3 weeks with high cholesterol.
• If Gene Deckerhoff describes a hit as a "can of corn" off the bat, but the ball ends up being a 450 ft. blast.
• If Gene Deckerhoff praises an outfielder for a "one handed catch."
• If a player chooses "Run This Town" as their intro music.
• If Tyler Holt gets his own show on TLC called "The Littlest Leadoff Man."
• If Taiwan Easterling throws someone out trying to advance from second to third after a batter has hit the right field screen.

*Disclaimer: We here at Offbeat Friday do not drink alcohol.  If you are watching an FSU baseball game and plan to play along with the MMDG, we suggest that you don't either.  Seriously.  You will die.

**Disclaimer 2, Electric Boogaloo: We aren't playing around about the first Disclaimer.  Martin says "poise" like it's the word "and".

9 Fun Facts About the Team

 

Hunter Scantling, at 6'8'' 270 pounds, was cast to play the role of a young Michael Clarke Duncan in "The Green Mile."  Unfortunately for Hunter, the scenes were cut when producers realized that movie made no sense.

Contrary to popular belief, infielder Devon Travis is not related to country great Randy Travis.  He is, however, the third cousin of a guy in the Charlie Daniels Band.

Scott Sitz.  And sometimes he standz.  HAH!

Freshman infielder Jayce Boyd is poised to make a big impact.  He comes from the same high school as baseball legends Don Sutton, Jay Bell, and Travis Fryman.  Boyd is destined to either become a pasty middle infielder on a mid-western MLB team in a city with a poor economy or to grow the sweetest mullet/jheri curl combo ever seen.

Corben Madden dedicated this season to restoring the American people's faith in ginger baseball players after the Mark McGwire news broke.

Taiwan Easterling hopes to continue the tradition of successful football players who also played baseball at Florida State.  Grew up idolizing players like D'Vontrey Richardson, Alex Boston, Lee Corso, Danny Kanell,  and Dominic Robinson.  He doesn't know of any other people who played both sports at FSU.

An unfortunate mispronunciation almost got Ohmed Danesh eaten by Aubrey Phillips in the summer of 2009.

No matter how hard he tries to explain, outfielder James Ramsey can't get the other players to stop asking him for financial advice.

Sean Gilmartin is actually right handed.  His current pitching motion was developed after an ill-conceived bet following an episode of Road Rules in 1998.

Florida State Tradition

Many outsiders believe the famous "N-O-L-E-S" cheer is a ripoff of Miami's "CANES" cheer.  They are only partially right.  Both cheers are derivative from an ancient "S-C-O-T-S" cheer designed by Scottish legend William Wallace to motivate his men.  Unfortunately, as Wallace waved his arms frantically at the head of the battle lines, he was only able to get out "S-C-" before being beheaded by the British army.

A group of die hard fans known as The Animals sing "O Canada" during the bottom of the fifth inning of every home game.  While no one really knows how this tradition began, experts believe it was due to the section's love of bacon.

Popular names for the chain link fence atop the right field wall of Dick Howser Stadium include: "The Screen Monster", "JD's Folly", and "The Car Saver."

Assistant coach Mike Martin, Jr. is more commonly known by his nickname, "Meat."  The irony is not lost on Martin, Jr., who has been a practicing vegan since the first Bush administration.

The large vacant white space below the Publix ad on the left field scoreboard is in tribute to Larry Scroble, the Marshmellow King of Tallahassee who was sadly struck by a foul ball off the bat of Stephen Drew.

Any time a Seminole pitcher strikes out 8 batters, fans receive a free Circle K hot dog.  If a pitcher strikes out 12 batters, fans can take batting practice with the team on the following Tuesday.  If a pitcher strikes out 20 batters, fans are allowed their choice between a new car, a trip to the Bahamas, and something behind Door #3. PS- it's a goat.

The third inning is known as the "Flip the Switch" inning.  If the Noles are trailing at the conclusion of this inning, fans on the right field side are encouraged to trade seats with fans on the left field side.  If the Noles are winning, fans are required to stand up, turn around 360 degrees, and sit back down.  If the game is tied, the fans all go home.

Well that's it, loyal readers.  All the information you need to be ready for the 2010 Seminole Baseball season.  Happy Friday and Go N-O-...