King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Ya gotta believe: It's funny how fond the immensely talented are of assuring us that confidence and "knowing how to win" lead to victory.

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June 21, 2007 | ESPN announcer Sean McDonough mentioned during North Carolina's win over Rice Wednesday in a College World Series game how surprising it was that the Tar Heels, who hadn't been hitting at all, had managed to stay alive this long.

His partner, former Cincinnati Reds great Barry Larkin, launched into a pretty standard baseball riff about North Carolina, which lost in three games to Oregon State in the finals last year.

"I think that has to do with experience," he said. "They know how to win. I tell you, playing for the national championship, having that experience, that's something that you can rely on, that's something that you can bank on."

He went on a bit about how some ill-timed errors did in North Carolina a year ago in the deciding game. The Tar Heels made four errors that day, including the one that allowed the winning run to score as Oregon State won 3-2. Evidently, the Tar Heels didn't know how to win last year, but they're now clued in that making four errors in a game isn't the ticket.

The '06 Beavers knew how to win, having been to the College World Series the year before, not to mention in 1952. One good way to do it: Have the other team make four errors in one game. Write that down, kids!

This body of knowledge has propelled Oregon State to the finals again this year. They'll play the winner of Thursday's knockout rematch between North Carolina and Rice, the Tar Heels having won Wednesday's game 6-1 thanks to knowing how to win, and also to limiting the Owls to one run on seven hits.

Not to pick on Larkin, who's just fine. He just got me thinking by pushing one of my buttons during a perfectly enjoyable broadcast.

This idea of having to know how to win is a common one in baseball and other sports, and it's not totally nonsensical. But I think it's vastly overrated.

For example, you'll hear next year about how the Cleveland Cavaliers, newcomers to the NBA playoffs this year in their run to the Finals, will be that much better prepared to contend next year because of that experience. There might be a little bit to that. Experience really is the best teacher, and the Cavs figure to be a little better prepared next year.

But there'd be a whole lot more to getting a decent point guard. There's no amount of knowledge that was going to help the Cavs beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. The Spurs had better basketball players. By a lot.

It reminds me of my favorite boxing joke, the one where the pug asks his priest if it's OK to pray for victory in an upcoming bout. "It couldn't hurt, son," the padre says, "but it'd help a lot more if you could fight a little."

Next page: You know what you have to have? Confidence