CBD Journal with Drake Browne (Furman)

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The life of a college athlete can be interesting at times, to say the least. I do not think that it is better, or more fun that the regular college experience, but it is incredibly different. I have seen this throughout my first two years as a college baseball player, and I continue to see it every day.

About once a month in the preseason, I will be posting a “player journal” here on College Baseball Daily, to explain, and hopefully entertain you all with my latest stories and breaking news. We will amp this up to about once a week, when the season starts in February. I have been given free rein to write about whatever I choose, which could be dangerous. However, I will promise you one thing, which is that you will be entertained. So please, take a walk in my shoes as a college baseball player. I hope you wear size 14.

I will try to keep these posts short because I realize this is my college baseball journal, and not my application for the Pulitzer Prize. That being said, I would like to briefly introduce myself, before leaving you at the edge of your seat in anticipation of my next post.
My name is Drake Browne, and I was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH. My teammates have given me a number of nicknames, including “Drizzy Drake”, “Freight Train”, and “The Thunder from Down Under”. I have an older brother named Doug, two loving parents, and a recently deceased outdoor cat (RIP Corey). That is about all you need to know about me, so let me tell you a story.

Just like LeBron James, I recently made a decision to take my talents down south, and out of the great state of Ohio. Unfortunately, I have a few less talents than LeBron, so they did not carry me all the way to South Beach. Instead, I landed at the one and only Furman University, located in the Upstate of South Carolina.

I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Furman, which was recently ranked the second “most rigorous” school in the nation, was sure to keep me on my toes throughout my time as an underclassman. I do not feel qualified to write about the ways to make it through this place, so I would prefer to focus on our baseball program. It helps take the stress away.

Because our Football team plays at the 1-AA (FCS) level, we find a lot of people that assume the same for our squad. Easy now, we might be a small school, but we roll with the big dogs here in Division 1 (There is no 1-AA in college baseball, but don’t tell anyone.) I’m sure you all know that South Carolina won the national championship the past two years, but you should ask the Gamecocks what happen on March 15th, 2011, when they took the trip to Greenville to face the Paladins. Whammy.

Our team is a proud member of the Southern Conference. The SoCon is a much more competitive than people think, and there is some high quality baseball being played all around the league. I will talk more about our conference and the teams involved, because like I said earlier, I am trying to keep this short.

Personally, I have had quite the journey as a Furman Paladin. I am currently a Junior, which means this is my 5th semester on campus. Just like the number of semesters I have endured, I am also on my 5th different position on the baseball field. These transitions and experiences will be a huge part of my upcoming posts, so I hope you enjoy a little laughter at my expense. Also, because my current position is “The Disabled List”, I will have plenty of time to keep you all updated.