(Pictured in the white shirt and no tie is Alphonso Bigelow, along and his family, at Tuesday's news conference. Behind them, from left to right, are Fresno State's John Welty, Jay Vickers, Danny White, John Wallace and Thomas Boeh.)

I'll start today's blog by saying I have not made up my mind. OK, I have, but my mind is open enough that it's waiting for further evidence to officially and publically declare an opinion. Until then, here is pretty much everything I know about the following story ...

EX-BULLDOG DONATES $10 MILLION TO FRESNO STATE

If you'd like an abridged version, or at least a slightly different take on the same version, here is my column that ran in Wednesday's Fresno Bee ...

BIG DONATION COMES WITH AMAZING TALE

Since we don't have to be abridged on the internet, here is the full version of the story, or at least everything I can substantiate to this point ...

KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK -- It has long been my contention that I am an idiot. I have been trying to build a case to disprove my theory, but so far it isn't going anywhere. Like this for instance: I have been to Yosemite National Park once since I moved to California.

I'll pause while you stop making the "you're a world-class schuck" face.

IRVINE -- Greg Vaughn is here. Not sure why you'd need to know that other than we have one rule here at the blog. We tell you everything. You can decide if it's valuable information. In this case, it's a tough call. Vaughn, you might recall, played outfield and designated hitter for several major league teams throughout the 90s and early 2000. He was at his height in 1998 when he hit 50 home runs. If I was any kind of man I would go ask Vaughn if he was on steroids, but he's still really thick.

He's here at the Irvine Regional because his son, Cory Vaughn, plays right field for San Diego State and his fifth in the order. Cory is slightly smaller than the parking structure behind the right field wall. He's just massive, 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds it says in the media guide. I would have guessed he's bigger. Greg actually looks kind of short in person, but I guess he just sort of seemed larger than that, persona wise. Anyone who hits 50 home runs in the big leagues you just sort of assume is a giant. OK, anyone not named Brady Anderson.

IRVINE -- Fresno State is down 2-0 after a home run by San Diego State freshman Brandon Meredith in the first inning. I believe it was a curveball from Bulldogs starter Matt Morse that went line-drive home run over the left field wall. Morse got out of more trouble when Tom Mendonca turned his own double play at third, then throwing to first. Morse then settled down in the second, and is now in a wee bit of trouble in the third. More to come on that.

The news, though, was the weird third inning, which we are currently in. Fresno State had a runner on first, Danny Muno, who had singled to right. There was one out. The next pitch was high and inside to Dusty Robinson, who didn't swing, but there was a loud sound, as if it had hit something hard, and the ball rolled toward first. Robinson didn't really react in pain, but didn't run either, and so the Aztecs touched first and eventually tagged out Muno in a rundown that ended the inning.

IRVINE -- I'd like to tell you Fresno State looks nervous, tense, ready to clobber each other with fungos. But you know better than that. For whatever reason, the Bulldogs seem to relax as the pressure should be mounting. Maybe it's their personality, or their collective personalities. Maybe it's a reaction to their coach, Mike Batesole, who is known to be on edge from time to time.

IRVINE -- It's a chilly evening here in southern California and the Bulldogs are about to kick off their postseason and the second half of their national championship defense. The first half, also known as the regular season, did not go so well.

OK, that noise you hear in the background is the end of the National Anthem buzz.

Fresno State (32-28) is the No. 4 seed at the Irvine Regional, about to play UC-Irvine, the No. 1 seed. According to Baseball America, the Anteaters are the best team in college baseball. The Bulldogs are, well, they don't make rankings that go that far down. It has to be the biggest mismatch in the entire first round of the playoffs.

Anteater Ballpark is a pretty new stadium, and it is absolutely packed. Virginia beat San Diego State in the first game, and they cleared out the stadium before this game. The line to get into the game went down the right field line, then took a hard right away from the stadium, past a massive tennis complex and halfway across a recreational soccer complex. I would not be exaggerating to say it was nearly a quarter-mile long.

Bulldogs fans are everywhere, wearing the latest popular team t-shirts, the ones that read, "LOOK WHO'S BACK" on the back of them. If I had to guess, I'd say there are 400 Fresno State fans. Maybe 500. This stadium is ridiculously nice, by the way. The grass is perfect. I can smell the ocean. There's a hint of fog in the air. Perfect for baseball. If I had gone to UC-Irvine, I'd have flunked out in one semester. Probably by mid-terms.

We're going to start something a little crazy today. Right here, we're going to summarize the entire history of college baseball. If Ken Burns* had a blog, it's what he would do. I'm kidding. We will not be doing that. It's lean times in journalism these days and I'm doing all my own research, so we're going to keep the workload to a minimum. We are, however, going a little over the top, and getting a bit historical, by looking back at what happened to College World Series winners the season following their championship.

*The more I got to thinking about it, maybe Ken Burns did have a blog, but the closest I could find was a blog called "Ken Burns Hates Mexicans," which as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with Ken Burns.

This has been overdue nearly as long as my copy of "Where the Red Fern Grows," from the Hugoton Elementary School library. Today, the blog proudly presents a question and answer session with play-by-play man, author, KMJ sports director, former TV personality, and all-around good-looking guy, Paul Loeffler. Oh, and he's also the new voice of the Fresno State Bulldogs, taking over for the 2009 football season.

Clearly, a man getting that many paychecks should be helping me buy a condo in Santa Barbara. Or at least paying my late Verizon bill. Loeffler is also the author of "Underdogs to Wonderdogs," the Fresno State-approved version* of the colossol, stupendous, unimaginable 2008 baseball national championship. That's in no way to say Loeffler's work was changed or affected by the school; in fact, it appears to be the opposite. (That, kids, is called Q&A foreshadowing, right there.)

*Did you know there is now a third book out about the 2008 College World Series? Yep. It's by an ESPN.com writer named Ryan McGee, another super nice guy, and I'll do my best to get a Q&A with him as well. At the very least, there will be a blog about the book. There are a couple chapters about the Bulldogs. I was even included in the acknowledgements, which was nice.

It was long ago that I wrote this column about Cal Poly second baseman Matt Jensen. And then two days later, he broke his clavicle and was out for the season.

I don't believe my column is jinxed. Don't get me wrong, I believe in jinxes. Cubs fans always do. But not this column. Or at least we need further evidence. Still, I was a little worried about Ben Holscher, the Clovis High teacher and wrestling coach. I wrote about him in today's column.

A few extra thoughts about my column today, which I'm told dragged on longer than a fight scene from "Kill Bill." (Thanks mom, for the feedback.)

First off, Fresno State basketball coach Steve Cleveland told me no one from the university -- not president John Welty or athletic director Thomas Boeh -- has given him an ultimatum, or a mission statement, (depending on how full your glass is) about next season. He hasn't been told how many games he needs to win or fans need to be in the stands.

"Believe me," he said, "I don't need anyone to come in my office and tell me what we need to do."