By Dr. Dan Barber

In this sporting madness of 2008, with charts, chat rooms, Web casts, rankings and rivalries, it is very tempting for athletes and their athletic supporters to think very far ahead.

Around the first of April, many Dirtbag faithful were scouting air fares to Omaha based on a 17-3 record on March 25. The volleyball crowd just hoped to host a first-round match after losing three of their last five March matches. Softball was building some steam at 16-7 and tennis opened their season losing four of their first seven, but seemed to have found their rhythm.

Play it forward to this first week in May and, as the world knows, at least the ESPN2 world, the Niner volley lads ended up co-champs in the tough MPSF and got the at-large invite to Irvine for the NCAA championships. Ironically I book-ended their season, going to that December Canadian US college pre-season tourney in Clearwater, Fla., before watching the last ball go down last weekend on the Left Coast. A rousing crowd followed the Beach boys to the Bren, but the young team that grew up during the season was a young team when it ended.

Still playing is softball, back home for a weekend with more people wearing orange. The 49ers end the regular season against Pacific with a doubleheader on Friday before the final game of the regular season on Saturday. Orange was not LB’s lucky color last weekend, when they lost two of three to Fullerton, but without looking ahead, two of three this weekend would clinch the Big West championship and that automatic NCAA berth. The Beach is 37-14 on the year, losing just one conference series all season.

For the net set, the feature fighter is tiny junior Hannah Grady out of Coventry, England, ranked No. 82 nationally and headed to Tulsa for the NCAA singles championships on May 21. Grady is only the second 49er in history to get that invite. Ten years ago, Jing Chen was picked and got to the second round. But remember our observation about thinking ahead. First there is the team business where Jenny Hilt, the UCLA alum, will lead her troops (Big West regular season and tourney champions) against Denver on Friday in Westwood. Only then, if successful, can they think ahead to playing UCLA and down the road to that Tulsa trip.

Baseball is still in the mix, but has work to do after losing two of three at UC Davis last weekend. This weekend they return home with hopes of lighting up UC Santa Barbara, Friday night, with the pitching of the remarkable Andrew Liebel, Saturday night with 50th anniversary fireworks courtesy of their celebrating landlord Blair Field, and Sunday afternoon featuring Johnny Wholestaff. Trying to figure that Big West baseball race is tougher than cracking the Russian missile codes or finding parking at Big Rec last weekend during the wildly successful Century Club Golf tourney. Stop by one or all the venues and someone will explain it to both of us.

Last add is where they are. Mike Gallo, who played in both the College and MLB World Series, is battling his way back up the ladder and has a 1.74 ERA in 10 relief appearances for Toronto’s Double-A affiliate. The sports info bureau at the Beach is tracking six players in Triple-A (Cesar Ramos-Padres, Kasey Olenberger-Angels, Carlos Muniz-Mets, Cody Evans-Diamondbacks, Jeff Liefer-White Sox and Jeremy Reed-Mariners), who might be the next guys to make the show. But like we said, be careful looking ahead.

—DR. DAN