Focusing on practice, even for at-stake postseason play, can be challenging for a collegiate player when he knows his professional future is simultaneously hanging the balance.
Alex Gordon knew he had to give his full attention to Miami for the 2005 NCAA Super Regional. So with the Nebraska baseball team holding practice at an empty Haymarket Park, and Major League Baseball beginning its amateur draft, Gordon devised a plan.
"I told my oldest brother, Eric, to show up to the ballpark and sit in the stands," Gordon said "and once he heard what pick I was, just give me a whistle and throw up fingers for what pick I was.