Take a good look around as the University of Hawai'i baseball team plays Georgia Southern in a three-game series that starts Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium.

Just so you'll remember the look and sound of early-season college baseball.

January and February baseball is soon to become almost a relic, nearly legislated into extinction by NCAA fiat. Beginning next season the Rainbows and, indeed, all of college baseball, will be just opening their preseason workouts on this date, Feb. 1. It will be strictly practices, drills and scrimmages. The actual games will still be three weeks off.

As is often the case with NCAA legislation, the intent of the rule is praiseworthy, though the execution leaves something to be desired. The idea was to make the sport more equitable, trimming some of the advantage that so-called warm-weather schools have enjoyed over the snow-bound.

Not since Wichita State won the College World Series in 1989 has one of the cold weather schools won the national championship. Though if you've been through Corvallis, Ore. in winter you might consider Oregon State's 2006 title in that category. Otherwise, it is necessary to go back to 1966, when Ohio State won the national championship, or 1960, when Minnesota prevailed, to find a true "northern" champion.

Those schools either hit the road early to the sunshine states or start their seasons later. Chicago State, for example, will play its first 18 games away from home, including stops at UH-Manoa and UH-Hilo next month. Wichita State, another upcoming UH opponent, plays its first 10 games in the sun.

It is what has put the issue on the table and kept it there for a quarter-century. You figure it stayed there so long precisely because there has been no easy solution. The one that has emerged doesn't seem to be the answer we've been waiting for, either.

As it stands now, the new rule will force schools to cram their 56-game regular season into a tighter time frame. Instead of 16 weeks over which to spread the 56 games, next year will mean jamming them into 12. Heaven help anybody that runs into a rainy period. And, with a resulting preponderance of midweek games, don't expect the Academic Progress Rate (APR) to improve a whole lot, either.

The better course of action would be to push back the postseason from May to June and play the College World Series around July 4. But that would cost money, forcing schools to subsidize athletes beyond the spring semester.

What you fear eventually happening is the schedule being cut to 48 or 50 games. "What will happen is a shame; it really is," said UH coach Mike Trapasso. "The reality is that college baseball has never been more popular right now."

So, take a look around this weekend and remember how it was.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.