Cunningham stands in Lot 4 now, listening for the ping of the bat, wondering what the score is while mosquitoes chomp at him. He refuses to listen to the game on the radio. It depresses him too much, reminds him that he's not at the game.
He says Omaha is cowtown in a good way, a growing city that sneaks up on people. It isn't the sports capital of the nation. It isn't even the capital of Nebraska, and that's OK. He sits back down on his folding chair, where the parking lot is dark and quiet and safe. It's Omaha.
"I don't think they'd treat this as special in Indianapolis," he says. "What's the College World Series to them? They've got the Super Bowl champions. We have this and Nebraska football. That's it.
"This makes us feel special."
I went to the CWS in 1995, I think. I know LSU got destroyed by Cal State Fullerton. It was perhaps the most fun I've ever had a sporting event. There were no corporate boxes, no fat cats ignoring the game as the schmooze their clients, no nothing. Just the game and a bunch of fans. It was like we were in on a secret, and in this one small city, the only thing that mattered was college baseball. Well, that and the zoo, which was right next door to the stadium and provided a perfect place to duck in and kill a few hours between the morning and night sessions of games.
It was the way sports should be. It didn't feel like I was watching an advertisement like it often does at an NFL stadium. And you were close enough to talk with the players, who were just as wide-eyed and excited as you were to be there. In Omaha of all places.
I've been to some big sporting events, but the ones I've enjoyed most have been the obscure events. The CWS. The college lacrosse final four. The MLS Cup. The Arena Bowl. The Stanley Cup. It's why I like the smaller sports so much. They are just more fun.
4 comments:
I was able to make the road trip up to Omaha in 2002 when Texas won the national championship. Granted, we drove straight from Austin to Omaha on Friday afternoon/night/Saturday morning, stayed in Omaha for about 8 to 10 hours, drove back to my hometown North of Dallas on Saturday evening/night, and then drove back on to Austin on Sunday afternoon. So given my short stay and tortiuos drive, I had a blast. What's great about the experience is that every year, all these fans buy tickets at the hope that their team makes the trip to Omaha. Many Texas fans have done so the past two years and ended up disappointed that Texas didn't make it. So you have all these fans of different teams who are not in the championship series. Because of this, few people in attendance are die hard fans of either of the teams playing in the end. That creates a great atmosphere to watch baseball...just a bunch of baseball fans enjoying a game without the stress of cheering for any particular team. This same atmosphere applies to tailgating in Omaha. Everyone welcomes people in as baseball fans. It's just a great time, and I can't wait until I can go there again.
Of course, when your team wins it all, that helps the experience.
Speaking of the MLS Cup . . . did you see that FC Dallas is the best team (by one point) in the MLS?
go heels!
I enjoyed it and we got our asses kicked. And thats saying something.
And considering the way the Heels gagged last year, I hope they win it this year. So, I'm with you jeffy. Go Heels.
And Dallas is just keeping the lead warm for DC United.
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