Baseball Heaven: Why Every Sports Fan Should Experience Omaha

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Sixty-four teams have the privilege to represent their school in the NCAA College Baseball tournament, and eight have the ultimate fortune of packing their bags for Omaha.

At last, I was part of the tradition. At last, it was time to see for myself what it was like to watch college baseball in Omaha.

Walking to our seats, the inside of Rosenblatt kind of reminded me of Wrigley Field; just without the annoying Cubs fans walking around tweeting on their blackberry's about how hysterically ironic it is that they have traded in their Amstel's and Heineken's for 16 ounce drafts of traditionally insipid Old Style.

A little old and a little rickety, with a stale aroma that simply reminded you how many years the stadium has been in use. As we walked to our seats (sixth row on the third base line behind the camera pit and right by the dugout…..they were incredible….I could have easily ricocheted a jalapeño off Kyle Peterson's dinosaur-shaped noggin) I got panoramic view of the field; and it did not disappoint.

Fans as far as the eye could see, fresh chalk on the basepaths, both starting pitchers warming up in the bullpen, fading sunlight reflecting off the visible silver apex of the Desert Dome at the Omaha Zoo, players jogging from the dugout to the warning track, and live music coming from the Organ.

Great side note about the organist, Lambert Bartak: Not only does he perform at one of the few stadiums that still features live music, but he holds the dubious distinction of being one of only two organists in the history of baseball to ever have been ejected from a game.

Great side note about our seats: These "champions tickets" meant not only that you were close to the field, but that you had a ridiculous amount of leg room in front of you.

Instead of the normal baseball standard of having no room and fighting to keep your knees out of your chest, it was like I had Economy Plus baseball seats. The legroom never seemed to end. I half expected a stewardess to come up to me at some point and ask if I needed a pillow.

Finally, the game began; and it was without a doubt one of the greatest live sporting events I have ever been too in my life. Here are the highlights from not just the game, but from the entire experience:

1) College baseball fans LOVE beach balls. Every time I glanced to right or left field during the game, there was at least one beach ball circulating on the fingertips of the crowd.

Three hilarious events occurred as a result of the beach balls. First, there are people employed by Rosenblatt who are stationed in both right and left field that are designated "beach ball getters," for whenever a ball falls out of the bleachers and into the field of play, these people are responsible for getting it.

There was one guy in particular in right field who always was running out there, and he was a consummate fan favorite…this guy sprinted to the ball every time one came down. And by sprinted, I mean this guy threw his head back and absolutely hauled ass like Forrest Gump when a ball came out of the stands.

I am pretty sure there were some fans out there who would throw a beach ball into the outfield grass just so they could watch this magnificent bastard run it down.

Which leads to the second hilarious event.

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