Baseball Heaven: Why Every Sports Fan Should Experience Omaha

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A fan in the first row of the right field bleachers had the foresight to bring some sort of long string to the ballgame. After seeing Forrest Gump Jr's aggressive ball-retrieving skills, he tied the string to a beach ball and dangled it over the edge of the fence, reminiscent of an angler trolling for large mouth bass.

Hilarity ensued not once, but twice when Gump ran out there to retrieve the intruding sphere and the fan yanked the beach ball back up into the stands; resulting in every single fan in the right field bleachers vigorously mocking poor Mr. Gump.

Ridiculous event No. 3 occurred when FG ran out there to retrieve a ball (that was not tied to a string) and as he was running back, the Arizona State right fielder took the ball out of his hands and tossed it back into the bleachers; thus resulting in many a cheer for the ASU outfielder, and the further booing of poor Forrest.

2) I forgot how much college fans in general love chanting. In unison, the left field stands would scream out "RIGHT FIELD SUCKS!" Obviously reciprocated by the fans in right screaming out "LEFT FIELD SUCKS," and the left field stands retorting with a unified "WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!!" (….CLAP….CLAP…CLAP, CLAP, CLAP)

3) I also forgot how much college fans celebrate whenever somebody gets ejected from the game. And no, I am not talking about a player—I am talking about one of their fellow fans.

At some point in the fourth inning, a giant roar came from left field, so I naturally looked over to see what was going on.

At least a thousand fans, from both Texas and Arizona State, were hooting and hollering at a couple of Rosenblatt security guards; who were leading one of their cavalier comrades out to the concourse.

I still am not sure what this person did, but I do know that his fellow fans did not want him to leave, as the "LET HIM STAY!!" chants rang on for at least a minute after his banishment.

4) If you have ever been to a Major League baseball game, you know that there is netting behind home plate that extends above the fans sitting in those seats, and all the way up to the press box. This prevents fans from getting injured by the foul balls that are sent towards the backstop.

As I'm sure you've seen, foul balls that make it onto this slanted netting trickle back down towards the field of play and fall on the dirt that lines the back wall. Usually a ball boy or ball girl will then come out of a team's dugout, retrieve the ball, and give it back to the umpire during a pause in the action.

Well my friends, it is different at the 'Blatt. There is a young girl who is continuously stationed in a sealed off area right behind home plate.

Whenever a ball gets fouled back onto the netting and starts trickling back towards the field, she sprints out of her holding area, finds the ball, and attempts to catch it before the ball hits the ground. I had never seen something like this before, and found it quite entertaining.

The best part about it was the fact that if she missed the catch, the entire stadium booed her. It was magical.

I was almost in tears when I first saw this, and it continued on each foul tip for the entire game; but I did not feel any bit of sorrow for this young lass, as she was cheered like a conquering hero any time she made the play.

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