The most dramatic moment of last night's Game One of the 2012 College World Series was Robert Refsnyder's two-run homer for Arizona in the bottom of the first inning.
But the second most dramatic moment was when the entire left field section of cheap seats shouted in unison, "Right field sucks!"
It wasn't a chant, but one loud, dramatic outburst that startled the stadium before everyone started to laugh.
Moments later, the right field cheap-seaters stood and shouted, "Left field sucks!" even louder and the entire stadium reveled in it.
It had only just begun, as Karen Carpenter would say.
OK, maybe it was the third-most dramatic moment, following a flyover by four F16 Vipers coordinated with the end of the National Anthem, so low you could feel the rumble in your gut. The shivers down my spine weren't entirely from the jet engines.
The game could have been more dramatic-- South Carolina never recovered from Refsnyder's yard ball-- but I still had a great time and the pageantry was something to behold.
It gets hot in Omaha in June. There wasn't a dry T-shirt in the house. I walked to the top of the stadium a few times to catch a nice breeze, but in the seats the air was still and the concrete kept it from cooling down.
When I left the stadium right after the game to walk the 12 miles to my parking garage, the temperature was immediately pleasant with a nice breeze.
Reasonably-priced parking is hard to find anywhere around downtown Omaha. Real estate is in short supply here on the prairie, you know.
Speaking of t-shirts, I shopped for one with the 2012 CWS logo, but couldn't pull the trigger. I found a baseball cap I liked (I desperately need another baseball cap), then noticed it had a UPS logo on the back.
I'm not buying anything with Christian Laettner's monogram on it.
The middle innings got a little boring as 'Zona kept widening the margin and USC couldn't score. Beach balls began bouncing around the left field stands and the fans began to chant "we've got beach balls!" derisively to their less fortunate right field-stands rivals.
But the most dramatic fan display was a super slow-mo wave from the left field cheapies. They rose slowly from their seats with perfect timing and just froze with their hands in the air. It was worth the price of admission.
I don't know where or how the rivalry began between the left and right field grandstand occupants that, based on the equal mixture of school colors in each was not fan-based, but it seemed deep-seated.
(I can not pass up a pun. Sorry.)
The NCAA played a lengthy promo on the jumbrotron as a tribute to championships in its many sports. How they managed to show several schools while omitting the University of Kentucky's basketball title was. . . well, not the least surprising.
They did manage to work in a shot of Duke and Coach K, though.
Your remember Duke in the NCAA basketball tournament, right? Lost early to basketball powerhouse Lehigh? Yeah, them.
So, Game Two tonight. Hoping for a little more drama of the baseball kind.
I'll get back to you on the cap.
No comments:
Post a Comment