The College World Series: Should I Stay or Should I go?

The College World Series is heading toward its final weekend. At this point, eight teams remain: Arizona, UCLA, Florida, Florida State, Stony Brook, South Carolina, Kent State and Arkansas.

Three schools are from the SEC. (Sounds a lot like football and baseball, huh?)

Kentucky might have been there instead of Kent State had an umpire not incorrectly ruled a three-run homer for Kent State (who eliminated UK 3-2). Video showed that the ball hit below the yellow home run stripe and bounced back onto the field, but the ump didn’t see it that way and there was no way to reverse the call. Such is baseball.

Deciding when to go to the College World Series is more of a challenge than you’d think.

For the past three or four seasons, I’ve wanted to follow UNC to Omaha but could never quite pull the trigger. This season, I had high hopes that either UNC or my alma mater, UK, would make it to Omaha, but both were eliminated in the Regionals. And, therein lies the problem.

The 2012 CWS will begin June 15 and end June 26, assuming the best-of-three finals last three games. That’s 12 days with games being played on all but Saturday, June 23^rd. One way to see the CWS would be to fly out for the entire championship.

With all due respect to Omaha, I don’t want to spend twelve days there.

If you’re not going to see the entire championship, which part should you see?

Eight college teams will make the trip to Omaha, but one fourth of them will only play two games, lose both in the double-elimination format, and head for home. Within a few more days, another fourth will be finished.

If you plan to spend the entire tournament in Omaha — and, what, visit the zoo six times? — it is likely that your team will go home long before you. So, planning for the entire twelve days is, for me at least, not an option.

A second strategy is to show up at the CWS early and plan to stay only a few days. Omaha flights and hotels, however, are at peak capacity during the CWS and the worst is the first weekend when all eight teams and their fans are there.

As teams begin to lose and go home, the town clears out.

Another strategy is to wait to see if your team advances, then plan your travel. I’ve considered this two seasons, only to see the Tar Heels come home early and kill my plans. By then, even if your team wins, you’ll struggle to find flights and hotel rooms, and in all likelihood, tickets.

The strategy I’m taking this year is to attend the finals, regardless of who plays. The last two teams standing switch from double-elimination format to a best-of-three series. It is certain that the two teams in the finals will play two games on June 24^th and 25^th and a third on June 26^th if needed.

Of course, I won’t get to see either UK or UNC play, but I’ve come to realize that I might wait forever to see that happen. Instead, I’m gonna cross the CWS off my bucket list knowing I’ll get to see two great teams play two games.

If they split the first two, I’ll play the third game by ear. Maybe I’ll scramble for a ticket and postpone my flight home. Or, maybe I’ll miss that third game and watch it on TV.

We’ll see.

I have my tickets, though. Even that was a challenge because I’m attending alone and no one sells single tickets. But, that’s another post.