The Road to Omaha

The highlight is baseball non stop for two weeks time. No matter where you go, there is something involving baseball. The College World Series is played everyday at Rosenblatt Stadium and there are street vendors lined up along the streets selling baseball merchandise. You can and will talk to everyone in town about one thing and that is college baseball.

Quick Tips:

There are only a few tips when going to the College World Series. First of all book your hotel as early as possible. They fill up fast and once the teams are set there will be no rooms around. Also when they start to sell tickets buy as many tickets as you can, as long as they are reserved tickets. You can get General Admission tickets early as well for a discount, but you can always buy them at the gate as well. Buying them early does not benefit you in any way other than saving a couple of dollars. No matter when you buy general admission seats you are not guaranteed to get in the game.

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to get around is to find a parking spot around the stadium early in the morning and walk everywhere you go. There will be people selling parking spaces in their yard, but it really isn't necessary, because there is enough street parking to go around. There are only a few spaces in the stadium and those are for season ticket holders.

When I was a little boy I would go home after school and do one of two things. I would either watch ESPN or WGN. I would watch WGN if the Cubs game was on and otherwise I would watch whatever ESPN had to offer. For a couple week span each year when school was out ESPN would show my favorite thing, The College World Series. They would show Rosenblatt Stadium at the start of the broadcast and would often say, “The Road to Omaha ends here.” Eight teams who were the best in college baseball would battle each other until only one team remained.

I was the minority, because college baseball is not a popular sport by any means and it was lucky to get that little bit of air time during the summer. I would watch games all day and night long and back then dream of playing in the CWS one year. Well as time went along it became more of a dream to go to the CWS and not to play in it. I would often have friends say this year we are going and we never would. Then I got married and had a son and thought it would be many years down the line when my son was older that I actually got to go. Well last year a friend brought it up again, but this time I said, “we are going.” At that point there was no looking back and I was on my own “Road to Omaha.” Let’s just say it was a road I hope to repeat many times in my life. Baseball does not get any better than this.