I've been wanting to go to a College World Series game for years. I would hear tales from my parents, relatives and friends and all the fun and excitement they had. They'd reminisce every year about the games they'd been to and the crazy things that happened during them. I wanted those memories, too.
This was the last year the series would be held at Rosenblatt Stadium, where it has been held for 61 years. Next year, the 'Blatt is being torn down and the CWS will be played a brand new stadium.
I'd been looking for tickets for at least a month to this year's games, but there was a little miscommunication with the bf and I wasn't quick enough to buy any reserved seats. Typically, CWS reserved seat tickets are not easy to find unless you've got connections. They are especially not easy to find if your last chance of getting them is the day of what could potentially be the last game of the series. But, with my crazy schedule, that was really the only night I was free to go.
We drove down to the stadium after I got off work at 5. As we were in the line of cars turning onto 13th Street we noticed some people selling tickets ... right in front of the traffic cops, so we figured they had to be legit, right? The policeman stopped the line of cars just in time for me to roll down the window, heart racing. Interaction with a stranger and buying tickets in front of a cop is all a little too risky for my usual stick-to-the-rules self. The seller first tried to offer us General Admission which Chris did not want to do. Then he said he did have some reserved seats available - and we were able to talk him down to what we had just decided would be our cutoff price. It was somehow that easy. We drove a few blocks down the street, found someone who was letting us park in their back alley for a reasonable price and we headed to the stadium.
We even had enough time for two beers at the beer garden, which also gave us time to worry about whether these tickets we bought would actually be legit. We figured we'd either be some of the luckiest or stupidest people of the night. We would soon find out.
When the scanner beeped our barcode and we were in, we high-fived each other for our great luck.
Once in, we realized just how great our seats were. Right behind home plate!
For the next four and a half hours we got to watch some great baseball being played while also getting to experience:
a) Two people running onto the field - like in "Fever Pitch" (one of my guilty pleasure movies) at different points during the game. One girl, one guy. She fully dressed. Him ... not so much.
b) The Wave. Something I had never seen done before was a regular ol' wave through the whole crowd, followed by a slow motion wave through the whole crowd, followed by a fast wave through the whole crowd. I like the wave. I'm a big fan of it. Seeing it in a way I've never seen it before was fantastic and added to the magic of the night.
c) Getting on the JumboTron. It was the older ladies sitting next to us that started the dancing during "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" that attracted the cameraman, but Chris and I decided to dance, too and we got up there!
d) Guilt-free food. I may have eaten two hot dogs, french fries and Dippin' Dots but I refused to let myself feel guilty for all those calories. It was just too good.
e) A National Championship game! Let's not forget the most important part. If the South Carolina Gamecocks didn't win, that would mean there'd have to be another game the next night. By the bottom of the 9th it was tied 1-1. Nearly every time someone was at bat, flashes from across the stadium would go off, with everyone trying to get a shot of the hit that would win the game. Two innings later, at the bottom of the 11th it came. The Gamecocks won! The streamers flew, fireworks went off, the trophy was presented the players ran over to high-five the GA fans and Gatorade was poured on the coach. It was amazing.
So many things could have spoiled the night - our tickets could have been bogus (not to mention we could have not gotten tickets at all), our seats could have sucked, South Carolina could have lost which would mean we wouldn't have gotten to see the championship game. But a night that could have gone many different ways, ended up working out perfectly. It's not often you get a night that goes every way you wanted it to so I'm definitely grateful that this will be my CWS memory.
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