So Long CWS - Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Is it over already?

Awwww man, I love the College World Series so much, it’s just hard to deal with life when it’s almost over. Oh well, at least I had a nice 8+ days of media coverage, bombarding me with how great the CWS is, even though it completely sucks compared to just 10 years ago. I’ve been treated to stories about the 5 loser kids who smear mud on the CWS baseballs. I’ve heard countless stories about (insert 13th street hypocrite) who sells (insert t-shirts/parking/snow cones etc) on their 13th street lawn. I then hear them bitch and moan about how if the CWS ever left, they’d be forced to eat cat food and sell their children to pay the electric bill. Then again, they never mentioned the fact that pretty much every year prior to 1998, these are the same people that bitched to the high heaven that the CWS was destroying their neighborhood by getting too big. Now that the parking money is flowing like wine, these people throw out the “poor us” card. Screw em. (Special thanks to my friend Husker Mike for finding this gem of idiology)

This year has been mildly entertaining however. No, not because the same damn teams are pretty much playing from a year ago. And no, not because ANYTHING about the series is different, other than the fact that those toothless hicks from “Dingerville” are gone. (Although they still bitch to the media every year about not having a place to park their giant Winnebago.)

No, this year the only thing remotely amusing is the same topic that has followed the series for a month now: What to do with Rosenblatt?

What I love are these idiots who get on camera or in front of a micro player and say crap like, “You’ve got to have it on 13th street, no other place on earth can match this environment.” What, you mean like 20-50 year old men drinking 9.3 Bud Lights each in the parking lot? Or do you mean the crumbling houses that have a giant Michelob sign covering the roof? Yeah, I don’t know what you’d do if you lost all that. Fact remains, most of the poor sheep in this town don’t realize what lies on the other side of the grass. Have you ever even been to one of the newer AAA parks like Bricktown or Victory Field? Have you ever even been outside of this city? Do you have any clue what drives the sports entertainment economy in 2007? Let me tell you, it’s not a t-shirt stand or a guy selling honeycorn popcorn. It’s fan fest areas, it’s better parking, it’s sky boxes and it’s concession stands that don’t match the cleanliness of a whorehouse in Tijuana.

The CWS WAS a great event, but it’s been ruined by drunken revelers with zero sense of reality. The complexity of the situation has only been compounded by making the event a victim of it’s own success. The NCAA has a death grip on the city’s balls, and won’t let go until they’ve bilked you and me for every damn cent we have. And let me tell you this…after watching my house valuation come back at a 19% increase…the last thing I want to do is give that God damn Dennis Poppe ONE CENT more of my money…while the local elementary school has so many kids in it, they can hardly bring in enough portable classrooms. Keep saying you don’t need a new stadium, and watch how fast the NCAA leaves you sticky, broke and confused the next morning.

What's that? I can't find ANYTHING nice to say about the CWS? Not true. For my last CWS post for another year...let me leave you with one thought: Any reason to stare at Erin Andrews is good enough for me.

** Pretty interesting article from the Kansas City Star today about the emergence of sports blogs. Look, I’m not about to tell you that this particular slice of cyberspace is any better or worse than anything else out there. But I will tell you that perspective is and content is key. OK, fine..so it’s June and there are only so many ways you can say the Huskers suck complete ass. However, it’s that outside perspective that give blogs….good blogs…their role in sports. Gone are days where Tom Shatel was the lone voice of the Omaha sports fan. (Thank God Tom has been relegated to print only now..where all of 5,000 people can read his crap on a daily basis). No, this blog..like others are intended to make you smile…get you pissed off…and inform you of just how whacked out and crazy Husker fans really are when you’re surrounded by them.

I don’t claim to be a better writer than everybody else..nor am I more creative than most people. But I can say I can tell you probably better than anybody just how stupid it is to read articles about what Bo Ruud had for breakfast in May. I can tell you how Husker fan can spin just the smallest of details, such as their star wide-receiver cracking a girl in the face at a bar. I can tell you just how desperate they are..and what a complete and total fraud they have become. Nobody can tell you these things, because they live on an island..surrounded by media who loves them…and no rivals to call them out for being the myopic, inbred hillbillies they are. I’m here to keep them in check, and give you the facts. I hope I can continue to do so throughout the fall and beyond, as we’ve done here for two years now.

** For my UNO hockey friends: Nice to see the new UNO brass making strides to make hockey relevant again. Things such as building the student section, streamlining the ticket process, and improving the game day experience are key to putting that program back on the road to success. However, until that abortion of musical drudgery known as a “jazz band” is eliminated, disbanded and publicly flogged, the program will continue to be second class. I applaud everything they’re trying to do to improve things…but is it really necessary to pay 12 nerds twice a week, just so they can play the same 8 songs over and over again? Somebody put those clowns out of their misery, and put them back in front of Harry Potter DVD’s and Star Wars Xbox games where they belong.

For the rest of you who don’t know what I’m talking about…TRUST me. Imagine if your favorite football team’s marching band was replaced by 80 nerds with zero musical ability or talent. (Unlike the 300 or so nerds that make up most marching bands…at least most of them are talented at the major college level)

** We’re heading into July…so you know what that means? PREVIEWS PREVIEWS PREVIEWS!!! Stay tuned.