Put me in Coach, I'm ready to play!

It's that time again-time for my Dad and Mr. Bailey (One of Dad's closest friends and My role model...just kidding, Mom. This world could never handle another Bailey Hankins) to set out on their annual pilgrimage to the Mecca of the great American pastime. For you Communists out their, I'm talking about the College World Series at Omaha, Nebraska!

Omaha is the stage on which the greatest show in the world is played. Every year the country's top college baseball teams travel there to compete for the ultimate bragging rights. The series is a gruelling two week, double elimination tournament, from which ANY of the sixteen teams present can emerge as the victor. The players in this series are there simply help their team win the College World Series. I swear time slows down and the CWS. No one utters a word about which professional teams want which players from the college teams and the series. Part of the attraction to the CWS is the absence of comercialism. It is baseball as it was intended, a GAME. The players don't care about salary caps or salary bonuses, Nike contracts or ESPN interviews. They are there to play the game they love and to win, as a team, not as individuals. I love to play baseball but as far as I'm concerned, at Omaha is the only way to watch it.

I believe Dad and Mr. Bailey started going to the CWS fifteen years ago. In the beginning Dad and his baseball buddies would go to actually watch baseball. Mr. Bailey was their to watch the game, but his primary duty was to, uh...how should I say this, ensure everyone had a REALLY good time. Over the years, my dad's baseball buddies, Billy A., and my Uncle Charlie stopped going for one reason or another. But Dad and Mr. Bailey never let each other down. Like old war buddies reuniting at the memorial, they carried on the tradition through bad weather, poor officiating, crappy hotel rooms, motorcycle wrecks (Dad AND Bailey), complaining wives, backstabbing scalpers, University of Nebraska fans, the rise AND fall of the "Runza" (a Yankee Hotpocket), and countless cases of indigestion from Mr. Zesto (excellent burgers).

Every year or so, Bailey's brother, my brother-in-law Marcus, some friend of theirs, or I would decide to go. They would have an amazing time and vow to be back every year. Dad and Mr. Bailey would just knowing glance at one another, and think, "We'll see." A year would pass, and perhaps, one of the newbies would be there, but without a doubt, Dad and Mr. Bailey would be in Omaha. Just a couple of old farts, looking out from underneath their pin-laden CWS hats, enduring the hot Omaha sun, doing what they love, watching college baseball (or some florida college girl in a bikini top and cutoff shorts, but "What happens in Omaha, stays in Omaha!")

This year Marcus and I are going with them (and I think, Uncle Charlie). I hope this trip marks the beginning of a looong streak for both of us. I can't wait to see all of the LSU fans with their campers (LSU fans go whether the team does or not...no kidding, they have written articles about them in the local paper), all the beautiful Harleys, the aforementioned Florida fans or any other college student who vehemently supports their team, and to just "be" in the environment of the CWS.

If all we get to do is sit in the beer garden outside the stadium and watch the games on the big screen(I could inject story of a textbook CWS moment, but you'll have to go to hear that one), it will be great to just be their in Omaha with my Dad. My favorite part of going to the CWS is not the games, the beer (and believe me, we enjoy a beer or two in Omaha), or anything else tangible. It's seeing my Dad truly enjoy himself, not thinking about the stress of work or things he needs to do at home. Hearing him laugh that unrestrained "cackle" he gives off when he's has a couple and Bailey cracks a good one. There's no other way to put it, than it's just good therapy for the soul.....for both of us.

So, for all you fathers and sons out there, I hope you have a great Father's Day. But unless you are in Omaha, Nebraska, having yourself a Zesto's and a cold one, it's gonna be tough to beat mine!

I'll post SOME of the pics when I get back