Crowd to Wolf: “Booooooooooooooo”
Crowd to Wolf: “Woooooooo… Yeahhhhhhhhhhh.”
We exited the land of trees, creeks, mountains, and fresh
air and entered the next part of our journey – rolling hills, humidity, pit
stains, and the crack of the bat.
We planned on going to several major and minor league
ballparks, but on a whim, we drove to Omaha, Nebraska to see the College World
Series. As we took the exit into Omaha, our eyes widened to see traffic and
skyscrapers as they were more foreign to us than bison and geysers.
After a thirty-minute detour thanks to Siri, she finally
pointed us in the right direction. TD Ameritrade Park was in sight and we were
stoked. 
It wasn’t long before we spotted a scalper. With my Seattle
Mariners game experience, I knew the stereotype. He cut us a good deal. Thanks
LJ.
As we approached the stadium, we heard laughter and
commotion from the two-story bar, Blatt. We felt that two green shirts would
fit in nicely with the sea of Maroon from the Mississippi State fans. There were
at least 300 people in the bar, but Peter and I outnumbered the UCLA
bandwagoners.
With the first pitch steadily approaching, we found a slim opening
at the bar top and ordered a couple of shots and beers. I tried to give the
bartender my card but she denied it. Puzzled, I ask why. She informed us that a
Mississippi State gentleman, in every sense on the word, had opened a tab for
the entire bar. WOW. After speculating how many thousands of dollars were on
the tab, we figured a couple more shots wouldn’t hurt the deep pocket of the
man from the deep south.
After a few more conversations with MSU fans, and a terrible
one with Bruins fans, we headed toward the bleachers in center field. On our
walk, our Ducks gear stood out like a grizzly bear in an open field and we
became minor celebrities. We were called out on a microphone and interviewed on
the big screen and called over by the brother of Oregon Basketball assistant
coach, Kevin McKenna. Dave McKenna (in pic on right) had great inside recruiting info and called
the transfer of the Houston guard to Oregon. This experience recalled our trip
the Rose Bowl a couple years ago when we talked with the doorman at Pebble
Beach Golf Course, John Aliotti (brother of Nick Aliotti, Oregon’s Defensive
Coordinator). After our chat with Dave, we made it into the stadium. Our
tickets were standing room only, so we watched the first three innings from the
concourse behind third base. We had one eye on the game and one eye on vacant
seats. We decided to give the seats a shot. After four failed attempts, we
found two great seats next to Robin and Co. on the first base side.
Home field advantage was not helping our Dawgs as UCLA had a
commanding lead heading in to the bottom of the 8th. As the stadium,
which once held the crowd of a championship game, turned to the crowd of a
Mariners game in August, we headed down to the front row.
We were quickly ridiculed by a slobbery drunk fan. Shortly
after, a dribbler was fouled off into the on-deck circle. As we yelled for the
batter to toss to our seats, he did. I did my best Stretch Armstrong impression
and snagged the ball in front of the drunk fan with my outstretched fingers
three rows up. The Mississippi State fan started booing me and some of his
Mississippi State fans joined in. I showed Peter the ball and gave him a high
five and slouched into my seat to the overwhelming boos of the stadium’s
remaining fans. As the boos grew louder, I slouched deeper. I didn’t want to
give up that ball, but the boos were relentless. I decided it was best to give
the ball away. I stood up and walked two rows up to the third row and handed it
to a little boy who was experiencing the game with his dad. With the eyes of
the stadium focused on me, the boos quickly turned to loud cheers and clapping.
Peter led the standing ovation. I soaked it in and stood there for a second
while I clasped my hands over my head in the shape of an Oregon “O.” Our minor
celebrity status was now full blown Kardashianesque. 
Moments later, three girls sprinted on to the field in left
field to an eruption of cheers. Weaving their way past and around the crowd
control staff for a few moments, they were finally caught and escorted through
the tunnel five feet away from us. The first girl, now handcuffed, managed an
elbow five with a guy leaning over the wall.
With two outs in the 9th, a lazy ground ball made
its way to first base. The UCLA first baseman fielded it cleanly and softly
tossed to the sprinting pitcher. They tossed their gloves up in celebration as
high as the top of Beartooth Pass. Cameras flashed and fireworks boomed like the
storm of Glacier National. UCLA had done it. We appreciate UCLA representing for
the PAC-12, but felt a sense of sadness as our hearts were with the Dawgs.
We exited TD Ameritrade elated with our experience and to
see the final college baseball game of the 2013 season. On our way back to
Black Sal, I was continually patted on the back by MSU fans for the gesture I
made. One fan said, “It was such a great thing you did. You represented Oregon
well.” Now off to our couch surfing experiment with our unknown hosts, Ananth
and Chase.
Our favorite version of this classic song: Bruce Springstone - "Take Me Out To The Ballgame"
