OMAHA, Nebraska — Yes, it's a gut-wrenching ego check. But hey, it's also a great deal!
That's the conundrum hundreds of aimless college baseball fans faced as they perused the Omaha Baseball Village sales tents Thursday afternoon. They milled about in the shadow of a very empty Charles Schwab Field, some seeking shelter from the mid-June Nebraska heat beneath the monolithic sign on the street side of the stadium's scoreboard tower that read “COLLECTIVE WORLD SERIES HOME MEN'S “NCAA”.
The stadium was left unoccupied on what is the rarest day of the MCWS, an “if necessary” corner of the week-plus group without baseball games. And even the slowest detective could have figured out the cause and effect of everything in CSI just by looking at the souvenir shelves.
“What we have here is a case of the haves and the haves becoming have-nots,” proclaimed Len Grayson, a Florida State fan who is in Omaha through Tuesday because he confidently booked a flight back at the end of the series to Georgia, convinced that his Seminoles would pack into that stadium as national champions. Instead, they were eliminated Wednesday by top-ranked Tennessee. He held up an orange “Oma-Vols” jersey priced at $40 and an identical “Oma-Noles” jersey for $9.99.
“Guess which team still has a chance to win the College World Series? Here's a clue: They're not the ones in the bid box,” Grayson said.
There are three clues when it comes to determining which schools exited the MCWS's annual eight-team field the earliest. The first is to keep an eye on the nine flagpoles (eight of which fly a school flag) at the entrance to the Village, moved downtown after the demolition of Rosenblatt Stadium from Omaha's OG Stadium. One by one, as teams are eliminated, their banners are lowered.
It's always a pleasure to be back in Omaha, even on a strange, rare day when there are no “if necessary” games. My first stop is always a flyover of the flagpoles that were moved downtown from Rosenblatt Stadium. Only two teams are still flying high alongside Old Glory. #GigEm #GBO #MCWS pic.twitter.com/DPO2YBitH8
-Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) June 20, 2024
When the series was being played at Rosenblatt, a group of partiers known as Professional Tailgaters (®, seriously) began a flamingo hooding ceremony, where pink plastic bird-shaped lawn ornaments designed with each team's logos had their heads covered with black hoods whenever their team was sent home, with ceremonial music and, of course, a toast with many drinks. That tradition also traveled to the downtown stadium, undeterred even in 2015 when a mysterious fan, presumably upset by his team's failures in Omaha, stole three of the flamingos and placed them atop a 30-foot water tower just north of the stadium.
Then there's the hard truth that can be found on those hangers. On Thursday, ahead of this weekend's best-of-three championship series between Tennessee and Texas A&M, souvenir owners were busy removing all their Aggies and Big Orange merchandise and moving it to the front of their stores, replacing the clothing that had been revolted. in front of those same stores the day before.
“Oh, we start marking it and moving it to the front as soon as we know who's being eliminated,” explained Trish Dew, who was manning the register at the DCM vendor tent at Omaha Baseball Village on Thursday, standing behind a table. covered in half-price MCWS calendars and pennants featuring the logos of the defunct UNC Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers and NC State Wolfpack. “Do you see this TV right behind me? We are watching the games and we are so close that we can also hear what is happening in the stadium. I am not kidding when I say that the moment the game ends, if a team ends.” , their fans will be here in minutes looking for deals and we are ready for them.”
It's a massive flash mob sale, with orange Day-Glo price tags quickly placed over opening day dollar signs and plastic-covered paper touting “ELIMINATED TEAMS 50% OFF” as the game's newest flamingo casualty. hooded and half mast. has their T-shirts and caps hanging next to those that came before them, lined up on wire racks like advertisements for missing pets.
The only time the winners and losers will be side by side will be as soon as the series ends, the newly delivered very expensive team of champions next to the very cheap freshly trimmed remnants adorned with the runners-up. Now, the only thing that remains to be determined is which team will eventually join the other losers and which will not.
“Should I buy this now or wait and see what happens?” a beer-infused Tennessee loyalist asked his companion.
“What are you saying?” replied the sunburnt friend. “Wait and see if we lose so you can get a better deal if we lose? Then your ass will need to find a ride home.”
Virginia…North Carolina State…North Carolina…Kentucky…Florida State…Florida…and to be determined. Charting your favorite school's performance in Omaha is as easy as seeing where it lives on those shelves. And that internal debate between pain and purchasing power is not limited to just this year. If you dig deep enough, beyond the $20 offerings of 2024 non-champions, you can find the ghosts of your alma mater's Omaha past for $15… $10… and less.
“Dude!” a Texas A&M fan yelled at a family member, holding up a $5.99 Michigan blue and maize jersey from the 2019 MCWS, when the Wolverines lost to Vanderbilt in a heartbreaking three-game championship series. “Didn't your cousin cry all the way home to Detroit? You should give him this.”
Louisville 2017, Auburn 2022, NC State's COVID-plagued 2021 nightmare, hell, even Tennessee and Texas A&M's recent trips to Omaha all came up empty. Depending on one's emotional point of view, Omaha Baseball Village is either a treasure trove of old sports or a spiral of psychological ruin.
But man, what savings!
“I can't decide if I should buy this stuff or not,” explained Virginia fan Tracy Downs, who said she and her husband weren't in Omaha for her Cavaliers' MCWS title in 2015, but were here for the three GRAPE. appearances since then. The Oma-Hoos (that's what's on the jersey) were 1-2 in 2021 and 0-2 in each of the last two years. “It's great to get here, but is it strange to come home and wear things from when you were on the first team?”
Her husband didn't even respond. She just looked over her sunglasses knowing her inevitable decision.
“Yes, I'm going to buy all of this. I can get two shirts and a hat for what one shirt would have cost last weekend. And yes, I'm also going to buy everyone's Christmas gifts. Go Hoos.”
