The College World Series is back. I went with the family to see Fresno State beat North Carolina, which is exactly the outcome we were all hoping for. To add to the whole experience, we sat in front of a group of Southerners, which had its pros and cons. Main pro: sounding like the characters on Friday Night Lights. The guy behind me even said “Aw raht” (all right) like Eric Taylor and they had a kid named Gracie Lee (the Taylors sometime call their daughter Gracie Belle on FNL). If only Riggins played baseball. The main con: when the Michigan fight song came on (as a trivia question) the guy screamed at the top of his lungs “We don’t want to hear no Michigan fight song!”.

Kyle, Oleg, Erin, Sean and I went to a College World Series game on Friday evening. North Carolina vs. Mississippi State. North Carolina won 8-5. It was very hot. Sticky hot. The smell of hot dogs and sunblock wafting through the air, signaling both baseball and summertime. It was a good time.

The famed Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series.

Kyle and Oleg waiting in the long, long general admission line to get in.

Action on the field. A fly ball being caught, in case you couldn’t tell from the tiny figures.

Erin and I wait in eager anticipation of the fly ball being caught. We could also be found cheering for our favorite player, Benji. I wasn’t cheering for any team in particular, just for the sport of baseball. I cheered for singles, doubles, triples, strikeouts, batters who were hit by pitches but walked it off, homeruns, fly ball catches, steals, everything. It didn’t matter what team you were on, as long as you were doing something active and exciting, I was cheering for you.

Besides cheering, this is what I do best at a baseball game. This followed a hot dog and an ice cold coke. Man, do I love sporting events.

Sean was hungry too, but was too lazy to wait in the concession lines.

Beautiful.