MH Omaha email blog Days 12-13

It is 2:15 AM on Weds AM and I my brain is going back and forth like a metronome from adrenaline rush to pretty much complete exhaustion. It is coming up to day #13 in Omaha and who could have ever expected that -- when we first came here to Omaha, our only wish was to win one game and not be the first team to go home. Well that all changed, even though it is still groundhog day here. I have taken to calling this "Omaha Island" as it seems so isolated from everything that we know, except baseball, and we just can't seemed to get over the island fever. A brief summary of the last two days here before I just give in to how tired I really am:

> MONDAY began with the usual game day anticipation and breakfast here in the Hilton Garden Inn --- Omaha. We are on a first name basis with the entire staff and they have taken really good care of their extended baseball family here. This place produces people who really care and the CWS is so very important to this city.

> Guys were still riding pretty high from the Sunday whomping (my word, not theirs) of UNC and feeling pretty good about their chances against the Georgia Bulldogs for all the marbles. Georgia is only the #8 seeded team in the country, so they should be relatively easy to play compared to #2 North Carolina, #3 Arizona State, #6 Rice and #7 Univ of San Diego. Did not know much about them other than they had #5 pick in the draft at SS, and a flame-throwing reliever / closer who is projected to go straight into the Mariners lineup as a setup guy.

> the game started on a beautiful evening and our guys played really well all the way around. If you have not seen Tommy Mendonca, our 3rd baseman, you really should -- he is the real deal and has made world-class defensive plays while swing the bat with amazing effectiveness. We put some hits together and played good enough defense to get ahead 6-3 in the 7th inning, only to give up a home run and a few other hits by our closer ( a stud player for us) and lose 7-6. It was the second of only two losses in the CWS and both by just one run. Our 1-2-3 hitters (including Gavin) went a collective 0 for 12 in this one which was surprising and certainly not what we have come to expect -- a down day for them but slack was picked up by others, like our #8 and #9 hitters who both went yard -- this is team baseball. And once again we have shown that it is not about individual performance but rather the collective weaving of efforts of an entire group that produce great results. Our guys were not dejected by their own or others' sub-par performances, but rather they were upset they let a game they might have won slip away somehow.

> on the way out of the stadium after the game, some numskull proceeds to tell Karen that there is bad weather in the forecast for each of the next two days. Well this just sets her off and the Mom in her starts to go to defcon 3 -- how could mother nature prevent her from getting home on time? Why would rain interfere with this event and how could we possibly extend our nearly 2-week trip one more day? She felt trapped and I was scrambling out of the pocket with some really bad meteorological mumbo-jumbo to try to calm her -- "the Argentinean cold front coming in from the southeast would surely push this rain north towards the poor bastards in South Dakota who don't have a College World Series in their backyard". We settled not on my forecast but on putting Kenan on a plane first thing Tuesday morning to return here to Omaha with us.

> We grabbed dinner with Gavin at another local institution -- KING KONG -- which has been around forever and is basically a Greek restaurant selling hamburgers on the side with a stuffed gorilla greeting you at the door -- it was right out of SNL "cheesebuga, cheesbuga, chip, chip". It was a quiet dinner in a bad part of town but was nice just to be on our own for a bit -- Gavin was in good spirits despite his night and the loss by the team -- was quite impressive actually.

> Fresno State has a few cheers that we do -- not many, but the big one is "Is there a dog in the house" to which you appropriately answer loudly "WOOF" and then repeat it several more times. I barked so hard and so often Monday night during the game that I got a headache and had to down a four Motrin to get it under control. I have gotten really good at the "WOOF" though and am looking forward to trying it out on Chi-Chi when I get back -- I am sure it will scare the hell out of her.

> TUESDAY was another catch up with work day and we woke up to a really big thunderstorm and heavy rain. This was not good and Karen declared that there was no way any baseball would be played this day.

> After breakfast, we left for the airport to pick up Kenan and also Marty and Marla (Karen's brother and sister-in law). It would be nice to have some "fresh meat" as we all term it now since we have been so close with so many of the same people throughout the last 2-3 weeks, beginning in Ruston, LA at the WAC tournament. Having Kenan here takes some of the pressure off of not being home and he is such a joy for us and his brother, Gavin, to have around. Kenan asked me for a hat like Gavin's so I sent Gavin a text and he had me come down to the dugout where he threw me a brand new game day hat for Kenan to wear -- he really treasures that and it is another example of just how laid back this all is -- Gavin has time 30 minutes before the game to get his brother a hat and to get it to us. I loved the selfless caring in that.......

> We had lunch with Marty and Marla at the Spaghetti Works where the entire Georgia Bulldogs baseball team was eating. It was still raining, at times hard and we were getting some hail. Game conditions were beginning to look questionable.

> We left for the stadium at around 3:30 and it was raining harder than it had rained all day. I am guessing a couple of inches came down and we could not conceive how a game could get played today. We waited it out though, including spending some time in the Fresno State tailgate tent. We were greeted by the University president who apparently, and miraculously developed an affinity for baseball, as I have never seen him at a game n Fresno in the past 3 years. A word about the "bandwagon" -- in the case of Fresno State baseball, it is alive and well and still taking on all riders which is just fine. These kids don't care how qualified their support is, but are thrilled to have as much of a crowd in the stands cheering for them as we have. The people of Omaha are starting to show overwhelming support for our FS Bulldogs and we were stopped all over tonight after the game with their comments and expressions of support.

> The game began about 30 minutes late and it did not feature and F-16 flyover like the previous night. The "flyover" tonight would consist of 19 hits scoring 19 runs for Fresno State -- amazing and puts us into some records here in Omaha. Offense was prodigious and our raggedy-ass pitching was plenty good enough, and included a gutsy guy who went the last 3 innings who only threw maybe 15-20 innings all year. Gavin got hit by a pitch for the third time in the CWS but the only real injury was to our third base coach who wore his arm out waving so many people in! We got ice though for him, and Gavin. What we loved most about this game, was that we were down 5-0 after the 3rd inning and could have easily folded the tents and started our summer. Instead, our guys have 3 straight innings putting up big "crooked numbers" (baseball jargon) -- even when they mounted a little comeback, we never took our foot off of the gas and just kept battling and won in grand style 19-10.

> We learned after the game tonight that Tommy Mendonca had been selected for Team USA, the US national baseball team and would leave Friday for their camp. This is an amazing honor and one that further demonstrates that he is the "real deal" -- I a sure his stock went sky high this last week for next year's draft for him.

> After the game, 30 family and players met at Old Chicago for pizza and root beer :-) -- and we did what we have done every game night; watch ESPN until the re-run the highlights of our most recent game. I will never get used to seeing these guys on the TV -- watching your own son on ESPN SportsCenter is just plain bizarre.

OK, it is now after 3 AM here in Omaha, and I am feeling it big time. What an incredible day we had at the baseball field and the contrast with yesterday's loss is stark. I have received so many inspirational messages from so many of you but got one today that was particularly good and appropriate and passed on to Gavin -- (from Confucius) it said " our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rather it is picking ourselves up each time we do". The Bulldogs picked themselves up tonight and got through their 6th straight elimination game in the post-season, all the while maintaining a fun-loving, good spirited attitude which I have got to try to get my hands on more of! After writing 5 of these blogs, I can sit here tonight and tell you that we are playing tomorrow night at 7 PM EDT for the NCAA National Championship -- it is almost inconceivable to say. How can this happen to such a bunch of normal kids and how could they be in this situation, when it was never expected of them, let alone dreamed possible? They will wonder this at some point also, but not before they get up tomorrow morning, the 13th groundhog morning, have breakfast, meet and go to the baseball field just like they have been since early February. Expect to see goofing around on the field, dancing in the dugout and hopefully a pitching and hitting clinic. No matter the outcome of tomorrow's game though, champs or runners-up, they are the Dogs most likely to win best in show, my wonderful son among them, and I will hope to never doubt the impossible again.