FAYETTEVILLE — Five innings was enough to get the flavor of the Hog Pen. Trust me, it's fun and worth trying sometime.
But for the most part, you will need a radio – or sit near someone with Phil Elson's play-by-play call – to find out what's really happening in the far corners of Baum Stadium.
I left my near perfect seat in the press box to venture into the famed barbecue section of the stadium with a view of the back of the batter's wall in center field. You are also near the football games amongst strangers from elementary school. There are youngsters with fathers playing catch with a baseball, too.
Yes, they have a real football in the Hog Pen. The kids don't know each other. It's common to hear, “Throw it here, kid. I'm open.”
Don't ask me the rules. I'm not even sure the kids know the rules.
There's other action to see, including steaks on the grill at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, part of the allure I'm told. You can eat late, important when the early game went long because of afternoon rains. The winner's bracket game between Arkansas and Missouri State didn't start until 8:20 p.m.
By then there were plenty in the Hog Pen feeling no pain. I talked to several who declined to give their names because “it could be that I shouldn't be responsible for my comments. I came in with a couple of flasks of Jack Daniels."
The flasks, strapped to his legs, were empty by the time of my trip out of the press box.
I went to the back bleachers 100 yards beyond the wall in left center. Yes, there were people sitting in those seats, but not many. I sat with Chris Stone from Magazine in Logan County.
“I come to some regular season games, but I don't have season tickets,” Stone said. “I coach softball. It doesn't make any sense, but I do make plenty of games. I sit along third base most times, but the last two nights I've sat out here. Interesting.
“You can keep up, but I'm not saying I can see everything.”
Just then, Stone complained about a missed strike call.
“I think that was at the knees, right?” he said.
I wasn't so sure. How could you see?
“Well, the knees aren't very high from this distance are they?” he said.
What about this Hog Pen stuff? Does Stone like it?
“I will probably do it again,” he said. “I think it could be improved. They could terrace it, do a little landscaping, put in a scoreboard for just this area. That would help.
“But I like it. I messed up last night. I wore my prescription sun glasses. That was great for the early innings with the sun above the grandstands to the west. But when it got dark I realized I didn't have my normal glasses. So it got really dark. I can't see two feet without glasses.”
Chris Stone of Magazine watches from the Hog Pen during the Arkansas-Missouri State game. (Photo by Clay Henry)
Just about then, two first-graders left the football game in front of us to sit down beside me. Would they grant an interview?
“Sure, we are up here to see our cousins,” the little one said. “Me and him, we've been in the same class since pre-school. We've known each other forever and we do everything together so we are having fun.”
Yes, that's all of three years.
“We don't miss anything,” the little one said again. Yes, he was the talker.
“This is our first Razorback game,” he said. “It's summer now and this is pretty cool. We get to stay up late, like tonight. Is it midnight yet?
“My dad is in the good seats above the bullpen. He sold our first seats and we moved up. But we got the OK to play football.”
A few drops of rain fell so I thought it was time to return to the press box. That ended the interview with the little guys. But since the rain didn't last five minutes, I stopped to visit with Matthew Colgrove from Norman in Montgomery County. That's 30 minutes east of Mena.
“I had to come,” he said. “I was here two years ago for the super regional. That was a great three days. It's a legend what Baum Stadium becomes for the NCAA baseball tournament. I want it to be like 14,000 so I can say I was here for that. But I don't think it's that big.”
Yes, actual attendance was 10,369, down from Friday night's 11,088.
“I love it out here in the Hog Pen,” he said. “There is so much going on. There are some out here oblivious to the game. You never know what you are going to see.
“I think we are just about to see a pot bust. There goes the police. I hope we get to see someone tackled. You smell it.”
I didn't, but I did see three officers close in on something a little smokey. Either the stuff disappeared, or there wasn't anything from the start.
“I love big Razorback events,” he said. “This is different than football. I was in the front area of the Hog Pen earlier and a guy didn't want to sit down. Finally, we heckled him down. Baseball isn't like football. You sit down until something big happens, like bases loaded with two outs. Then, you can go crazy and stay up.
“I love this. It's pretty cool. I am not saying it's the same as the 2010 Alabama game at Razorback Stadium. That was the best I've ever seen. It was like the entire stadium thought they were in the student section because they stayed on their feet the entire game. Ryan Mallett almost got that Crimson Tide.
“I guess I'm a little bit of a band wagon guy because this is my first baseball game. I just had to be here. I want to say I was here when we win.”
That's always the attitude in the Hog Pen.