Fresh perspective spices up trip to CWS

Arkansas fans do the hog call in Game 2 of the NCAA College World Series baseball finals in Omaha, Neb in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, June 27, 2018. Oregon State won 5-3. (AP Photo/Ashley Pales)

OMAHA, Neb. — For some 37-plus years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to be part of the University of Arkansas’ athletic program or cover it as I have been doing for the last 32.

And no, I’m not retiring just yet.

But one of the few drawbacks of the job is that I am always in the press box — a place I do enjoy — and not among the fans, so I don’t get to feel their fervor and excitement firsthand.

I got a little bit of that during the Fayetteville Regional when overflow press tables were placed behind home plate and I enjoyed the atmosphere immensely.

But I had not been in the stands for an Arkansas game that I can remember since a football game in 1985.

Knowing that, my wife, Petra, and I decided to take full advantage of the opportunity this week and make the trip to the College World Series as interested observers.

We sat among some estimated 20,000 or so Razorback fans as the baseball team battled for the school’s first national title in the sport.

It was a diverse group of fans — a real melting pot that included young children to 80-year-olds, people from all kinds of backgrounds, all religions, both sides of the political aisle all together with one goal — push their team over the finish line.

All of them seemingly wanting to share a story with me of how they got to this place.

Having the reference point of being a part of the basketball team’s support staff when Arkansas fans turned Dallas’ Reunion Arena in Barnhill South in what was a complete takeover of the Southwest Conference Tournament in the 1980s, it’s clear there’s a new haven for Razorback fans.

Arkansas took over 25,000-seat TD Ameritrade and turned it into Baum North with Razorback fans not only coming from Arkansas, but Iowa, Ohio, Nebraska, California, Michigan and likely many more states.

I think I was pretty much the only person not dressed in Razorback red or Oregon State orange — of which there were a few pockets — in the stands.

People seemed puzzled to see me in the stands with one guy asking if I got kicked out of the press box.

I told him that I was just doing something different, something I’m glad I did.

It was an electric atmosphere before first pitch Tuesday night and extremely intimidating to beleaguered Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich in a fifth inning when he completely melted down.

Heimlich (16-3), who was not drafted in June’s Major League Baseball after information came out last year that he pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 6-year-old relative in 2012, gave up four runs in a collection of a couple of hits, two hit batters and a four-pitch walk, and Arkansas took control of the game.

It was a third subpar performance in the CWS for Heimlich, who didn’t make it through five innings in any of his trio of starts, and clearly got rattled by Arkansas fans, who let’s just say went in hard on him from introductions on.

One young man informed a band of Razorback fans flooding the streets after the game that he and his friends were going to burn down the town after Arkansas won it all.

I politely asked him to leave the Hilton standing if he could.

One thing I have always been very impressed with is the knowledge of Arkansas baseball fans.

They seem to all get the nuances of the game, which is certainly not the case with all the fan bases.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been writing stories on talented future Razorbacks and I have a feeling Arkansas is not likely to miss too much of a beat in the coming seasons.

I’m certain more trips to Omaha await.