2008 Woodie Awards
New stadium essential to meet fans needs, keep CWS in Omaha
John Schreier
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Sports
My love for the College World Series runs incredibly deep. Every year I spend an amazing week and a half in June following baseball with college players who are just as happy to be there as I am.
I was an excited 11-year-old in 2001 when I went to my first Autograph Day and got signatures from most of the Tulane team members, who smiled and talked to me as they signed my program. Right there, I was converted to a college baseball fan.
I spent my days off work watching the games, my days working at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (right across 10th Street from the stadium) trying to read the scoreboard and hear the PA announcer and listening to the games on the radio when I was driving.
I can remember when I went to my first game with my parents and younger brother and sat in the yellow seats about 20 rows above the visitor's dugout on the first base side.
An upstart Notre Dame team, who had upset the overall top seed Florida State in the super regionals, lost their CWS opener 4-3 to Stanford. It was a sunny Saturday in June at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, and it was perfect.
I've attended at least one game every year since then. I was sitting 13 rows directly behind home plate when Rice beat Stanford 14-2 to win the national championship in 2003. I made my first ESPN appearance that night, and it was great. I still have the ticket stub.
Another game I distinctly remember was North Carolina vs. Clemson in 2006. Although it was a 2-0 pitchers' duel, I met a couple friends in the general admission line and found that the real fans sit in the outfield, play with beach balls, sunburn beyond belief for a week and a half and chant how badly right or left field sucks.
Recently, the mayor of Omaha unveiled a plan to build a new stadium to replace the aging Rosenblatt Stadium. When I first heard about that, I was angry that he would consider getting rid of the landmark ballpark. How could anyone take out Omaha's claim to fame? Then I remembered a similar trip to the only stadium I'd ever wanted to visit more: Wrigley Field.
The team that takes precedence over all others for me is the Chicago Cubs. I've been a diehard fan since I spent summer afternoons watching Ryne Sandberg and a young Sammy Sosa on WGN at my grandparents' house. I went to Chicago with my family in the summer of 2006 right before my 17th birthday and made sure a Cubs game was on the itinerary.
I remember how excited I was to go to my sports mecca. Walking up to my seats was amazing. I remember the bricks and ivy, the old time scoreboard and flags in center field and how in awe I was of my surroundings. I also witnessed my first rain delay.
Then I realized how old and worn out the stadium was. I was kind of shocked how cramped the hallways and concourses were, especially for a weekday afternoon game. There was even a fairly long line to get into the gift shop. Some guy stood near the entrance letting only a certain number of people in.
Earlier that season, some bricks fell off and injured some fans. As much as it hurt me to think about it, I realized that eventually the venerable old Wrigley Field would have to be replaced sooner rather than later. I know it sounds like blasphemy, but it's true. It weighed more heavily on my mind than watching Steve Trachsel of the Mets beat his old team 6-2.
I realized that this applied to Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium. As much as it hurt, I knew Rosenblatt was outdated. Every year, the city of Omaha spends quite a bit of money repairing the stadium for the Series.
The NCAA gave the city a list of things they wanted to make Rosenblatt suitable for them to re-sign a contract keeping the event at the stadium. It would require $15-20 million dollars and would result in the legendary Zesto's ice cream stand being moved or even razed.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I believe this is a good time for a new stadium. Hopefully that new stadium is bigger than the current plans, which has the proposed stadium housing fewer seats than Rosenblatt and ditches the idea of "removable seats," which are a joke.
If the city cares at all about the Series, it needs to go the extra mile to ensure that it stays in Omaha for a long time to come.
Rosenblatt and Wrigley (Wrigley more so than Rosenblatt) share the problem of small, crowded corridors, and neither has found an answer to capacity crowds using them. The divisive issue isn't whether or not the stadium is inadequate for the CWS. The public outcry was from people who were against moving the Series from the hilltop at South 13th Street and Bert Murphy Avenue, where it's been since 1950.
Whether or not you believe in saving Rosenblatt or building the new stadium near the Qwest Center (which I believe would bottleneck the area even more), the foremost issue now is to rally behind the cause of keeping the CWS in Omaha for years to come.
JOHN SCHREIER IS A SOPHOMORE NEWS-EDITORIAL MAJOR. REACH HIM AT JOHNSCHREIER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
I was an excited 11-year-old in 2001 when I went to my first Autograph Day and got signatures from most of the Tulane team members, who smiled and talked to me as they signed my program. Right there, I was converted to a college baseball fan.
I spent my days off work watching the games, my days working at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (right across 10th Street from the stadium) trying to read the scoreboard and hear the PA announcer and listening to the games on the radio when I was driving.
I can remember when I went to my first game with my parents and younger brother and sat in the yellow seats about 20 rows above the visitor's dugout on the first base side.
An upstart Notre Dame team, who had upset the overall top seed Florida State in the super regionals, lost their CWS opener 4-3 to Stanford. It was a sunny Saturday in June at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, and it was perfect.
I've attended at least one game every year since then. I was sitting 13 rows directly behind home plate when Rice beat Stanford 14-2 to win the national championship in 2003. I made my first ESPN appearance that night, and it was great. I still have the ticket stub.
Another game I distinctly remember was North Carolina vs. Clemson in 2006. Although it was a 2-0 pitchers' duel, I met a couple friends in the general admission line and found that the real fans sit in the outfield, play with beach balls, sunburn beyond belief for a week and a half and chant how badly right or left field sucks.
Recently, the mayor of Omaha unveiled a plan to build a new stadium to replace the aging Rosenblatt Stadium. When I first heard about that, I was angry that he would consider getting rid of the landmark ballpark. How could anyone take out Omaha's claim to fame? Then I remembered a similar trip to the only stadium I'd ever wanted to visit more: Wrigley Field.
The team that takes precedence over all others for me is the Chicago Cubs. I've been a diehard fan since I spent summer afternoons watching Ryne Sandberg and a young Sammy Sosa on WGN at my grandparents' house. I went to Chicago with my family in the summer of 2006 right before my 17th birthday and made sure a Cubs game was on the itinerary.
I remember how excited I was to go to my sports mecca. Walking up to my seats was amazing. I remember the bricks and ivy, the old time scoreboard and flags in center field and how in awe I was of my surroundings. I also witnessed my first rain delay.
Then I realized how old and worn out the stadium was. I was kind of shocked how cramped the hallways and concourses were, especially for a weekday afternoon game. There was even a fairly long line to get into the gift shop. Some guy stood near the entrance letting only a certain number of people in.
Earlier that season, some bricks fell off and injured some fans. As much as it hurt me to think about it, I realized that eventually the venerable old Wrigley Field would have to be replaced sooner rather than later. I know it sounds like blasphemy, but it's true. It weighed more heavily on my mind than watching Steve Trachsel of the Mets beat his old team 6-2.
I realized that this applied to Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium. As much as it hurt, I knew Rosenblatt was outdated. Every year, the city of Omaha spends quite a bit of money repairing the stadium for the Series.
The NCAA gave the city a list of things they wanted to make Rosenblatt suitable for them to re-sign a contract keeping the event at the stadium. It would require $15-20 million dollars and would result in the legendary Zesto's ice cream stand being moved or even razed.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I believe this is a good time for a new stadium. Hopefully that new stadium is bigger than the current plans, which has the proposed stadium housing fewer seats than Rosenblatt and ditches the idea of "removable seats," which are a joke.
If the city cares at all about the Series, it needs to go the extra mile to ensure that it stays in Omaha for a long time to come.
Rosenblatt and Wrigley (Wrigley more so than Rosenblatt) share the problem of small, crowded corridors, and neither has found an answer to capacity crowds using them. The divisive issue isn't whether or not the stadium is inadequate for the CWS. The public outcry was from people who were against moving the Series from the hilltop at South 13th Street and Bert Murphy Avenue, where it's been since 1950.
Whether or not you believe in saving Rosenblatt or building the new stadium near the Qwest Center (which I believe would bottleneck the area even more), the foremost issue now is to rally behind the cause of keeping the CWS in Omaha for years to come.
JOHN SCHREIER IS A SOPHOMORE NEWS-EDITORIAL MAJOR. REACH HIM AT JOHNSCHREIER@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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