Tucked in the middle of the country between each respective shining sea, sits a city of 446,000 people that turns itself into the center of the sports world for 2 weeks every June. Omaha Nebraska sits on the mind of every college baseball player from January to July, if not all year long. Omaha isn’t a medium sized city in between a few farms and rivers to them, but instead is a sign of hope, success, and freedom. Omaha is the gold at the end of the Rainbow, the sign from the baseball Gods, that you’ve made it. Name for me one other city that sits in a players mind at any level, any particular year. You can’t do it. The Final Four location(s) changes every year in both college basketball and football as well as the Super Bowl and every other major championship. Yet the location of the greatest show on dirt stays stuck in plain old Omaha Nebraska because of its history, its fan support, and most of all the new meaning of the word “Omaha”.
There is not a single more historic city for sports than Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha is the center of every college baseball highlight reel, and is the epicenter of the college baseball world. But, Omaha is heavily influenced throughout the year by a plethora of sports, at all levels. Omaha played host to Doug McDermott, the 5th highest college scoring player of all time, for 4 years. Omaha hosted one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history, Norfolk State over Missouri. Omaha hosts the US Olympic Swim Trials every 4 years. Olympians walk through this city. Omaha hosted a Pre-Season NBA game in 2016, the Bulls and the Hawks, and celebrated Omaha native Kyle Korver in that game. Omaha hosted 2 minor league professional football teams, and is currently home to the 2014 Triple A Champion, the Omaha Stormchasers, and the Creighton Bluejays. Omaha hosted the 2015 Volleyball Final 4, which 17,561 attended, an NCAA Record. Omaha has hosted 69 National Championships of the Volleyball and Baseball Variety. While Omaha lacks a professional team to coddle, we make due with our once a year visits from the NBA, occasional visit from Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, and the 69 trophies that resonate in players hearts 365 days a year.
As stated earlier, when Omaha hosted it’s 3rd Volleyball Final 4 in 2015, a new NCAA attendance record was set. This is evidence that Omaha can rally a population behind an event that no other city had been able to match. Every year Omaha hosts the College World Series, every year the event has averaged 20,000 people in attendance every game. These include games in the middle of the work week at 2:00, at outstanding feat. During the time of the unrest in the Clippers Organization, the Omaha community rallied in an attempt to get local billionaire Warren Buffett to buy the team and relocate them to Omaha. The rally cry was obviously unsuccessful, but sparked real talk of a future of pro sports in Omaha. The Omaha Stormchasers baseball team ranked in the middle in attendance, in what many viewed as a down year for the minor league team. Omaha is hungry for sports, the College World Series has made this town into something relevant, spurring a 3 day long visit from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, and they were welcomed with a crowd for each and everyone of their shows within the outfield concourse of TD Ameritrade Park. When the college baseball teams arrive in Omaha every year, they see the signs welcoming them to Omaha, and the masses of people downtown at all times during the 2 weeks of baseball. Players are welcomed and embraced the city from every day from Fan Fest to one lucky team dogpiling on the mound at the end of June, and fans passionately attend, hoping one day for a professional team to reside in their city.
Omaha. You can do a twitter search for this term, and sometimes you’ll get a tweet from Mean Streets, sometimes you’ll get something about our crazy weather. Most of the time, you’ll see a college baseball team, player or fan speaking highly of the city that they may have never been to, only dreamt of. The Omaha Challenge is an immediate hardcore practice put on across the country, inspiring dreams of Omaha in January, hoping for the dreams to become reality in June. Omaha used to be a city, a city that many had never heard of, now the word Omaha means a paradise of championship glory. Since 1950, Omaha has hosted the college baseball national championship, no other city has hosted a major championship longer. The Daytona 500 wasn’t even a thing until 9 years later. Omaha is synonymous with baseball. The start of the season in February leads up to the moment in a Super Regional where 8 lucky teams face the realization that they are headed to Omaha. For 1 of those 8, the trip to the middle of the country will result in a dogpile, history, and a trophy. For 7 of those teams, it will end in tears. Despite the kick to the gut of losing, the atmosphere provided by the city of Omaha is something that players won’t even forget, even if they tried. JJ Maijevic, infielder for the national runner up Arizona Wildcats said that Omaha is “An unbelievable experience with my brothers that’ll last a lifetime”. Matijevic and the Wildcats came up a double shy of being on top of the baseball world, yet it’s impossible for the Wildcats to have any resentment towards the city. On the other hand the national champion Chanticleers most outstanding player, Andrew Beckwith said calls omaha “The pinnacle of college baseball”. An experience that will last forever, in the city with a passion that will last forever. Omaha.
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College Baseball Central 