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OMAHA, Neb. — How does it feel to finally win a national championship?
It feels like sitting in the concourse of a ballpark you’d never been to before this day, 600 miles from home, wearing an Ole Miss baseball jersey T-shirt and sobbing openly, so overwhelmed you can’t even stand up and watch the trophy celebration happening on the field below.
That’s how it was for Ed Thompson of Memphis, Tennessee, who drove through the night Saturday to be in Omaha for Game 2 of the Men’s College World Series finals, the game they won 4-2 over Oklahoma to ice that title. “I saw them win Game 1 and I just stood up off the damn couch and started driving. I got me a ticket and I ain’t telling you how much I paid,” he choked up, “but it was damn worth it.”
How does it feel to see your school finally win its first officially recognized men’s national championship — in anything — since the school fielded its first football team in 1893?
It feels like leaning over the left-field grandstand railing, waving a $100 bill at the Charles Schwab Field grounds crew, or anyone else who might be interested in earning a Benjamin for filling their empty stadium cup with some red warning-track dirt or maybe even a few blades of grass.
That’s how it was for Lynn and Terry Becker, who cashed in vacation days to come to Omaha late last week. “I want to put some in a jar on my desk,” Terry said. “She wants to sprinkle it all in her flower bed.”
How does it feel to watch your team go from being ranked No. 1 in the nation to falling out of the rankings like a balloon with no air, drop to 7-14 in SEC play and have the fan base and media calling for the head coach’s job? Then, go from being one of the last four teams invited into the 64-team NCAA baseball tournament to being the last team standing?
It feels like standing on your seat and holding your baby, born in the midst of that season, knowing she won’t remember it but that you can tell her later that she witnessed what generations of Ole Miss…
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Source : espn
