Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.

Dear Rod:

Well, we survived our first College World Series at McStadium.

And USC won. No, not the Trojans that you led to 10 national championships in Omaha over the years. This USC hails from the other side of the country, but South Carolina has shown in winning the past two seasons a lot of the same fight that your Southern California teams did.

The Gamecocks even provided us with a nice little tie between old and new. They were the last team to celebrate a championship in Rosenblatt Stadium and the first to make history happen at the new place.

We were constantly reminded of that during the past 11 days, that the new place was where history would now happen. The powers-that-be slickly packaged some old film clips and videotape to treat us to memories of all the great baseball we once watched at Rosenblatt.

Don't get me wrong. We saw plenty of great baseball this year, a lot of it provided by the Gamecocks. It was just different to see it in the new place.

And for a lot of the old-timers, the new place will never quite have the same feel as our old stadium on the hill. How can it? We traded unique for generic. We had a chance to put Omaha's stamp on the new place.

Instead, we built an outdoor television studio for ESPN, complete with grass infield. We gave the NCAA the nondescript venue it wanted for its championship. At first glance, it's hard to tell if we're in Omaha or Boise.

We traded tradition and history for a couple of extra inches of leg room at our seats and a little more elbow room in the concourse.

But that's what life is, a series of trade-offs, right? And there's no going back. Rosenblatt's ship has sailed. They reminded us of that when they held an auction midway through the CWS and cannibalized the place.

Maybe in time, even us bitter old guys will learn to love the new place. After we've seen enough history happen there — did I mention that catchy PR slogan they were beating us over the head with this year? — maybe we'll grow to embrace the new place.

Then again, maybe we won't. The coziness of Rosenblatt got ingrained in guys like you and me, Rod. The new place is for future generations of CWS fans, ones who won't care if their stadium is as plain as that McDonald's down the street.

The rest of us will have to be content to enjoy the baseball while playing out the string. We'll have our memories. They'll have their McStadium.

In that trade-off, I know which one I'd pick.

Your friend,

PIV

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com twitter.com/PivOWH

The good and not-so-good

A look at the highlights and lowlights of the first CWS at the downtown stadium:

• Best performance: South Carolina reliever Matt Price, for his masterful work in the 13-inning win over Virginia. Not only did Price pitch a season-high 523 innings, he escaped bases-loaded jams in the 10th, 12th and 13th innings to help the Gamecocks win and move on to the championship series.

• Worst performance: The stadium's grounds crew. Some thought their antics provided comic relief during a long rain delay in the first Florida-Vanderbilt game. Count me in the camp that thought it was embarrassing. The fans were doing an adequate job of keeping themselves entertained. Sliding across the tarp only plants the seeds with a few knuckleheads in the stands to do the same. It never hurts to show a little professionalism when you're on the big stage.

• Best game: Toss-up between South Carolina's 3-2, 13-inning win over Virginia and the Gamecocks' 2-1, 11-inning triumph over Florida. Both showed the “chicks that dig the long ball” that pitching and defense can be pretty sexy, too.

• Worst game: There were very few clunkers in this year's tournament, although not everyone gets excited by the low-scoring contests the new bats and the new stadium produced. The one game that was short in the drama department was South Carolina's 7-1 win over Virginia in which the Cavaliers gave away three runs at the start and never got going offensively.

• Best defensive play: The forceout at home in the ninth inning of the first South Carolina-Florida game. With the bases loaded and the score tied 1-1, South Carolina second baseman Scott Wingo, playing in, made a diving stop of a hot grounder, scrambled to his feet and rushed a throw home. Catcher Robert Beary saved Wingo, and the Gamecocks, by backhanding the one-hopper while keeping his foot on the plate to record the force.

• Biggest hero: Have to go with South Carolina's Christian Walker on this one. He broke the hamate bone in his left wrist in the 3-2 win over Virginia, then came back to play every inning of the two championship series wins with an injury that normally takes six to eight weeks to heal.

• Biggest disappointment: Vanderbilt pitcher Sonny Gray came to Omaha with All-America credentials and first-round draft status. He failed to make it out of the fifth inning in his opening start against North Carolina, then committed two critical fielding errors in the bracket championship game loss to Florida. In two starts, Gray gave up 20 hits and walked 10 in 1123 innings.

• Best quote: “We can't just throw our gloves out. We have to pitch and play defense and get timely hitting. We don't just show up and beat people. These guys play hard. They play with some maturity. They have a little fight in them, and I like that.'' —South Carolina coach Ray Tanner

• Best story: California. Not only did the program survive extinction in 2011, it made it to Omaha and posted its first CWS win in 31 years. And judging from their actions, the Golden Bears had a lot of fun doing it.

— Steven Pivovar

« Sports - College World Series

Share