Thursday Night Beer: Some CWS Tailgaters Beverage Choice This Year is Whine

The final College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium seems to be bringing out the worst in some fans this year. It all started last week when some people started to set up their tailgating tents and grills last week.  That's right, tents and grills started to appear around the stadium long before the first pitch of the Super Regionals. Needless to say, that drew the ire of the City, who still needed to get the stadium ready for the event. But I had to shake my head at the idea that people thought they could leave their tents and grills outside of Rosenblatt for three weeks or more. Call me ignorant, but if the city didn't confiscate it, I would fully expect someone to wander off with it. I guess it's a testament to the people who frequent the College World Series, but I just can't fathom why people think that this would be allowed.

The ire of tailgaters was raised further when the city erected a chain link fence around Rosenblatt.  Ugly? Yes. Unnecessary? Well, in this day and age, I'm not so sure. Security at every major sporting event is up.  Ten years ago, you weren't patted down going into a stadium.  Then 9/11 occurred, and our world changed. I remember standing in line for nearly 90 minutes just to get through the front gate of the Rose Bowl in 2002.  Security is up everywhere.  But I have to laugh at the idea this "kills tailgating".  I don't think people park their car at Arrowhead Stadium in August and drive it home around Christmas.  In this day and age of cell phones, it isn't that difficult to find someone in a parking lot.  Anybody remember Dingerville?  It started out innocuously enough..but eventually, abuse brought that to an end.

It's always interesting to read others perceptions of conference realignment, especially people who are paid to give opinions but don't bother to put a lot of thought into them.  Take Jeff Schulz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who completely ignores the politics of the Big XII conference and Nebraska's investment in research to go for the easy story.  It's all about the money, as far as he's concerned.  It makes for a nice column, but when the only research he does is look for a picture of Harvey Perlman and Tom Osborne at last week's Regents meeting, it's pretty easy to dismiss his opinion as ignorant.  Only problem is that a lot of people will share those opinions, and in our world, perception is reality.

Speaking of realignment, Chip Brown brought another outlandish idea to the debate: Arkansas and Notre Dame to the Big XII. Nevermind that there really isn't an explanation why any school would suddenly be interested in joining a conference that nearly vaporized last weekend, let alone a staunchly independent school like Notre Dame or an SEC school.

Here's the funniest side effect of conference realignment.  Seems that with Colorado and Nebraska exiting the Big XII, the lyrics of the Kansas fight song won't be relevant anymore.

Talk about the Sooners, the Cowboys and the Buffs,
Talk about the Tiger and his tail,
Talk about the Wildcat, and those Cornhuskin' boys,
But I'm the bird to make 'em weep and wail. 

I wonder if they can work Chip Brown and Dan Beebe into the revision...

Talk about the Sooners, the Cowboys and the Cats,
Talk about the Tiger and his tail,
Talk about Bevo, the Orange Blooded Savior of our Land,
And yes Dan Beebe, our check is in the mail!