College World Series Tickets

Little Stands In Omaha Mayor's Way

In a recent article by the Omaha World Herald, they explain that few things could stop Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey from developing a new stadium to house the College World Series in the future.  The main thing that could stand in the Mayor's way would be a public vote.  The city council is largely for the new stadium and the Mayor's plan has already been approved by the NCAA.  Unfortunately, the public vote option does not matter much.  The earliest a vote could happen would be next May and that would be after the NCAA wants a decision.

There are 14,000 signatures on a petition to the CWS Inc. in Omaha to keep the College World Series in Rosenblatt Stadium.  There is also an architect creating a plan for renovating Rosenblatt that would implement the new regulations the NCAA wants for the future.  It is hard to say if any of this will affect the Mayor's decision, he hasn't responded well early on and he probably won't respond now.

Irvine Nabs Gillespie as Coach

Not surprisingly, former USC coach Mike Gillespie has been hired by UC Irvine to guide them back to the College World Series in Omaha.  According to the LA Times Gillespie will take Dave Serrano's vacant spot in time for fall practices with the Anteaters.

Gillespie is no stranger to winning teams.  He has guided 4 teams to the College World Series and won one national title with USC.  He will take over for the Anteaters at a very difficult time.  Not only did coach Dave Serrano leave but so did the athletic director and a handful of seniors that played a vital role for the Anteaters last season.

Gillespie is leaving his job coaching a Class-A team for the New York Yankees.  Even at 67 he has still been successful.  It just goes to prove that age has nothing to do with coaching (look at Joe Paterno!).

NCAA Approves Downtown Stadium

It doesn't look good for fans of Rosenblatt stadium, the NCAA announced Friday that it approved Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey's plan to build a new stadium in northern Omaha to house the College World Series.  The announcement comes amidst an avid campaign that was just kicked off by the group Save Rosenblatt to keep the College World Series in Rosenblatt stadium.

The new stadium is not a permanent decision yet.  Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey has not planned out how he will pay for the new stadium which will cost Omaha around $50 million to complete as well as other costs such as operational costs.  According to the Omaha World Herald, Fahey hopes to bypass a vote from the people by funding the new stadium with private funds and some taxes.  He says his last resort will be to increase taxes.  No one knows what would happen if the decision was put to a vote.  Something tells me though that if the Omaha people want to keep the College World Series in town they will likely vote for the new stadium.

Fahey says that the building of the new stadium should keep the series in Omaha until 2030.  As far as I am concerned if the new stadium keeps the series in Omaha I am all for it.  As much as I hate to see the tradition of Rosenblatt stadium go, I still want Omaha to be the home of the CWS.  After all, its not the stadium that brings people to the College World Series, it's the people of Omaha.

Rosenblatt Commercials Air Today

The long awaited Kevin Costner commercials will finally begin to be shown today in Omaha to try to sway people to keep the College World Series in historic Rosenblatt stadium.  According to the AP, Costner tells viewers "the College World Series calls Rosenblatt its home."

Mayor Mike Fahey pitched the idea of building a brand new stadium to the NCAA earlier this month to much uproar of the public in Omaha.  Many see the building of a new stadium as losing the tradition of the College World Series because the CWS has taken place at Rosenblatt for over 50 years.

Costner filmed the commercials for free.  He was chosen for the part because he has starred in many baseball movies such as Field of Dreams.  Costner regularly visits Omaha to see the College World Series, he came in '95, '99 and '01 to support his favorite team Cal State Fullerton.

We will have to wait and see if this has impact on the decision.  It seems as though if Mayor Fahey has already met with NCAA officials that little communication will be sent to the NCAA themselves regarding keeping the stadium where it is.

Is this Vanderbilt's Year?

Vanderbilt seemed destine to win the College World Series last year.  Led by pitching ace David Price, Vandy entered the post season as the #1 ranked team but were upset early in the regional round by the Michigan Wolverines.

Vanderbilt has just started fall practice, one of the earliest teams to do so.  Some say they may need the extra practice.  The Commodores lost Pitchers David Price and Casey Weathers to the first round of the draft as well as four other starting pitchers.  They will rely heavily on Mike Minor who received SEC Freshman of the Year honors last year.

The rest of the team is expected to return including third baseman Pedro Alvarez who was near unstoppable going into the post season last year.

I think Vanderbilt has the experience on the field to get to next year's College World Series.  The only thing holding them back will be lack of depth in the pitching squad.

Mike Gillespie to Coach UC Irvine?

Former USC coach Mike Gillespie has been rumored to be pursuing the UC Irvine coaching job that just became vacant after successful coach Dave Serrano left for his dream team Cal State Fullerton.  As reported by the OC Register, Gillespie sent in his resume to UC Irvine this last week. 

The Anteaters made it to the College World Series for the first time in school history last season.  They took a hard blow after their athletic director retired and soon after coach Dave Serrano did too.

Eater nation can give a sigh of relief (at least for now).  The future of the team did not look bright until word that Gillespie had sent in his application.  Gillespie, 67, coached USC for 20 before retiring in 2006.  He led the Trojans to four College World Series including one championship in '98.

No decision has been made yet on whether UC Irvine will hire Gillespie, but one can assume that not many other coaches applying for the job have as much respect as Mike Gillespie.

Save Rosenblatt Group Hires Architect

The persistent group Save Rosenblatt has hired an architect to help them keep the College World Series in Omaha past 2010.  Save Rosenblatt is the main group trying to keep the College World Series in the same place it has been for the last 58 years, Rosenblatt Stadium.

As reported by Omaha.com, Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey met with NCAA officials last month to talk about the future of the College World Series in Omaha.  The NCAA has asked that either the city renovates Rosenblatt stadium or that they build a new stadium.  Fahey is pushing for a new stadium to be built on the north side of town.

The group Save Rosenblatt has done many things to ensure that the stadium stays intact.  They have recently hired and architect to work on new plans to please the NCAA and have hired Kevin Costner to star in a commercial trying to sway the people of Omaha to keep the ball park intact.

It is too bad for the members of Save Rosenblatt that they do not have direct contact with the NCAA, they have to go through the group CWS Inc. which deals with the NCAA exclusively on the matter and also supports a new stadium.

Oregon Hires Coach

Former Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton, who has led his team to six College World Series, has signed a five year deal with the Oregon Ducks to coach their newly reinstated baseball team.  Oregon recently reinstated its baseball program after a 26 year absence.  The Ducks will not start playing until the 2009 school year.

Horton has had huge success in his ten years with Cal State Fullerton.  He led Fullerton to four of the last five College World Series and won the National Championship with the Titans in 2004.  Horton has been very vocal about his ambitions with the Ducks and does not seemed worried about the challenges he faces starting a team from scratch.  In a recent article by the Oregon Statesman he said he plans to  "get to Omaha in very short order with this leadership and this opportunity."