Lucas: The Greatest Show

By Adam Lucas

OMAHA—The College World Series can make you laugh and the College World Series can make you cry and the College World Series can make you go tarps off (more on that later).

But here's, by far, the most amazing thing the College World Series can do: It can make you think that maybe the NCAA gets it right sometimes.

I know, I'm as surprised as you are. But watching Carolina's 6-2 win over Ole Miss on Friday night was a reminder that behind the lawsuits and the fiscal insanity and the occasional tone-deafness, well, the games are pretty darn good.

And the games in Omaha? They're great. The NCAA bills this as "The Greatest Show on Dirt" and it's not just a marketing slogan. It's actually the truth.

All of the above is said with full realization that if Colin Hynek and Owen Hull don't hit the ball out of the ballpark and Jason DeCaro and Caden Glauber aren't dominant then maybe Friday evening wouldn't have been as fun.

But hey—they did it and it was, so we don't have to worry about any alternatives.

The College World Series has become a hotter ticket every time Carolina participates. More people come, and then they go home, and they talk about how much fun they had, and the next time the Tar Heels earn a slot then even more fans want to attend. At the same time longtime UNC staples like basketball's ACC Tournament are offering public ticket sales, the College World Series is in extraordinarily high demand.

And that's true even though it's not easy to get here. Flights are a hassle and you might have to book a hotel in Iowa. Sometimes it's hot and usually there are thunderstorms.

This doesn't sound idyllic, does it? But it is. It really is. You don't go home grumbling about that connection in Chicago or the boatload of Marriott points you had to redeem. You go home grinning about the whiskey filet at The Drover and the zoo and the people of Omaha who relish their one chance every year to be on the national stage.

If you were at Charles Schwab Field on Friday night you saw Dustin Ackley, one of the greatest hitters in the history of Carolina baseball, sitting in the stands with his sons. They were wearing number-13 wristbands (Ackley's number) along with jerseys of current Tar Heels Jason DeCaro and Ryan Lynch.

Ackley was one aisle over from former UNC catcher Mark Fleury, who along with a group of former lettermen was largely responsible for the majority of the energy in the Tar Heel crowd. Fleury and Ackley were discussing a possible bunt situation in the late innings when Fleury realized he wasn't exactly speaking with an expert on the subject.

"Did you ever actually bunt?" he asked Ackley.

"Sure," said Ackley, who had a .412 career batting average (yes, you read that right).

"I doubt it," Fleury correctly said.

Let the record show that Ackley did have two career sacrifice bunts, and even today Mike Fox probably wishes he had let him swing away.

Fox was there, too, moving between his former players and cheering for the Heels all at the same time. Fortunately for him, he was not among the group banished to the concourse by Fleury, who observed that the Carolina offense was working better when former Heels Tim Fedroff, Chad Flack and Rob Wooten were on the concourse.

After a Caden Glauber strikeout in the 8^th, Fedroff took a couple cautious steps towards his seat.

"You stay up there!" Fleury boomed.

It is always incredibly entertaining when former players realize the agony it is to be a fan, especially at this time of year. Changing seats and lucky clothing and going where we go…look, we've been doing this our entire lives.

Doing it in Omaha just feels a little more enjoyable. The city isn't big but it's just big enough. The event has gained more publicity but it's still manageable. The "new" stadium really isn't new anymore and it isn't Rosenblatt but as much as I miss parking in someone's front yard, it is kind of nice to have easy access to everything downtown, which is why the line for Rocco's stretched down the block within 15 minutes after Carolina dispatched Ole Miss.

After Hynek smacked his three-run homer, the savvy video board operators posted the World Cup scoreboard that had America leading Paraguay, 3-0. The entire stadium instantly broke out in a chant of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" There may never have been a finer example of Go Heels, Go America. Sports used to be spontaneous and a little silly and we went there to high-five a stranger and watch our favorite team.

You know, like in Omaha.

Glauber closed out a near-perfect evening and then a drone show took over the sky above center field, with illuminated images of the Road to Omaha statue and music from Whitney Houston. Twenty years ago Carolina made the program's first 21^st century visit to the College World Series and a group of us celebrated an opening night 13-inning win over Cal State Fullerton by sitting in the middle of a parking lot next to a giant inflatable gorilla eating a triple Kong Burger.

That was a perfect celebration in 2006. A drone show was a perfect celebration in 2026. Both were indelible memories made possible by a program that keeps bringing us back to the most unlikely perfect championship setting in college sports, even as it modernizes at—so far—just the right pace.

Around the time Hynek's homer reentered the atmosphere, Fleury had gone full tarps off in the Tar Heel family section. Fedroff ran down the steps to deliver a series of high fives and accurately summed up the entire day:

"What a day! What a team! What a night!"

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Jason DeCaro

Caden Glauber

Owen Hull

Colin Hynek

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