The Leddy Family: We're Going to the 'Ship!

What an adventure...that's all I can say! When the Dawgs made it to the College World Series, I was ready to go. But the schedule of games was kinda crazy so we couldn't go right away. So we decided that if we made it to the finals that we were in! When the Dawgs won of Friday we started making our final plans to head to Omaha. And so it began!

I had already booked a hotel (wishful thinking) so we had the hard part out of the way. Seth and Freddie were ready to come too, and with Hollis already in Omaha, it was shaping up to be me and the boys. Even at six months pregnant and sharing a hotel room with four boys I was not going to miss this! We broke in the new car very well by putting over 1700 miles on it in just a few days!

Getting up there took 14 hours and included two stops for food and gas. We passed so many State fans on our way there. Every time we would wave and cheer with the other car! When we were going through Kansas City, Jeff and Freddie suggested getting some real Kansas City barbecue at a famous place. We looked up the closest restaurant and found one right off the road we were on! And wouldn't you know it, that restaurant was located inside a casino. Funny how that happens, huh? So after a quick bite and some time at the tables, we got back on the road and decided to make it all the way to Omaha late that night.

The next day was Monday and the day of our first game. We were all so excited! We got up and headed to the ballpark to stand in line for the daily ticket lottery. Tickets were the craziest thing at the CWS. Each morning they had a lottery to give you the chance to buy reserved seating. If you didn't get those tickets, you could buy general admission for seats in the outfield. That was fine with us, but the concern was that they sold as many of the GA tickets that they could and only had seating for 5,500. So you still had no guarantee to get in! While we were standing in line for the lottery, a huge severe storm came and sent everyone running for cover. After it passed we got back in line to figure out we didn't get the lottery. We got nervous when others started lining up for the GA seats and decided to get in line early that afternoon. I felt like we stood in line all day! But we did get a seat by game time and we were ready to cheer on our Dawgs!

The atmosphere was crazy. There were so many State fans it was unreal! It was like a "Where's Waldo" game when trying to find a UCLA fan. They just weren't there...and we were! We cheered, hit beach balls around and just generally had a fantastic time. After the loss that night, we went back to the hotel exhausted from our long, long day.

The next day the boys took pity on my tired and pregnant self. I think my swollen feet were the clincher. So they let me skip out on the lottery line that morning and I met up with them at lunch. After learning the day before that we didn't really have to get in the GA line so early, we decided to enjoy Omaha with lunch and drinks. It was a much easier day on me!

Omaha was so nice to us. I think they were thrilled to see the maroon turnout to their city. Even though our Dawgs got swept in the finals, everyone was still so proud of them that we were all there. To see our team compete for a National Championship was amazing. We had another long day of driving home to end our trip. We were exhausted, but all agreed we would do it again if we could!