Another College World Series is in the books. All praise to the Arizona Wildcats for bringing home their fourth national title and first since 1986. Here are a few added images I wanted to post, but never got around to doing so during the 12 days I was in Omaha. Hope you dig it boys and girls.

Made the trek over to view Rosenblatt Stadium one last time. The old lady has now sat idle for two seasons. If I heard correctly, Rosenblatt is slated to be razed in the next few months by the fine people over at the Henry Doorley Zoo.

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Meanwhile, fans at the new downtown stadium are free to enjoy its sizable amount of shaded area, a feature which Rosenblatt never offered much of.

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Inside Rosenblatt, the stadium looked like one of those old, bombed-out soccer stadiums after the blitzkrieg. A mere shell of its former self. Some people were playing one last game of catch (as you see the kid and his dad here), some were just digging up dirt for a keepsake and others even seemed a bit somber about it. I don’t have a real deep sentimental nature, so I’m not one of those that are going to miss the old “Dump on the Hump” but it was interesting to see how quickly things had fallen into dilapidation at the old yard.

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In case you hadn’t heard the story, the reason Kent State wears its old-school, baggy throwback unis every Friday is ‘coz ace David Starn is wildly superstitious (not that I recommend that) and he insists on the team wearing them. So there you go. Either way, I really dig those togs, reminds me of the baggy unis that Arizona State has worn the last few years.

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Kent State coach Scott Stricklin showed the other Northern programs around the country that Omaha his a legitimate goal and, as Dizzy Dean would say, it can be did. He also used his team’s late-season spur – which included eliminating No. 1 ranked Florida – and parlayed that into a sizable contract extension… ‘coz you know other warm-weather programs are looking to hire him now that he’s hot property. But kudos to him for staying put and wanting to make the Golden Flashes into a national power.

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That’s the steely glare of Kent State catcher David Lyon, who was a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award as one of the nation’s best catchers. Lyon threw out 17 base-stealers in their 23 attempts this season and also led the Flashes with 10 home runs on the year.

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Hittin’ the Bottle Early: This little Arkansas fan seemed no worse for wear at his first College World Series game.

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I can see the conversation 10 years from now… “Mom, you remember when you took me to my first College World Series and Arizona won it all?”

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Nolan Fontana slides across the dish while South Carolina catcher Dante Rosenburg valiantly tries to catch the ball before it heads to the backstop.

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The SkyWalker: South Carolina slugger Christian Walker catches some serious hang-time while signaling to base-runner LB Dantzler in the Gamecocks’ win over Florida.

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Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan (in the dark on top of the bench) talks to his Gators after the opening round loss to South Carolina. Unfortunately, hatever he said must not’ve worked too well as Florida was eliminated a game later by Kent State.

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The Big Red Wave: Stony Brook was a spirited bunch with a great fan base in Omaha, not to mention being the darlings of the field of eight. But the Seawolves got a little bit of stagefright and didn’t play with the same kind of confidence as they showed in Baton Rouge during the Super Regionals.

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James Ramsey kicks up some dirt as he heads toward third base in the win over Stony Brook. Ramsey would be named the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner during his time in Omaha.

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Early in the week, the field temps reached into triple digits. Some did what they could to stay cool, including covering their necks with long brown hair or covering their faces with a towel.

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Okay, this is just creepy: This giant statue has been placed outside the Mutual of Omaha building on Dodge Street. It’s supposed to commemorate the U.S. Swimming Trials that are going on at the Qwest Center now. But to me, it’s just creepy.

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Not that any of you guys care, but this is the Kellogg’s plant that is near 96th Street and is visible from the interstate. The reason it holds such reverence with me is ‘coz I grew up in the neighborhood just to the North of the plant, so there were numerous mornings I’d wake up to the smell of Corn Flakes being made and the breeze wafting it toward our house.

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Jams, the name of a bar in the not-so-swank Beverly Hills Plaza had this on their sign in the parking lot. I wonder if Ms. Mendoza took them up on the welcome and had a beer or two at the joint? Yeah, I doubt it too. I can only imagine a place named “Jams” probably plays some really shitty 90s music like in “Night at the Roxbury”.

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Recognize this sign? It’s the old signage that used to be at the top of Rosenblatt, overlooking the plaza. The Ticket Express guys must’ve won the bidding war on it and have proudly displayed it over their store.

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Arizona’s Seth Mejias-Brean about to unleash another great throw from third base in the Cats’ 5-1 win over South Carolina in game one of the CWS Finals. The Desert Cats committed just three errors in their five wins in Omaha.

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Yep, the new Zesto (note there’s no “s” at the end). NCAA Media Director J.D, Hamilton was officially the first customer when Zesto opened a few days before the CWS. The new location is just beyond right field fence and served only limited flavors of shakes and malts this week. It’s expected to serve the usual full menu soon.

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In the 3rd base photo well. On the far right in the Creighton hat is myself, standing next to the legendary Lou Pavlovich of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Big Lou has been photographing and covering the College World Series since 1975 and, as I wrote last week, he was there back when he was one of only two photogs for the Series and they were allowed to stand in the on-deck circle to take pics. Next to Lou, on the far left, is Mike Spomer, who was shooting for Arizona and Stony Brook on a freelance basis during the CWS. Mike’s son, Kurt, pitched for Creighton the past four years and signed a free agent contract with the Angels just prior to the CWS.

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Although I became a big fan of Stony Brook – I had to, the Athletic Director is a good bud of mine, sorry – I was NOT a big fan of their bell-bottom, Southern Miss-style pants they wore. Willie Carmona wore his tucked up under the knees, but most of them, like Travis Jankowski here, had them flailing.

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For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter (You DON’T follow me? Gah!) here’s something I tweeted about last week… the re-creation of the most famous home run in CWS history at Rosenblatt. I’m playing the role of Miami’s Alex Cora, in despair on the infield, and the Doctor of College Baseball is playing LSU’s Warren Morris, exalting as he goes around the bases with one arm raised in triumph.

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There were a few mascots on the scene in Omaha, including the Stony Brook Seawolf, the South Carolina Gamecock, the Florida Gator, the Arizona Wildcat and as you see here, the Arkansas Razorback. And he demands the Hog fans make some noise.

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One of the more surprising happenings of the week was Kent State getting to Hudson Randall in the 1st inning of their elimination game. Here, KSU’s David Lyon is standing on 3rd, as the Flashes put the pressure on the Gator ace. Eventually, Randall retired after just one inning, showing lots of effects of the heat that day.

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The Golden Flash: Jimmy Rider gets to know some mohawk’d fans before their game with Florida. Rider ended up 6th all-time in NCAA history in career at-bats.

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Yep. It’s time to Play Ball indeed. UCLA players head down the tunnel which leads to the 1st base dugout before their game with Florida State.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted this, but for those of you who haven’t seen multi-billionaire Warren Buffet’s house, here it is. Yep, notice there’s no 30-foot fence surrounding the grounds, no security booth to check into, no bevy of angry, ravenous Doberman watch-dogs and no mobs of people walking around it trying to get a look-see. Not only is the wealthy bastard living in a rather modest-sized house, but the people of Omaha generally leave him alone too.

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In the bathroom at The Drover, this old-school Lange ski boots ad/poster is hanging on the way, with the line “soft inside” at the bottom. I almost wanted to steal the poster, but I figure somebody would’ve noticed this giant, framed picture stuffed down in my pants. Back when I played hockey as a kid, I had a pair of Lange skates which were the best-fitting pair of skates I’d ever had… until my current Easton hockey skates I wear now, of course.

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Do not pass Go, do not collect 200 dollars: This was the policeman who stopped me at the edge of the Arizona dugout, just as the Wildcats started their celebration after the last out of the second game on Monday night. After about 30 seconds, the security people allowed us photogs to go out onto the field to take pics of the celebration up close.

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I just thought I’d point out that the ESPN sideline reporters also had an assistant who was pretty easy on the eyes as well.

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Can’t. Quite. Reach. It. This College World Series fan just isn’t tall enough to reach this foul ball. A grounds crew member retrieved the ball and cruelly threw it over his head to a kid in the 5th row. Bummer dude.

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Unfortunately, the wildly popular “Journey Dude” from 2011, didn’t make another appearance in 2012. And this is even despite the P.A. playing “Don’t Stop Believing” just about every night of the Series too. Drag. (This was Journey Dude as he appeared on the JumboTron during the 2011 CWS Finals… which was met with wild applause)

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With two games starting at 4pm and 8pm, there was very little time to empty the stadium after the first game and then let the fans back in for the second game. Here is the mad crush of people waiting in lonnnnnnng lines to re-enter the stadium between games. Those game times really blew ass for the fans trying to re-enter and wanting to get home before midnight. Yuck.

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Check out this picture sent to me by Dr. Karin True of Chapel Hill, NC. Not only does this dude have a wicked-cool handlebar mustache, but even his headwear is old-school, from the 1984 College World Series. Nice.

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Early in the week, Craig Jackson, of Mississippi State’s Left Field Lounge fame, told me that they were allegedly considering getting rid of Gen Ad tickets and going to regular season tickets for those outfield seats. At first I thought maybe he was full of crap, but as the week went on, the outfield crowd started getting more and more unruly. I mean, hitting a beach ball around is one thing, but then throwing dozens of them onto the field and holding up play is another. Plus, with the large number of fans jumping down onto the field and running amok is getting out of hand as well. Worst yet, when I was down in the tunnel at the end of the championship game, the head of security was near me, telling the policemen on staff that “all six of those people who jumped down on the field were ticketed for tresspassing.”

Really? Just “ticketed”? They couldn’t throw those people in the clink for a couple nights or something? If that’s all the slap on the wrist they’re gonna get, expect more uninvited intrusions from the Gen Ad geeks in the future.

As I said, their behavior is slowly getting out of hand, so if the powers-that-be determine to raising the ticket prices and having assigned seats, then I’ll be for it. Don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, but the fans in the cheap seats ain’t getting better. Ask the ground crew what they think about them?

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Then again, it will be a shame to see fans in their sports bras go the way of the buffalo too, so maybe I’m being too hasty on the Gen Ad crowd.

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Okay guys and dolls. That’s enough for now. When I get back home, I’ll include more thoughts and whatnots from the College World Series. (I’ve stopped in Durango, Colorado for a few days and will continue my drive to Los Angeles in a day or two). I’ll even include my very own “Eight for Omaha in 2013″ as well.

G’night.