“When you come to the CWS however, these guys are running around 100 mph and diving all over the place. Sometimes I just sit and watch and think, “These guys love the game. They love to play and they want to win.” I thoroughly enjoy watching guys play who haven’t gotten over their love for the game.”

This weekend I plan to take in one of the College World Series (CWS) games here in Omaha. Going to these games has been a summer highlight for our family in the last 20 years we’ve lived here. The reasons why the games are so enjoyable are not what you might think, or perhaps have come to expect with sports in 2015. Let me give you a few reasons.

The game is the show.

Growing up in the shadow of Fenway Park I have never not loved baseball. I would attend several games each year and either watch or listen to every other game on the TV or radio. I loved the game. Something seemed to happen in the late 90’s early 00’s though; the games seem to get replaced by the surrounding show. The names on the back of the jerseys began to eclipse the name of the team on the front. It seemed to me that some of the simple purity of the game was being changed. When you go to the CWS, the game is the show. And, for a few hours it’s nice to just watch baseball.

Nobody knows who these guys are.

Can anyone who is not from a city where these guys play even name 10 guys who are in the entire tournament? What about 5? Probably not. And, this is beautiful. The teams are made up of a bunch of guys that most people don’t know anything about. I love the experience of watching these guys for the first or second time and observing noteworthy things about their game.

They play refreshingly hard and passionate.

I remember watching one of my favorite players jog down the first base line after hitting a slow grounder to shortstop. The defensive player bobbled the ball, dropped it, and then after retrieving it, hurried to make a throw to first. The runner was out by about a quarter-mile. This lack of hustle is nauseating to a baseball fan. When you come to the CWS however, these guys are running around 100 mph and diving all over the place. Sometimes I just sit and watch and think, “These guys love the game. They love to play and they want to win.” I thoroughly enjoy watching guys play who haven’t gotten over their love for the game. They seem to still have that boyhood “twinkle” in their eye.

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