Also. Finally made it back to Fort Worth. Left for Omaha at 2:30am yesterday, and made it back a few minutes ago. 20 hours in a car to watch TCU lose in that fashion certainly wasn't the most enjoyable experience ever.
For those that didn't make it, Omaha definitely felt different at this stage of the tournament. I'd only ever been before during the opening weekend, and the experience is much more "magical" and special during the opening weekend. Definitely felt like the town was missing the "buzz" and excitement I experienced last time I went to Omaha.
At this point, a lot of fan bases had gone home, and it seems the town may have been a little burnt out too. I was excited to shop for some cool CWS gear, but most of the shops had extremely low inventory available. The outcome of our game certainly didn't help the overall experience either.
If you're ever wanting to experience the thrill of Omaha, opening weekend is the time to go.
Other notes:
- LSU led the way as far as fan support goes. I felt like TCU was easily second, followed by a respectable amount of Oregon State fans. It felt like Floridia barely had anyone there.
- Omaha locals always seem to be big fans of the frogs. You can pretty easily tell "locals" apart from actual tcu fans, because they'll be walking around in casual street clothes with a subtle TCU hat on.... walking around town, I go lots of "go frogs" from locals wishing us luck and saying we were their favorite team.
From asking around, it seems like they really like and respect coach Schloss and enjoy the kind of teams we put on the field. I think they've also enjoyed our fan base. Texas is their most hated school, and as a whole, it doesn't seem like they're too fond of any of the SEC schools or longer standing big 12 schools, which makes sense considering most locals are probably corn husker fans.
- There was a pretty respectable group of tcu fans at the game last night that tried their best to help give the frogs some energy, but every potential rally where you felt like the crowd was just on the verge of getting crazy, obviously would end in quiet disappointment.