The Mighty Hogs

Razorbacks post an incredible season

By now, three SEC teams will have played their first games in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. That the Arkansas Razorbacks isn’t among them ranks as one of the bigger sports disappointments Arkansas fans have witnessed.

Heading into last week’s best 2-of-3 with North Carolina State, Hog fans, players and coaches had every reason to be confident in a better outcome. The Hogs hadn’t lost a series all year, and there was no reason to believe NC State held the secret to the hosting university’s defeat.

When Game 3 of last weekend’s super regional came to a close with NC State in the lead by a single run, it felt like Fayetteville had transformed into Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s Mudville and Casey, Mighty Casey, had struck out.

As the NC State Wolfpack celebrated, fans’ hearts ached for our boys on the diamond. They had pitched and batted and run and caught for a season of unforgettable memories. When one was down, it seemed there was almost always someone else on the team to pick them up. This team had become a Band of Brothers, and the fans at Baum-Walker and watching television or listening to radios across the state felt privileged to share their journey.

In the aftermath, sure, there were a few voices one always hears in these kinds of moments: They should’ve done this or they could have done that. It seems there are always some fans who salve the disappointment by lashing out at their own.

Leo Durocher, player of the game and legendary baseball manager, once said “Baseball is like church. Many attend. Few understand.”

This is, indeed, sports. It’s not war or famine or death. It all has to be kept in perspective. But precisely because it’s sports, fans can safely put their hearts and souls into cheering one the team, fully investing their hopes for that championship season. And yes, there was disappointment for Hog fans, but its magnitude is a direct result of the stratospheric achievements the team produced in a season like no other.

There may have been no joy in Mudville that lyrical day, but in Fayetteville, the joy lasted all season long.