On The Ground In Omaha

College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires is on Omaha checking in. Here are a few thoughts...

Got to Omaha this afternoon. Not many of the eight teams are in town right now. Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor is from this area, and he's bringing his team in tonight. Most of the rest of the teams will get here tomorrow.

In addition to the College World Series, I'll be watching some other baseball here in town for the next few days as well. My 13-year-old son's team is in a tournament here that starts Thursday morning, so we have two games that day as well as a Friday game. We don't know the rest of the schedule for the weekend yet.

There are at least two other teenage baseball teams staying in our hotel, so it should be really quiet here for the next few days. (Hope you noted the sarcasm.)

The first thing we did after checking in to the hotel was head for California Tacos. My daughter, Baylee, is a devoted Food Network watcher, and we watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives regularly. The show was here in Omaha during last year's CWS shooting episodes, and the taco joint was featured on the show.

My wife and I had the signature item: The California Taco. I had one beef and one grilled fish taco. The beef was really solid, but the fish taco was...well, a little fishy. Now, before you land-locked types turn your pallets at the very thought of a fish taco, let me just say if you have never had a Wahoo fish taco in California (the state, not the street in Omaha) you're missing out.

Anyway, the California Taco comes in a big puffed & fried flour shell, and the beef was very good. Salsa was good, and so was the cold brews my friend Rob and I sampled. His kids got big nacho platters, but they didn't care too much for them, because they came with flour rather than corn chips (you can order either kind). They ended-up going with the California Taco as well.

If you're coming to Omaha, a trip to California is worth the trip for the signature dish, but I guess I just should have remembered we're in the beef capital of the midwest, so I'll save the fish for my next So Cal trip.

I'm heading over to the stadium tomorrow to see how things are shaping-up outside. Open practices are all day Friday at Rosenblatt Stadium. I'll be there as well, so be sure to check-in the rest of the week as we lead-up to Saturday's opening of the 2009 CWS.