Creighton Baseball Nicknames 2023
The Finale
This is it.
This is the last edition of nicknames that will ever stream from these fingertips.
I’m getting older. I’m getting busier. The days of yore when I could sit back, watch a statbroadcast telling of a late-February college baseball game, and live tweet what I imagined the game looked, smelled, tasted, sounded, or felt like are over. It isn’t that I don’t want to do this - I do - I just can’t get that magical element of time back.
I figured I’d do this final one for the Paul Bergstroms and Andrew Meggses. I’ve followed their entire collegiate careers, from when they were struggling freshmen trying to get playing time, to their ascension on the roster, to clutch performances in big games to now - a swan song to a seemingly never-ending career. The stories they could tell could fill a hefty leather-bound book. They saw the 2019 team go to a regional, they had their season abruptly end due to COVID, but most importantly, they became stewards of PRASCO Park - a place I don’t think I’m allowed into anymore.
I’m doing this for the Nolan Cliffords, Jack Graces, Tommy Steiers and Cade Lommels of the world. That 2019 team was spectacular, a special squad that came so close to a super regional that the dreams of making a CWS suddenly seemed within reach. These guys were given a torch to carry and they’ve carried it well, especially Steier and Grace. Their ability to play this silly little game went from an afterthought to must-see baseball, a rise in prominence that doesn’t get talked about enough. If it weren’t for the back-page news that Big East Baseball (#BIGEASTBASEBALLFEVER) unfortunately falls into, the stories of those two particular athletes would be front-page features.
I’m not that old. I’m only 30. The first time I ever interacted with Ed Servais I was 18 years old and working on the grounds crew at then-TD Ameritrade Park’s grand opening. For years I’d sit in the media well and watch ballgames on the clock, watching how the team operated from a fly on the wall perspective. It was fascinating then - mind you, it’s still fascinating now - and to naturally marry my desire to write with Creighton baseball felt like a match made in heaven. An old school coach with an old school mentality and a guy who swears, tweets in all caps, and perpetuates a hyperbolic narrative? Perfection.
Now I’m tired all the time. You’ll get there too. Maybe you’re already there and you understand what I’m talking about. My love for the program will never fade and the only way I’ll even consider coming back to form is when I get booked to MC for the pre-season steak dinner and get booked to do a weekend series as John Bishop’s analyst/color commentator. Those are my demands.
Here it goes. One last time.
