It’s quite the spread.
"Duck poppers, pig wings, sausage balls, ribs. This is a meat-lover's special right here,” said Paul Maloney, a tailgating professional and Mississippi State fan.
The quantity is enough to feed a small army, and it runs out quickly, as hungry college baseball fans from all over fill paper plates with southern cuisine, fresh from five grills surrounding maroon and white pop-up tents. Smoke and laughter fill the air; it’s the Left Field Lounge, north. Literally.
Each summer, Paul and Traci Maloney’s Left Field Lizards rig becomes the Lot D Lizards when they set down in that section of the parking lot at TD Ameritrade Park, whether the Mississippi State baseball team comes with them or not.
They have been tailgating at the College World Series since 2007, and they will not be stopping anytime soon.
"If we don't show up with the duck poppers, they're going to come get us," Paul Maloney said.
But the Maloneys didn’t start this. Not alone, at least.
On a hot Omaha day during the 2007 College World Series, Nebraska-native Pete Gunderson and his daughter were the only two people in Rosenblatt Stadium’s lower parking lot, grilling and anticipating a great day of baseball.
"There was one shade tree in the parking lot, and I had it,” Gunderson said.
Then Paul and Traci Maloney rolled up, hoping to share Gunderson’s piece of real estate. All they had was a Styrofoam cooler.
"I said, 'No, that's not how you do this.'" Gunderson said.
“They took us under their wing,” Paul Maloney said. “We didn’t know anything. They had this thing called a grill and something called an ice chest and these things called chairs and we're going, 'check this action!'”
Twelve years later, hundreds of college baseball fans have joined the party. It’s all-inclusive. That is, if you bring three things: Thirst, appetite and your school colors.
“We welcome everybody,” Traci Maloney said. “We're not going to turn anybody away.”
On this particular Saturday, a family of Michigan fans joined in. After driving from Iowa the night before, the three men found themselves in the parking lot with just a cooler. Like Gunderson had done for them years before, Paul and Traci took welcomed in their new friends.
In the hours following, the Wolverine faithful found themselves right at home.
“It’s awesome, like we're relatives,” said Bart Johnson, clad in maize and blue. “It's just been such a bond."
"All we're trying to be is goodwill ambassadors for the baseball team here,” Paul Maloney said. “We don't make anything off of this. We're just having a good time.”
“They start showing up every year after that. They've brought their families, then they start bringing their grills, then they start wearing Mississippi State baseball hats and shirts. These folks are from Iowa [and] Nebraska. Most of these people here are not from Mississippi. That's the beauty of it."
Gunderson was not a Mississippi State fan when Paul and Traci found him that fateful day in 2007. But on Saturday, he was wearing maroon.
"We were assimilated,” Gunderson said, laughing.
Despite having a hand in Omaha’s version of the Left Field Lounge, Gunderson has never been to the real thing.
“I have not [been to Dudy Noble Field] yet, but we're [planning on it],” he said. “I am coming to Starkville.”
Gunderson says that trip south may come soon, but, meanwhile, the party has just started in Omaha.
Story by Austin Coats. Photos by Kelly Donoho. Video by Nicole Reighter.