This is the way the best Auburn year ever ended. Not with a bang, but a swing and a miss. Not with a national championship, but a postseason run heard 'round the world. The Auburn baseball team won't win the ultimate prize, not after losing a two-day elimination game to Louisville 5-3, but the Tigers can put the bats and balls away for now having earned an incredible amount of respect. They did something no team at their school had done in 22 years. They did something no team

They did it for Rod. For Rod and Paula. For Hal Baird and Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, Tim Hudson and Gregg Olson. For anyone and everyone who's cared about and contributed to Auburn baseball through the years. Twenty-two years after their last trip to the College World Series, the Tigers are headed back to Omaha because of course they are. Because no team has faced more adversity and handled it with more grace. No team has had its heart broken in more places and found more stre

If you like daytime drama and nighttime reality TV, you have to love Auburn. If you're a fan of hair-raising, jaw-dropping endings that go down in the most unthinkable, improbable ways, you should paint your face orange and blue, warm up your toilet paper throwing arm and scream "War Eagle!" at the top of your lungs at every opportunity. Nobody makes sports worth watching quite like the Tigers. In victory and defeat. In football, basketball, baseball, secret plane trips and e