Clark: Full capacity for FSU Regional a big step in return to normalcy

Florida State's softball complex will be at full capacity this weekend when the Seminoles host the NCAA Tallahassee Regional at JoAnne Graf Field.

Which means there could be about 3,000 fans -- mostly wearing garnet -- cheering on Lonni Alameda's team as it tries to advance to another Super Regional and then, they hope, to the College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Three thousands fans might not seem like a huge deal. But for the first time since March of 2020, when the FSU men's basketball team was wrapping up the ACC regular-season championship, there will be a venue on this campus filled to watch a sporting event.

And that obviously bodes well for a full Doak Campbell Stadium for the football season opener against Notre Dame in September. Same for men's basketball, women's basketball, swimming, tennis, baseball and everything in between.

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From this point forward, it would appear, the sports world (in Tallahassee and beyond) Is back to where it was before the pandemic.

The first example of that at FSU will be this weekend. When the perennially powerful Seminole softball team gets to play in front of a full house for the first time in 15 months.

"I go back to some of our rookies," Alameda said Thursday afternoon. "And all they know is 20 percent (capacity) in the stands. ... February was weird. You had 150 people in the stands and they kind of say things and they kind of don't. So, that was even unique. To now having, I don't know, 3,000 people in here yelling. That'll be unique.

"And the kids are super pumped. We found out 10 minutes before our team meeting yesterday and they were jacked."

They should be.

One of the cool things about playing softball at a school like Florida State is the fan support you get to experience. For this entire season, the Seminoles have gotten to enjoy just a small fraction of what it's really like.

Now they get the whole fraction. Which, to me, is one of the very best things about life returning to normal.

I'm a sports fan above all else. So, while I appreciate that I can now hang out indoors with friends and go to bars and restaurants and see what kind of exciting Mich Ultra options they have on tap, I've lived and breathed sports for so long that most of last year felt like a body blow by Mike Tyson.

It knocked the wind out of me.

Even when sports slowly came back, first with golf and then with the NBA bubble, it just wasn't anywhere close to the same without fans. I still enjoyed it. It certainly beat the alternative. But sports without fans isn't the sports we know.

To some degree, what happened last year in college football barely counted in my mind (that doesn't mean you're off the hook, Fuller!). The landscape was so unchartered. Players opting out, teams not being able to take the field, fans not allowed to watch in person, championships won in front of nobody ... it all felt like it wasn't 100 percent real.

If you play a game in front of 12 ushers, three security guards, two trainers and a caterer, does it even count?

It was the same in professional sports.

Watching the Atlanta Braves hit walk-off home runs last year, when the only noise you heard was from the home dugout, wasn't nearly as cool as watching Ronald Acuna hit one last night against the Mets in front of tens of thousands of fans.

And back to FSU softball: Imagine Jessie Warren making that incredible catch in the College World Series a few years ago with no one in attendance? It just wouldn't feel anywhere close to the same.

Well, folks, it appears those days are over. COVID is still a part of our lives, and might be for a while, but it doesn't dominate it anymore.

After 15 months of no sports and then sort-of sports, we're back to full sports.

Thank heavens!

I know there are more important things than what I'm writing about, and I truly hope you and your family have been able to stay healthy during the last year. And I'm so grateful for all the first responders, doctors and scientists who did their absolute best to keep us as safe as possible so we could get back to living our normal lives.

And part of that normalcy is fans returning to sporting events.

Starting on Friday at JoAnne Graf Field, that returns to Tallahassee.

"It's so exciting," Alameda said. "People don't have to sit in the (parking) garage, they can actually come to the game. It's just a relief. It's just, 'Let's play some softball.' So, it's just a full normal feel right now."

Amen.

Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State sports fans in the Tribal Council