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Mississippi State fans dressed in the school’s colors painted a sea of maroon and white across T.D. Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. An estimated 20,000 of them, many without tickets or a place to stay, flocked to that city to support their team on the biggest national stage.

Those loyal fans came home happy and with a national title: College World Series Champions!

In a time when so much has gone wrong, those dedicated fans in such huge numbers taking to the air and roads to support their team and represent this state is a positive story when we truly one.

Mississippi erupted in a song of “Hail Dear Ol’ State” when the final out was made, delivering Mississippi State its first team national championship in any sport.

The state of Mississippi benefitted from the actions of Mississippi State fans as much as the university did. What an amazing representation for our entire state. As MSU’s President Mark Keenum said, no one can afford the exposure those fans earned for MSU and Mississippi.

MSU’s Dudy Noble Field is known as the Carnegie Hall of college baseball. It is an electric atmosphere. Somehow, the Bulldog faithful carried that same energy to Omaha. Win or lose, Bulldog faithful supported their team, and are a huge reason for its success.

In the Miss-Lou area alone, fans of LSU, USM, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are mixed together like gumbo. Yet, these “other fans” have been supportive of Mississippi State’s time in the spotlight.

It is great to see Mississippi excel in athletics. It was great to see sports fans of a number of teams in Mississippi rooting MSU on in its drive to the championship.

Thank you to the Bulldog faithful, and those who want to see Mississippi succeed.

Hail State, indeed.