Almost game 30 before the ladies had a home game. Had 11 total. Not sure how that compares to other midwest schools.
Why do people want ISU Baseball back so much?
- Thread starter cyhiphopp
- Start date
Almost game 30 before the ladies had a home game. Had 11 total. Not sure how that compares to other midwest schools.
Gopher's had great rivalries with Denver and North Dakota in the WCHA. Add in the other three Minnesota teams (MN St, Saint Cloud State, MN-Duluth, and Bemidji St for a short time), they've dropped quite a few 'rivalry' games since joining the Big 10. Although, I believe Minnesota still plays Denver/North Dakota and a some of the other Minnesota schools every now and then, but it's no comparison to the 4 times they would meet per season while in the same conference.
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For some reason I thought the Ivy League schools had their own conference. Not the case. ECAC is pretty close.
That's actually a pretty solid hockey conference, we would get our asses kicked the 1st few yrs. I would think. I didn't realize Miami had a hockey team.
The confines of the August/September to May/June academic year could be changed. For those who choose, they could instead study year around (or only during the spring semester and summer if they want to take a break in the fall). Being in school through July when the weather is warmer nationwide would make playing in the summer just like being a student athlete during any other part of the year.
Another option would be for some Northern schools to decide to experiment with the later schedule on their own and simply have a regional championship.
One more thing to recognize is that the weather in the South is very hot in July. Southern schools who don't think it is important to play higher caliber Northern schools will choose to continue playing during the current timeframe if they don't want to reduce the number of day games that are played.
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I shouldn't have said that it would make sense that ISU baseball attendance would also be much larger. Too many variables make it anything, but a wild guess. I was also underwhelmed by attendance for ISU baseball in the 90's when I saw them play OU and Baylor. Also, softball in some places does get a relatively large number of fans and the WCWS recently edged out the MCWS in tv ratings. However, the WCWS has much fewer fans in attendance. The comparison in interest varies depending on what you are comparing.
This said, I looked at the attendances of a few of the Iowa softball and baseball games this year and it seemed like baseball had bigger attendances. However, this may be because playing against other northern schools is more of an advantage for baseball than softball allowing for more wins and fans.
When it comes down to it, yes, competing against southern Big XII schools and the rest of the South with the current start date makes for too much losing and less fans and less revenue. With ISU's smaller budget, bringing back baseball now doesn't make sense. Building football and men's and women's basketball to make more revenue makes the most sense now.
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So ISU did better in a more northern positioned conference? Shocker.
Soccer has the same problem as baseball - due to the huge number of leagues and opportunities you're competing with professional opportunities for players and they are probably better off playing on the coasts. Plus, the Big 12 doesn't have Men's soccer. I'd rather see it than any other sport though since we already have a pretty nice soccer field.
They didn't charge anything and nobody came anyway.
I go to a couple Women's soccer game each season. It's nice they are free and honestly probably should be.
I don't know about that. Basically every sport provides you the option of paying a ridiculous amount of money. Well other than football which remains pretty cheap actually in Ankeny.
My kids have always played Little League only, and the bigger problem for us is actually practice time. Kids join U Trip or other club teams because they practice so much more. The team I'm coaching this year is Single A, essentially 8 and 9 year olds and it's the first year of kid pitch. Ankeny has so many kids playing Little League that you can't get field time to practice. You have two team practices at the facilities and then you start playing games. I don't blame the league, but kids get better in baseball by taking swings and fielding. And the first year of kid pitch you are getting almost no outs in the field and you might get 4 at bats if you're lucky in a game.
Little League is killing itself. So many dumb rules, and they keep moving the ages back.
Personnaly, I would like ISU to have baseball beacause I love the sport and it would be nice to have a team to cheer for in Ames. That being said, I completely understand the reason we don't and with ISU having one of the smallest athletic budgets in the Big 12, Pollard is right when he says our money is better spent helping our current teams. I am also in agreement with the folks that say it would be tough for us to compete in a south heavy conference as the northernmost school. I think the old Big 8 might have been manageable for baseball today, but the Big 12 might be a bit too much.
IF we somehow find a ton of extra money someday and want to add a sport, it should be hockey. As has been said, you could add women's to offset title IX and I feel like this state is ripe for hockey fandom. My ultimate dream would be to be added to the B1G for hockey only. The rivalries that could be born from playing all of those schools could be great and would be a decent crowd draw over time.
Big question: Does anyone here cheer for the Hawkeyes in baseball? I try to just because they're full of Iowa kids and it doesnt hurt ISU in any way for them to be good in baseball but its a challenge.
IF we somehow find a ton of extra money someday and want to add a sport, it should be hockey. As has been said, you could add women's to offset title IX and I feel like this state is ripe for hockey fandom. My ultimate dream would be to be added to the B1G for hockey only. The rivalries that could be born from playing all of those schools could be great and would be a decent crowd draw over time.
Big question: Does anyone here cheer for the Hawkeyes in baseball? I try to just because they're full of Iowa kids and it doesnt hurt ISU in any way for them to be good in baseball but its a challenge.
I am torn between wanting to see one more (than just one) Big West team make it to the NCAAs and Iowa making it in with a worse record. Northern conference teams don't have a track record of competing better or as good as west coast conference teams so my hope is that they don't get the edge for getting teams in simply because they are in a conference with bigger athletic budgets.
Then give up. And root for them to get beat by a 100. Don't work so hard.
