and that was with a SEC West Championship on the line and playing LSU- a big rival.
Honestly, to me that's disappointing. People keep saying "wait until we're good"- well, here we are. Sure, we're no National Championship contenders or anything, but this was a pretty good team to watch.
I just feel like the athletic dept at MSU doesn't do a good enough job of promoting the baseball games. I think this gets glossed over because they have done such a great job of promoting the football team that people seem to have forgotten or don't realize that our baseball and basketball attendance is not very good.
I think the athletic dept is taking baseball for granted- "Oh, people will show up once they start winning." I just don't think so. They need to do a much better job of promoting the games/series both SEC and midweek. I went to a game this year- it was South Carolina- and in between innings, they did very, very little. I'm sorry Scott, but the chicken dance in between one inning just isn't going to cut it. And by God I hate the chicken dance anyway- heck, I would rather us do the Ole Miss masturbation dance every inning than listen to the chicken dance once. Also, at the game I went to they gave out little plastic bats to the kids- that's great, except for one thing- no one knew about the promotion unless you just happened to show up to the game.
We've got to make baseball an event- and it is if you are in the LFL- but we've got to get those that aren't loungers involved. I was watching us play Arkansas earlier in the year- one thing really stood out to me- they always had something going on in between every half inning. Even if it was just calling the Hogs. We need a baseball emcee- which is what a lot of MLB teams have- someone that can lead say a "Maroon/White" cheer or whatever and also can "referee" in between inning games like a dizzy bat race or whatever. And no- Candy Man Ron IS NOT allowed to be the baseball emcee. We need someone that is normal like a student. (Apologies to Candy Man Ron)
Also- I know advertising is expensive and putting up billboards can be costly, but we can at least advertise on the athletics website. Jim could talk about upcoming promotions during the game. Have a link on the baseball website or something saying what promotion is going to happen.
And during midweek games, we need to try to get the students involved. Because they're the ones that can get to a midweek game more easily than us working alumni around the state that can't just drive 2-4 hours on a Tuesday to Starkville.
Arkansas does a lot of the stuff I'm talking about- and that's why I think they draw so well.
Finally, the food selection needs to be overhauled. As I've said before- bring in Lil' Dooey or Petty's, Papa John's, Christy's, sell cheeseticks from the Grill, etc.
