Knock, knock.
Who's there?
It's the Fresno State men's and women's basketball teams wondering why more fans don't show up to their games.
Tomorrow, The Bulldogs women host USC out of the Pac-10 Conference and the men face San Jose State in a Western Athletic Conference opener at the Save Mart Center.
These games should be a big draw. But they probably won't. Ask any school officials and they'll say it's because of the holiday season, so close to New Years and all, plus it's winter break and school is out for the students -- as if that makes a whole lot of difference in attendance.
The Bulldogs women average 2,508 per game; the men 7,264. But we all know how inflated those figures are -- that's tickets sold not butts in the seats. The Save Mart Center seats 15,596 for basketball according to the school. That means the women fill 16% of the area and the men 47%, although live attendance is less. That's pretty pathetic for Division I programs at a school that prides itself in athletics.
The simple fact is that women's basketball -- since Stacy Johnson-Klein is no longer strutting around in her high heels and slinky designer dresses -- isn't a drawing card. You'd think it would be since Adrian Wiggins' team has won three straight WAC championships and appeared in the NCAA Tournament. But it isn't. There are no high school All-Americans on the team. There are no future WNBA players on the team. The win against TCU was the only quality one this season. They're just a scrappy bunch of good, intelligent players who Wiggins gets to play well as a team.
Now undercover your eyes and look at what the Fresno State men have to offer. Steve Cleveland's team is 4-6 with wins over juggernauts Vanguard of the NAIA, San Diego, Pepperdine and North Dakota State. The Bulldogs haven't posted a winning record in three seasons and a fourth is in the cards. The team's headliner is 6-10 Greg Smith, a local out of Edison High barely averaging 10 points and six rebounds because he's double- and triple-teamed and nobody can get him the ball.
Once upon a time there was the Red Wave, Fresno State's nationally-known sports following that showed up to games rain or shine because it was the in thing to do in town. Somewhere along the way, they lost their directions, perhaps found new in things to do and no longer need the 'Dogs to get off on. Not everybody hopped off the bandwagon. But it's a shame more didn't fasten their seat belts and stay on.
So, what we have here is women's basketball that deserves support for finally becoming a team worth watching, and men's basketball which could use the support to get back on track. It just ain't happening and I don't know what that says about the Fresno area, alumni and students, but somewhere in there it speaks loudly.
This is true, the school needs its fans back supporting the teams to help them get better. BUT, where has the media coverage gone? That's a big question as well. There are games now (even men's) where The Bee has no pregame story. I can't recall any player profiles this year. And TV hasn't had a single road game on yet...
Those are all things that build fam interest and help fans connect with plyers.
The men's basketball teams have NOT been entertaining to watch and hard to continue to support the program since the level of play we all enjoyed under Tarkanian. It is one thing to clean up the program after Tark and Lopes, but the level of play has fallen to JC level.
Jeff, you haven't been here that long. I was born here in 1947, a long time bulldog fan, until around 1980, and a 1975 graduate. There was a guy named Russ Sloan, who the school brought to Fresno, from Missouri, to awake the sleeping giant. This was around 1975-76. Before then all sports at fsu were attended by real fans, who knew the game and were not there to socialize. I had midcourt seats at Sellend and went to all the games. Prior to this the North Gym was a great place to watch a game. Mr. Sloan decided if you wanted to keep your current seats, you had to buy the seat and contribute to player scholarships. I ended up not being able to afford and was sitting in the boondocks.
Fresno State sports was never meant to be anything bigger than what they were in the old days. Trying to create something that will never happen, despite some success, is a waste of time. The players in the old days were all white california and local kids, who worked hard labor in the summer and weren't a bunch of thugs or flunkies. Let's face it, we have had some great players, especially football, but will never be able to recruit the best players unless you have a big time coach in any sport. Title 9 also ruined athletics at my school. It's a joke to not have wrestling or mens swimming. What a waste of money putting in an olympic pool for a girls program, which will never recruit all american girl swimmers. Every college has an olympic pool. Use the money for academics and go back to a lower division and then we'll win championships all the time. Fresno will never support a loser. There is no loyalty in the town. People get bored easy. It was all a social event from 1985 to the present. A national joke. Where did this idea ever come from that Fresno State sports was gonna put us on the map and make us proud of our city. Back in 1965 this was a great city. Very simple, with none of the problems of today. Immigration and demographics took care of that. When you have a cheap place to live and are a welfare magnet, sorry to get off the subject, the problems begin and here were are in 2010 with 500,000 people in a town famous for shopping centers, a couple of parks, gangs, teen pregnancy records, car theft capital, perverted citizens, meth capital, etc. My house is paid for and I left the city 20 years ago for peace and quiet. I go to Fresno to shop, swim, watch high school and f.c.c. basketball games.
There is a reason fans aren't supporting the Dogs, not just bb Dogs, but also football Dogs. I'm not sure I know what it is, but have some thoughts. First of all, Fresno fans built Bulldog Stadium, Beiden Field, the softball facility and the Savemart Center. Have the fans changed? Or, has something else changed? The Bulldog Foundaton used to have over 400 volunteers, 5000 members, 70 Trustees...now no Trustees and from what I hear about 100 volunteers, and much less than 5000 members. I think the University has changed, not the fans. They used to raise 8-million, now somewhere around 4-million. Why has the BDF been dismantled? The U will say it's the economy, or it's all about the student-athlete experience, etc. If you'll look closely you'll see that the U has done much to chase the fans away, then they wonder where the fans have gone. They act like it's our responsibility to support them no matter how they treat us. Their cry of poverty also isn't helping. No one wants to jump on the bandwagon of a loser. Jim Sweeney awakened the 'sleeping giant'...why did the giant go back to sleep? I wish the Bee would dig deeper into this. Fans can be awakened again. Insanity: keep doing the same thing and expect different results.
Re: where have all the fans gone? Point of clarification as to the comments of Pete Pappas. I came to FSU in 1979 as the Dir. of THE BULLDOG FOUNDATION and a year later became Athletic Director. The seating structure for Selland arena was in place at the time. We led the entire West Coast in Basketball attendence. What I did was to establish a new seating plan, within the arena based on a point system made up of how long you had been a season ticket holder, how much money you raised as a volunteer in the BDF Scholarship drive and what your contribution level was as a Scholarship donor. It was a unique seating plan in College Sports.You could earn more Seating points working in the BDF drive than you could be giving money to the program. We rewarded loyalty, working in the Drive & your scholarship giving. This plan generated a million dollars of new revenue in its first year, most coming from an increase in BDF Fundraising. We went to the NCAA Playoffs twice, before winning the NIT. The program was at its zenith at the time in Basketball,had a new football stadium & launched a new baseball stadium. The RED WAVE WAS VIBRANT AND A PROUD AND ENERGETIC FORCE. I cannot speak to events after 1982 but the BULLDOG FAMILY WAS ALIVE AND WELL WHEN I LEFT. GO DOGS! Russ Sloan