ISU Men's Baseball ???

[CYdTracked]

I think the only way you even get the possibility of baseball back at ISU is if someone steps forward with a bunch of financial support of it. I'd like to see it back but honestly I probably wouldn't go to any of the games because I don't have the time and I have the I-Cubs in town which are much more fun to watch. The only way it comes back is if someone can put a fool-proof plan to fund it with some private donatations or something because it will be a program in the red if added to the athletic budget again.

 

[psycln11]

This is Pollard's take...

Bringing back baseball

Pollard was asked about the prospects for bringing baseball back to the Cyclone intercollegiate athletics roster.
"To me, baseball is apple pie and Chevrolet and it's Big 12," he answered. "But the harsh reality is we have to take care of the sports we have . . . Baseball is an expensive sport. The average budget in the Big 12 is about $1.2 million on an annual basis.
"I'm not interested in providing an opportunity to be the 12th place team in the Big 12 and to do that at the expense of a lot of other student-athletes we currently have."
Pressed on a timetable for bringing back discontinued sports, Pollard said his goal would be to bring men's swimming back within 5 years, men's tennis within 7 years and men's baseball within 10 years.

Inside Iowa State

 

[ISUboi12]

So baseball would be back in ten years. There you have it, if you don't want to support it, then don't. Baseball was gone the year before I came to ISU and when it comes back my donations will be almost exclusive to this sport I love.

If some of you have the opinion that baseball lacks excitement and is boring then leave the opinion to yourself and off the topic of this thread. Maybe you have the impression that the baseball players were ill spirited, but have you ever hung out with some of the basketball players? Honestly I would rather watch baseball than a bunch of thugs throw a ball in a hoop.
I haven't watched an NBA game in more than 4 years, I can't remember the last time I posted on a basketball thread, but that doesnt mean I didnt go to 5 or 6 games this year and support the team.

If you wouldn't support baseball, thats your perrogative, don't try to detract others opinions based on yours. Its annoying.

 

[Wesley]

Does Ames even have a minor league baseball team. This might be part of the problem. Lincoln has nioce little park called haymarket Square. That helps immensely.

 

[psycln11]

So baseball would be back in ten years. There you have it, if you don't want to support it, then don't. Baseball was gone the year before I came to ISU and when it comes back my donations will be almost exclusive to this sport I love.

Actually even BVD had it right, support Football in order to keep other sports...

"That's why (football) season tickets are so important," added Van De Velde, who has made a plea to Iowa State fans to double the school's season ticket base next fall. "It's money in the bank. So those who want to support swimming or gymnastics or wrestling should all buy a season football ticket."

Mid-Iowa Newspapers - ISU hacks baseball, swimming

 

[cybsball20]

One of the things my friends and I discuss is building a nice baseball facility off campus and leasing it to ISU free of charge... If we did this it could be used for a Northwoods league team in the summers... The Northwoods league is one of the top college summer leagues and currently has a team in Waterloo... Some teams average as much as 4k fans a game... This would be a huge boost for summertime in Ames, not only is it high level baseball, but it would give alot of students chances for internships and summer jobs... Plus, if ISU baseball was playng off campus it is POSSIBLE that they could allow beer... One of my favorite places to play was SEMO where they backed up trucks to the outfield wall and build scaffolding to have huge parties out there during baseball games... It must have been 30 degrees out there one day and they had a couple hundred people out there drinking, heckling, and having a good time...

 

[RedStorm]

“I don't like wrestling, but I am not saying we should dump it."

Actually, the irony in that statement is, Baseball got dumped because of title IX, and not just Baseball but some of the other sports as well, This is a title IX issue, gender equity, to comply with title IX there has to be the same amount of schollies and budget money for women’s and men’s sports or a reciprocal sport...example Men’s and Womens BB. Most schools decided to kill wrestling where ISU kept wrestling because ISU has a deep tradition in wrestling. What could really be debated is title IX....I think it sucks and it is reverse discrimination and needs to go. Baseball and some other men’s sports got cut because the money and schollies needed to be used to bring women’s athletic budgets and available schollies near or at the same level as the men's athletic budgets so ISU would be title IX compliant. I have nothing against Baseball...I am a fan, and would not mind seeing it come back, however, not at the expense of existing programs. What needs to go is Title IX!

 

[cybsball20]

"Pressed on a timetable for bringing back discontinued sports, Pollard said his goal would be to bring men's swimming back within 5 years, men's tennis within 7 years and men's baseball within 10 years."

The funny thing about this one is that I would rather see them add Men's soccer than Swimming and Tennis and I don't even like soccer... At least with that it would be a relatively inexpensive sport and one where there is some decent local talent... I would bet that there are alot more Iowa born D1 soccer players out there than Tennis and Swimmers... The last thing I like to see is Iowa kids go out of state to play... Currently Baseball players are a pretty big export, especially if you factor in the Iowa JUCO's...

 

[wonkadog]

One of the things my friends and I discuss is building a nice baseball facility off campus and leasing it to ISU free of charge... If we did this it could be used for a Northwoods league team in the summers... The Northwoods league is one of the top college summer leagues and currently has a team in Waterloo... Some teams average as much as 4k fans a game... This would be a huge boost for summertime in Ames, not only is it high level baseball, but it would give alot of students chances for internships and summer jobs... Plus, if ISU baseball was playng off campus it is POSSIBLE that they could allow beer... One of my favorite places to play was SEMO where they backed up trucks to the outfield wall and build scaffolding to have huge parties out there during baseball games... It must have been 30 degrees out there one day and they had a couple hundred people out there drinking, heckling, and having a good time...

I like where your thinking is at but I don't think it'd work. I love baseball but the fact that high school baseball is played in the summer in Iowa would kill your attendance. Most people in the area will go watch high school games in their local town but wouldn't make separate plans to go watch baseball at an out-of-town location just because they serve beer there. Like was stated earlier, why would I go watch a Northwoods League game when I can run down to Des Moines and watch a lot of up and coming stars??

 

[psycln11]

I agree with the addition of men's soccer, we already have decent facilities!! The other facilities (tennis & swimming) would need to be built or re-built to meet JP's standards.

This is from a Q&A with Pollard regarding facilities...

"But, the jewel in all of this, if we can get to it, would be the Gateway Athletic Complex. This would involve taking the exterior of the stadium along Elwood Drive and really making it the front door to campus. The concept is to take the land across from the stadium and making the Gateway Athletic Complex, which would include softball, perhaps a baseball stadium, a track stadium and indoor and outdoor tennis facilities.”​

 

[ozone]

Excellent comments from everyone. Many points have been brought up that are all relevant: Title IX, can we afford a baseball team, will anyone attend the games, who cares, Football and Basketball pays the way for all sports, if we are going to do it lets do it right, and then what about beer.

I think Jamie has the right perspective of the issues and challenges, and maybe in 10 years it will be back. There is a lot of tradition with baseball in the conference - 2nd or 3rd in the RPI for the last few years - and it just hasn't 'felt right' without a baseball program in this conference IMO. That said Football and Basketball rule. Wrestling's pretty cool too.

 

[cybsball20]

I like where your thinking is at but I don't think it'd work. I love baseball but the fact that high school baseball is played in the summer in Iowa would kill your attendance. Most people in the area will go watch high school games in their local town but wouldn't make separate plans to go watch baseball at an out-of-town location just because they serve beer there. Like was stated earlier, why would I go watch a Northwoods League game when I can run down to Des Moines and watch a lot of up and coming stars??

Waterloo is one of the tops in attendence in the Northwoods league every year and the only one in Iowa so the only one that has to deal with High School baseball...

 

[Cyclone_Power]

I really doubt we'll be getting a baseball team back any time soon. I would rather see a sport that requires less funding such as a men's tennis team.

 

[chadm]

Waterloo is one of the tops in attendence in the Northwoods league every year and the only one in Iowa so the only one that has to deal with High School baseball...

The Northwoods league is made up of a lot of college players, or it use to be. Could have players from other school's plus Iowa State playing which would bring interest to a team in Ames.
I wouldn't mind having baseball back, but when if it does, do it right. Do not hurt other programs and have a plan to make it self sufficient.

 

[BryceC]

Honestly I would rather watch baseball than a bunch of thugs throw a ball in a hoop.

If you wouldn't support baseball, thats your perrogative, don't try to detract others opinions based on yours. Its annoying.

I'd rather watch Jose Canseco shoot steroids into Mark McGuire's rump than watch Delgado get walked for the winning run.

I'll stop ripping baseball when you stop referring to basketball players as thugs. Deal?

 

[isucyfan]

I'd rather watch Jose Canseco shoot steroids into Mark McGuire's rump than watch Delgado get walked for the winning run.

As a Mets fan, I kinda liked that moment!:biggrin9gp: I would have rather seen a walk-off HR, but it was a good at-bat. I don't want to see McGwire's rump, though.

 

[ISUKyro]

Baseball ended at ISU about a year or two after I first got there. I remember at first I was mad at Bruce when he took it away but a few year later I realized that I never went to one single game or showed one amount of interest. If ISU can raise the excitement to merit a base ball team I say more power to them, but I just don't see it happening.

 

[cybsball20]

The Northwoods league is made up of a lot of college players, or it use to be. Could have players from other school's plus Iowa State playing which would bring interest to a team in Ames.
I wouldn't mind having baseball back, but when if it does, do it right. Do not hurt other programs and have a plan to make it self sufficient.

I played a year in the Northwoods league and had a blast... They just reached a deal with ESPNU to have a bunch of games televised this summer too... The TV is another thing that baseball has going for it... A ton of college baseball games are getting televised these days not to mention what's going to happen if/when the Big12 network comes out... There will probably be a baseball game on every day, would they hold out some of the proceeds because ISU wasn't contributing to that?

 

[ornryactor]

How many golf meets, track meets, gymnastics events do people go to? The reason we don't have baseball was posted earlier. We needed more women's sports so something had to be cut. Many people here don't like baseball. That's fine, but not an argument for not having the sport. I don't like wrestling, but I am not saying we should dump it.

Actually, just for the record, our gymnastics and volleyball teams both draw rather large crowds every time. Both track teams get a decent amount of spectators, too, even though they weren't very good this year. It's kind of relevant and kind of not, but I thought I'd let everybody know, since you obviously don't go to any of them... :biggrin9gp:

 

[ISUboi12]

I'd rather watch Jose Canseco shoot steroids into Mark McGuire's rump than watch Delgado get walked for the winning run.

I'll stop ripping baseball when you stop referring to basketball players as thugs. Deal?

I said I went to quite a few basketball games this year even though I hate the sport. I do have a problem with all the people who complain about the baseball players being jerks. Honestly, I wouldn't know.. but have you ever met Curtis Stinson, Will Blalock, or Anthony whateverhisnamewas... I have. They were all jerks.. They are good athletes though, and are popular guys around campus so I don't blame them. They could easily get away with it. I am just tired of hearing people call out one sports members because they think they had a bad attitude, then not liking the sport and saying it can't succeed because one of them treated them like a dork... whatever....

On a side note I went to the Nebraska Creighton game tonight... Spectacular, tailgating and atmosphere. I don't see how a game between ISU and Iowa played in Des Moines couldn't be as good, (if not better).