Good luck with that.

If I could count on Febus being there doing that I would have made more baseball games in Athens.

The O Zone has been pretty solid in volleyball in addition to football and Men's hoops. You cannot make force kids to be interested in every random sport though... For a very long time, it was hard enough getting a lot of people excited for football and hoops.

Unless there is a particular person who loves baseball and is willing to build a student fanbase it'll be tough to get any great support going.

It doesn't help that the stadium is placed where it is, our baseball hasn't been great recently and we are now on semesters and this weekend is the final week before finals... I hope they do though.

Have you ever considered the possibility that students might not have fun at Ohio baseball games? I'm a diehard Ohio fan, but even I don't enjoy myself at our baseball games. Maybe that would change if the games were treated the same way Copperheads games are, minus the beer.

Conversely, the fests are fun for the majority of Ohio students. I don't particularly like the smartphone culture, but it is a reality that will not change. College students want to be where they can have the most fun, and with the way social media works now, they are aware of how to find those outlets.

JSF has made this point numerous times on this board, and I agree: it is not a student's obligation to attend sporting events. There are tons of students on this campus who don't give a damn about college sports in general. Just like I didn't make it a point to go to theater events. Would it be reasonable for a theater supporter to yell at me?

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?!?

Speaking out of experience, getting students out for sports other than football and men's basketball is incredibly hard. It took years to get even a small crowd of regulars for volleyball.

Yeah, so, I'm going to ignore the fact that you assume we all go to bars/fests instead of studying for exams and try to have a decent discussion.

My name is R.P. Kirtland, and I am the new O Zone president for the 14-15 school year. If you or anyone else has a problem with the O Zone, come to me. Email is rk481111@ohio.edu, and I will answer any email I get.

Let me first talk about my plans and we'll see what your thoughts are. This year, we look to have a presence at Basketball, Football, Women's Soccer, Field Hockey, Softball, and Baseball. Those sports are listed in projected order of probability of students coming. I am all about showing all Ohio sports love, but, let's be honest, Swimming/Diving, Golf, and Track are kind of awkward to attend as a student section, and should be a project for further down the road. Apologies if I am missing a sport, I'm still lacking sleep from exams. It is a bit narrow-minded and a bit of a jerk move to suggest that we should support other sports and only talk about one.

So, with that being stated, I'd love to address why we don't current have a baseball presence:

1.) Good god almighty, we're awful. As much as I love this school, watching a well below average team when I could be studying is hard to justify. If I feel that way, then many many other students probably do.

2.) It's fest season. As much disdain as I have for festing (not a big drinker, I'd rather have fun other ways), it is something that much of our student body loves to do, and to each their own. Basketball was even affected in the CIT games.

3.) There's almost no excitement surrounding the team, as comparative to other sports.

4.) Baseball is not an audience friendly sport. It is very slow paced, takes a shade under forever to get through an inning, and, honestly, I only know of one other student on campus who declares themselves a baseball fan. This age group doesn't really want to watch baseball.

5.) The fields are a hike. If you live on deep south, you're going to be walking somewhere close to a half-an-hour to get to the field. This isn't that big of an issue, but when coupled with the point above, it creates no incentive to go to a game.

6.) Weather is typically cruddy until late, late in the year when many people need to panic study.

I do not mean to disrespect anyone through the comments I made, and would gladly love to have a conversation about improved attendance with anyone. My ears are always open. Have a nice night.

Sorry about that. I meant college baseball. When the Indians and Reds play a 324+ game schedule, why would you go watch some really, really bad baseball? Most students, if they do watch it, only seem to tune in around CWS time.

EDIT: That's a flawed argument. Let's leave the issue at this. With the current state of the team and semesters, it would take nothing short of a small miracle performed by a tribe of pygmy goats to establish a constant baseball presence. This isn't to say that we won't try, though. We will.

Our generation really doesn't like baseball compared to generations past. Look at the Indians attendance this year. Just below 14000. That's awful and there's a reason for it. I'm not saying all people aren't interested in baseball but compared to other sports where interest is on the rise. Baseball is no doubt on the decline.

Fare enough but not nearly at the rate baseball has. and compare the TV numbers of baseball compared to other sports. Football and basketball fans lose in game attendance like baseball but gain it back in TV ratings. for baseball this isn't the case.

The world series is so far down this list it's laughable.

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2013/01/2012-numbers-game.../

The Olympics NBA NFL NCAAFB NCAABB all have better rating than PRO baseball. So if Athens had a Pro baseball team. People would watch the OU football and basketball team more. and that's pro baseball so the fact that college baseball doesn't get many people isn't a surprise.

All that being said though it is a shame that we can't get more kids to the game. But it isn't surprising and will be difficult to change. It doesn't help either that our team hasn't been good for awhile. If volleyball wasn't as good as they're and have the tradition they do they would be in the same boat as baseball. The fact of the matter is unless you win it's going to be hard to get people in the seats. The Ozone can help this by advertising and have a give away but few students are going to want to walk all the way to the baseball field for free food or whatever we offer. and if we do I doubt we have the budget to get them there regularly. Maybe for a game or two. but to CONSISTANLY get students there we need to win.

Moving forward, baseball attendance isn't going to get any easier. The millennials and youngers just do not like baseball as much as past generations. I don't know how anyone could argue that.

Softball on the other hand, not an issue. They consistently field good teams, and the weather cooperates when Ohio State comes to Athens.

I think softball in general is seeing a surge in popularity. I see more and more girls in an AAU-like circuit.