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Baseball keeps getting harped on BUT I will say when Polk 2 was the coach everything declined including the crowds. That's when Dudy Noble became out of date and things got bad. It took some time to fix baseball and turn it into what MSU fans have wanted it to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brobi-wan
I take your word for it. To put in perspective, I?m 26 so I?ve only ever known MSU sports to be pretty decent in my lifetime. The exception to that is our Basketball program. I love MSU baseball, but the baseball first/only people are like ungrateful stay at home wives with high earning husbands. Instead of being grateful for the splendor he?s paying for, she just tells him he couldn?t do what she does on a day to day basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Todd4State
Exhibit A is anytime someone brings up the natty to elevate the baseball program as more important?Is it a better program? Yeah, of course. But it cannot and will not exist as it is today without football. We?re going to have to bring football back or everything else will suffer. Big time.
I don't have the illusion as a baseball guy that football isn't what brings most of the money in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brobi-wan
At the same time our baseball program is special and it's something that MSU and its fans and alumni should celebrate and be proud of because it is historically the most successful sports program on campus period.
Football should be getting much more attention than it is. But I don't think that we should de-emphasize baseball in the process. I think we should keep doing what we are doing with baseball while building the football program up.
It's funny to me how some of the main ones who bash the LFL folk and talk about how stupid it is to focus on baseball seem to care an awful lot about it when we lost to Central Arkansas.
But since you are young when we brought Polk back in 2001 it was a lazy hire by Larry Templeton and he basically just let Polk run the program. Basically it was a nostalgia grab to please some locals who are still prominent in the LFL to this day. And it ran the program in the ground. Polk's recruiting got outdated and the stadium mostly stayed status quo and Ole Miss who was awful at baseball most years from 1984-2001 got a lot better under Bianco and they even surpassed us in baseball at one point. We still drew well for SBW at that time and drew better than most but by and large it was nothing like it is now.
Cohen is the one who fixed the baseball program as a coach. He should get a lot of credit for our National Championship. People can criticize him for focusing on baseball as AD but the reality is that is what he knows. He doesn't really know college football like he does baseball. I don't think he really meant to de-emphasize football. I think he just didn't know what the hell he was doing.
And it's kind of funny now that I think about it. We had a lot of the same issues with baseball back in the 2000's that we have with football now.
Hideous uniforms. Questionable assistant coaches. MSU catering to certain boosters while screwing everyone else. LED lights weren't really a thing then though.
The thing you have to realize about baseball is that the university didn't build it and fund it to make it what it is - Ron Polk went out and made it and got people to fund it. MSU didn't understand modern athletics and fundraising until Greg Byrne was hired. That's why so many MSU fans are invested in baseball - they literally built it. Most of our fans really don't understand how far behind we are in football from a funding perspective and donations perspective.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brobi-wan
I'd love for some of the people who bitch on here about "MSU just wants more" to go spend a day with with a UGA fan or Bama fan and talk about how much they have to donate annually just to keep their points up to to keep their season tickets. Our cheap ass fans would learn a whole lot. I have friends in the Magill Society at UGA and go to a number events with them. At every event, a member of the athletic department asks for more money. These friends already give $100k athletics annually and are endowing scholarships on the academic side - and it's still always about money from the university.
The 14 unis looked nothing like the 98.Quote:
Originally Posted by Todd4State
The administration doesnt care. If they did, they?d spend the money other schools are. New world in college football.You cant poormouth anymore. I?ve said it before and I?ll say it again. The game and culture has passed State by. You could put billions into the program and it wouldnt solve it. We don?t belong in the SEC anymore. More like AAC. I quit lying to myself long ago.
Excellent post.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg
Correct. Because "Nike owned the interlocking MSU" at that time. They were tribute uniforms based off of the 1998's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Homedawg
Today is the first game I've missed in awhile (surgery). I'm pissed I'm missing it too. As mad as I get watching, I still like being in Starkville, The Junction, and kicking around.
If the leaders at State would work with the fans to get things right, the team is going to improve. I just have no faith in our leaders to give one shit about the fans and football.
Think about this, other than the lights/speakers/signs at Davis Wade, even US damn M has their own craft beer. OM has a beer and a vodka. We don't have leaders, we've got theives taking our money. Just no foresight to see how to increase revenue and fan support. Shit ass marketing and branding too.
If it hadn't been for Ron Polk, baseball would be sporting the banner like other sports.