Spring Break
Women's team deserves more student support
Attendance numbers too low for Top 25
By: Brad Cox
Issue date: 2/10/09 Section: Sports
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Before Ruth's historic season, attendance and the perception of the national sport was waning in response to the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal. Ruth single-handedly revived the sport when he hit 60 home runs in a season, a record that stood for 34 years.
Though Blair was not dealing with scandals and poor national perception when he joined A&M in 2003, he has boosted the attendance of a sport hurting for fans.
When Blair arrived, the Aggies averaged at the bottom of the Big 12 in attendance, struggling to get more than 1,600 fans per game. The teams were worse, failing to earn a winning record since the 1995-1996 season.
Blair posted a 9-19 record in his first season, going 2-14 in conference play. Attendance, however, was boosted by 1,000 fans per game from the previous season's average of 1,403.
In his second season Blair went 16-15, posting the Aggies' first winning record in nine years, and reached the WNIT Quarterfinals. The success improved attendance by more than 700 fans per game.
From 2005 to 2008, Blair made three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, earning a 77-24 overall record during the span, and won the Big 12 title in 2007 and 2008. The Aggies averaged almost 4,000 fans per game in Blair's previous three seasons.
In 2008-2009, the women's team has been ranked in the national Top 10, is 18-4 overall, 6-3 in conference, led the Big 12 in 3-point defense, steals and turnover margin and are averaging 4,916 fans per game.
But it's not enough.
The Aggies are ranked No. 6 in the Big 12 in attendance. Oklahoma and Baylor, which are averaging 8,511 and 6,328 fans per game respectively, are the only Big 12 teams with better attendance numbers that are also ranked higher than the Aggies in the Associated Press' Top 25.
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