Giansante Was Right -Baseball @PK Is Paying For Itself

I'm gonna play total devil's advocate here and probably take a lot of s%#t for it but here goes. I have a hard time blaming duck fans for not turning out to baseball games the way OSU fans do for the Beavers. Yes, they are bandwagon fans, but so are most fans of pretty much all teams. Their baseball teams have been pretty okay, and as much as I hate to say it this year's has been under the radar and appears to be a threat. But they have generally underachieved, at least based on Horton's boasts and high preseason expectations some seasons. They've proven what we've said all along, that Phil's money alone can't buy a national championship baseball team. Even with a solid team, fans get impatient and disinterested. Thing is, there are also other sports to draw in duck fans. The same time of year as baseball they also have a top 5 softball team the last few years, plus arguably the country's top track and field program. Where OSU is still growing a facility, their track & field support is phenomenal. I know they have a storied program historically but in the modern era their rise in track has been relatively recent. I don't talk to many Beaver fans that care about track & field or cross country which I find kind of ironic considering OSU's strong history in those sports. I guess all I mean is that, in a sense, while we are known for baseball, they have their track. I've had a had time finding attendance numbers but it looks like they get something like 3000-6000 spectators for regular meets.

But who cares, right? The priority as a Beaver fan on a baseball forum is to trash talk about our baseball team vs. theirs, which we rightfully can and should do. So why am I saying all this? Because it shows how amazing the baseball product is at OSU. The team is consistently good every year. Coach Casey and his program's reputation is as good as anyone else in the country right now. Facilities keep getting better and better. And accordingly, attendance has been good to great in a conference that has embarrassingly low averages considering its strength and history, at least compared to SEC and other warmer weather schools. All this in a region that was never supposed to be able to support a top baseball program due to local talent, recruiting, and practice/game opportunity. And there may not be another NC yet, but it's been sustained over 10 years and appears to be as strong as ever.

That other squad began out of envy and road our coattails. They only get to compete in a division with the California and Arizona programs because of OSU's accomplishments. They never earned the cockiness displayed by their head coach. I guess I have a lot more I'd rather pick on than attendance.