How many of you identify as "the baseball crowd"?

[CrazyCajun]

I also think you have to follow it up with another trip...Georgia state was last years darling with the father son, the upset and falling out the chair etc, Ron hunter was even invited on set after they lost. Georgia State misses the tourney this year, all that is forgotten and people will move on to whoever that team is this year. For it to work and stick you need to go back for them to rehash what you did before over and over more like gonzaga , butler, vcu, northern iowa, wku... not 1 year wonders like Georgia state, FGCU and Richmond.

[Just1More]

My main point was that getting to the NCAA tournament brings more national recognition than playing in a minor bowl game does. Those are our likely best scenarios now for both sports in the current situation. I agree that football is more important than anything else as far as conference realignment goes. Beating a name team in football would have more impact but we have not done in awhile so I often forget that is possible.

Are you talking about the recognition we used to get when we were a scary 12th seed? I'd agree with you on that. But it would take 28 wins (and the SBC auto) with some big upsets in the regular to get to a 12 seed today. That would trump a minor football bowl for national recognition. But just the SBC auto wouldn't get us better than a 14 seed, and very few would honestly call us "scary"... except the talking heads promoting the first round. "That" wouldn't trump any bowl... even with the minimal national overall respect the minor bowls bring.

I agree that a second round appearance in the NCAA would certainly gain more national program respect than a football minor bowl. A CWS appearance for baseball trumps both IMO.

[Cajunsmike]

If you advance, then I'm in agreement. If you are a low seed and you are one & done, your exposer is just that one day you play. That really isn't any more different then a minor Football Bowl game. Can you name two or three 14th seeds without looking at last year's brackets? Most people can't even if they filled out brackets.

UAB and Georgia State were 14 seeds last year. You are probably right in that I remember them because they won. By the same token I can't remember who played in all those minor bowl games just two months ago. Teams in our league and area are an exception though as far as my memory of bowl performance. Football was more impactful when there was less bowls.

[Cajunsmike]

Are you talking about the recognition we used to get when we were a scary 12th seed? I'd agree with you on that. But it would take 28 wins (and the SBC auto) with some big upsets in the regular to get to a 12 seed today. That would trump a minor football bowl for national recognition. But just the SBC auto wouldn't get us better than a 14 seed, and very few would honestly call us "scary"... except the talking heads promoting the first round. "That" wouldn't trump any bowl... even with the minimal national overall respect the minor bowls bring.

I agree that a second round appearance in the NCAA would certainly gain more national program respect than a football minor bowl. A CWS appearance for baseball trumps both IMO.

SI covers NCAA tourney much more than CWS. They predict the bracket field and project winners in early March. It is a focus for three weeks. CWS winner gets one sentence in June. Agree that for it to be significant for us in basketball you need an upset. Let us get there first.

[Just1More]

SI covers NCAA tourney much more than CWS. They predict the bracket field and project winners in early March. It is a focus for three weeks. CWS winner gets one sentence in June. Agree that for it to be significant for us in basketball you need an upset. Let us get there first.

SI covers the thong issue better than all! They predict increased labido and birth rates well past summer! It is a focus in rest room reading year round!

As for basketball, I'm finally able to get back in town for a game (tomorrow). I hope we have a yuge crowd!

[Cajun90]

SI covers NCAA tourney much more than CWS. They predict the bracket field and project winners in early March. It is a focus for three weeks. CWS winner gets one sentence in June. Agree that for it to be significant for us in basketball you need an upset. Let us get there first.

Get your point but I haven't followed SI in ages and I think that is true of a lot of college sports fans. They rarely seem to care about college sports at all unless your P5 in a basketball playoff or leading the league in football. Why not pick some other media outlet that is more college sports minded as an example?

Ultimately it doesn't matter the sport unless you are consistent at winning and winning big. We won four New Orleans bowls in a row. That was great but can't say it accomplished a lot for us. Unless your playing in one of the big four or five it doesn't seem to matter. For it to work in basketball I think we need to make the round of 32 for 4+ years straight and hit the sweet 16 at least once in that period to even begin to get recognized with any consistency. In baseball we are now a known commodity and it will help but to make our mark we really need to get to the CWS.

[Cajunsmike]

Get your point but I haven't followed SI in ages and I think that is true of a lot of college sports fans. They rarely seem to care about college sports at all unless your P5 in a basketball playoff or leading the league in football. Why not pick some other media outlet that is more college sports minded as an example?

Ultimately it doesn't matter the sport unless you are consistent at winning and winning big. We won four New Orleans bowls in a row. That was great but can't say it accomplished a lot for us. Unless your playing in one of the big four or five it doesn't seem to matter. For it to work in basketball I think we need to make the round of 32 for 4+ years straight and hit the sweet 16 at least once in that period to even begin to get recognized with any consistency. In baseball we are now a known commodity and it will help but to make our mark we really need to get to the CWS.

USA Today coverage is similar as they list the NCAA tournament initial bracket prominently. The baseball 64 field is in small print. Generally only scores in that tournament are then printed until the CWS. Even then, they cover it sparingly. That is because teams in the north can't push that sport due to weather. Overall, I agree with you in that college sports coverage is increasingly focused on the P5 and it is very difficult to get noticed no matter how much you accomplish in your own league.

[Cajun90]

USA Today coverage is similar as they list the NCAA tournament initial bracket prominently. The baseball 64 field is in small print. Generally only scores in that tournament are then printed until the CWS. Even then, they cover it sparingly. That is because teams in the north can't push that sport due to weather. Overall, I agree with you in that college sports coverage is increasingly focused on the P5 and it is very difficult to get noticed no matter how much you accomplish in your own league.

In my opinion print media in general is pretty much done. In my opinion video (TV) is king followed by online media. I honestly believe its the whole package. You want to get noticed then you have to win but more importantly you need a great PR campaign behind it.

[Just1More]

USA Today coverage is similar as they list the NCAA tournament initial bracket prominently. The baseball 64 field is in small print. Generally only scores in that tournament are then printed until the CWS. Even then, they cover it sparingly. That is because teams in the north can't push that sport due to weather. Overall, I agree with you in that college sports coverage is increasingly focused on the P5 and it is very difficult to get noticed no matter how much you accomplish in your own league.

I'm not sure what caused the "what's your favorite sport" to go the way of national recognition, but I consider student/alumni/fan recognition of achievement as our primary goal athletically. I consider state and regional admiration of athletic success as next. As a mid major, achieving national recognition generally achieves both of those... but maintaining national recognition is highly unlikely in major sports. I also think the nation understands the difference between the difficulties of national recognition in one sport versus another... and respects you (institutionally) according to the accomplishment. There are sports specific entities that will write nationally about you... but their readership is proportional to the popularity of the sport. Our top athletes in major men's professional sports probably keep our school in major sports media conversation more than anything else. Peanut, Elfrid and Lucroy are probably more responsible for our national athletic respect than everything else combined. JMO

[Cajunsmike]

I'm not sure what caused the "what's your favorite sport" to go the way of national recognition, but I consider student/alumni/fan recognition of achievement as our primary goal athletically. I consider state and regional admiration of athletic success as next. As a mid major, achieving national recognition generally achieves both of those... but maintaining national recognition is highly unlikely in major sports. I also think the nation understands the difference between the difficulties of national recognition in one sport versus another... and respects you (institutionally) according to the accomplishment. There are sports specific entities that will write nationally about you... but their readership is proportional to the popularity of the sport. Our top athletes in major men's professional sports probably keep our school in major sports media conversation more than anything else. Peanut, Elfrid and Lucroy are probably more responsible for our national athletic respect than everything else combined. JMO

I caused thread drift due to my comment that one of the reasons basketball was my favorite as success there gave us the best chAnce for recognition. That of course requires getting to the NCAA tournament of course. As the debate has shown, others may have a different opinion on that. Non stop action is my mAjor reason for it being my favorite. That is even true in a perceived slow down game if you can pay attention to what goes on away from the ball.

[RedBug58]

Jay, I will agree that Lotief can sometimes slow a game down with numerous conferences with the pitchers and batters. I believe that you are allowed one pitcher visit per inning and he sometimes takes full advantage of that. Modern pitching has definitely become an art of "hitting your spot" and that many pitches are wasted to the power hitters trying to pitch around their strength. With baseball, it just seems to me that the batter steps out box after every pitch and the pitchers seem to step off the rubber to scratch and spit after every pitch.

I guess that since I have a daughter that plays softball, I tend to view it with a different perspective than that when I am watching baseball. But with that being said, I will still go watch a Cajun baseball game when the ladies are playing out of town.

I wish your daughter was going to UL. Watched her grow up and she is a nice girl and athlete. By the way, my daughter played for you at CSA.

[CajunAlum10]

A little late to the thread here but obviously I'm one of the baseball crowd. No question.

1. Baseball
Miles between
2. Football
2A. Basketball
3. Softball