Spring quarter doesn’t have that one marquee college sport
that’s cool for fans to attend, that one sport that gets big
media attention nationally.
Fall has football.
Winter has basketball.
Spring has a hodgepodge of sports UCLA really excels in, but
attendance has always been low.
Very low.
I’ve been to dozens, probably hundreds of UCLA sporting
events ““ a good portion of which I was there as a spectator
and not a reporter.
I’ve been to games where there were only a handful of
students in the stands.
I’ve been to games where there were more fans supporting
the visiting team, even when the opposing team is a mediocre school
on the other side of the country.
So this isn’t just a “small sport” problem
because all of these sports draw significant crowds at many places
across the country. Just not here, even though UCLA is among the
elite in most of these spring sports, and all of them, except for
baseball, golf and women’s rowing, are played on campus.
It’s not like these sports are boring, either.
Take men’s volleyball for example. I’ve said before
that men’s volleyball is the most fun and exciting sport to
watch at UCLA, and I stand by that. The matches are very fast
paced. A three-game sweep can be over in as quickly as an hour and
a half. The longest matches are always less than two-and-a-half
hours ““ and those are the five-game nailbiters.
Volleyball is also a heckler’s paradise. You can get
really close to the players and yell your heart out. Every server
is a natural target, since all the attention and pressure is placed
on him. Plus, in a game with so many points, every player on the
court will mess up, giving every player a perfect opportunity to be
heckled.
Yet, I would be willing to guess that when UCLA hosts this
year’s NCAA men’s volleyball championships, Pauley
Pavilion will only be sold out if large crowds from other schools
make the trip to Los Angeles ““ even though the second-ranked
Bruins will probably be there.
UCLA fans are very apathetic.
That being said, there is plenty the athletic department,
coaches and players can do to try to stir up fan and student
support.
I know it costs money, but free giveaways can get students to do
anything. A bunch of my friends went to a women’s volleyball
match two years ago because they were giving away free lawn chairs.
And I remember while attending a UCLA-Arizona softball game three
years ago, free pizza was given to students who showed up. Easton
Stadium was filled beyond capacity, though that was probably due
more to the fact that the top two teams in the country were facing
each other and ESPN.com’s sexiest athlete, Jennie Finch, was
pitching for Arizona.
While I’m suggesting how to spend other people’s
money, the athletic department could also allocate a small portion
of its large advertising budget for football and basketball to the
other sports.
Additionally, each sport could experiment with its schedule by
playing more games on Thursday and Friday evenings, and less on
Saturday and Sunday early afternoons. Significantly more students
attend Friday tennis matches when they’re already on campus
than Saturday matches.
Also, if coaches and players could take some time and
self-promote themselves, it could greatly help. Imagine if next to
the weird religious and political zealots on Bruin Walk, you saw
legendary men’s volleyball coach Al Scates, or outgoing
coaches like water polo’s Adam Krikorian or softball’s
Sue Enquist selling their teams and talking to fans. Or better yet,
if the star players on UCLA teams were there. Or maybe holding a
UCLA sports office hour in Ackerman every week with a different
coach or player.
These sports have plenty to promote about themselves.
Softball just remodeled its stadium to make it much more fan
friendly ““ gone are the painful, splinter-filled wooden
bleachers and in their place are stadium seats. Unlike baseball,
softball is played very quickly, dominated by great pitchers, and
the games are only two hours long. And oh yeah, the Bruins are
back-to-back NCAA champions.
The UCLA women’s water polo team features four Olympians
that won a bronze medal in Athens, Greece last year, and is
considered to be possibly the best collegiate water polo team of
all time. And while the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center isn’t
the ideal place to watch a match, the fans are close to the action,
and water polo games never last more than an hour and 15 minutes
““ never.
Both tennis teams look like strong contenders this year, and
play right off of Bruin Walk at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, a
facility so good that the pro tennis tour uses it. And there are
six different singles matches going on at once ““ usually at
least one turns out to be really entertaining.
The UCLA baseball team is struggling this year, but it’s
still baseball, America’s pastime and the best sport out
there. Jackie Robinson Stadium is off-campus, but it’s only a
couple miles away on the other side of the cemetery from campus.
It’s not that bad of a walk, either. I’ve done it, and
as many people have pointed out to me from looking at my mug shot,
I’m not exactly in perfect shape.
The track and field teams don’t compete on campus
regularly, but when they do, you can see many current and potential
Olympians compete. Also, to keep your attention, there are usually
multiple events going on at once.
So for you sports fans out there who have only been to
basketball and football games, try one of these sports out. You
just might like it.
Quiñonez has the Diamondbacks over the Cubs in
tonight’s big game. E-mail him at
gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.