nm

attention w hore. good job though. didn't notice.

why isn't college baseball as big as college football and college basketball ... it really just can't be because of the minor league farm system, can it?

7 year, I suspect it is because of the lack of television games. The only way to really follow the sport is getting down to the ball park or listening to the radio.

That said, most people are surprised at how many fans college baseball does have. Texas, aTm, Baylor, Nebraska,etc. all average three to five thousand fans for home games. Even schools with less developed programs, like KU, still draw an average of over a thousand a game.

Baseball especially college Bball is a lot like hockey I think. It is awesome live but for some reason does not translate well on television.

thanks for the responses ...

I wished college baseball would get more TV time!

might the use of aluminum bats affect interest as well?

Just go watch it. It is far more entertaining than minor league ball anyways.

I hate the aluminum bats but you do get used to them after a bit.

In my interview with Mike Zagurski he said one of the reasons he was in favor of the continued use of metal bats was because they made for more exciting games and thus were good for the fans. It was an unexpected response.

I suspect the days of metal bats are numbered. They have been linked to increased risk of head injury in games. Balls come off metal bats faster than they do off wood bats, giving pitchers and third baseman almost no time to react to line drives. High schools and colleges are very responsive to issues of player safety. If they do not phase out metal bats on their own I am sure they will if lawsuits from injured players start gaining traction.

Aluminum bats are about money. It is expensive to use wooden bats due to them breaking.

I know using aluminum bats saves money. I don't know how much the difference is but I am sure it is in the thousands of dollars per year range.

This is a very big deal for smaller programs who are fighting for every dollar, but for programs like KU and Wichita the cost of moving to wood could easily be absorbed.

Anyway, this is why I think law suits might eventually get the metal bats out of college baseball. If universities think the continued use of them is putting the players at risk and the universities at risk of having to pay for these injuries, I think they will do the right thing and switch to wood. Maybe I am wrong, but I think high school and NCAA baseball will move to wood at some point. I guess we’ll see.

Perhaps at some point, but the expense still weighs heavily on this, especially at the high school level. Also, the recent regulations on the bats has brought the probability of injury down due to overpowered bats.

Hi Born2, have you seen this:

Kendall Roger's preview of the Shockers

I have, thank you. Pretty generic write up, but its nice to see.

Born2, when you have a chance, can you send me an e-mail message. jqku at hotmail dot com.

I think I'd like wooden bats better ...

one complaint I hear is that players can tell where the ball is going by the sound of the hit, you don't have that with aluminum, the hits all sound the same!