Did they limit attendance to CA residents ? That's what the A's are doing. Should put a dent in the number of Astros fans when I go this weekend but then again they'll probably cheat just like their team.

Sounds like you're describing the Grapefruit League/Florida State League.

I haven't seen any annoying autograph collectors at college baseball games, although if you think about it that's the perfect place for them to get autographs from the very best players they figure will be successful as pros. I see some kids asking the UCD players and that's how it should be-they should have some positive role models in sports.
It's good the kids still interact with the players. They have gotten away over the years from interacting with fans outside of exclusive Team Aggie get-togethers. Not that I really want to talk to them, but there's the underlying feeling that the university does not want you to-unless you're a pretty significant donor. And that's fine with me too-student-athletes shouldn't be forced to interact with the public outside of university-sanctioned events designed to thank donors for their contributions.

I believe he biggest impediment to UCD baseball getting attendance is that the program is just not that successful on the field. You can easily point to individual achievements but the team has had just three winning seasons (one of them being last year's 9-7 abbreviayed COVID-19 record) out of the last 17. Having lights is not the fix-allanswer for that. There are some internal reasons why they're not a good team, but that's better saved for a Dobbins Stadium post.

LOL Baseball could use some actual shade thrown its way.

I don't believe it's the sport itself keeping the students away. Lots of younger people are baseball fans, but many of them are attracted to actually attendby the bells and whistles of professional baseball (the non game-related extras like promotional give-aways and the chance to tweet selfies and wind up on the video scorebo. The lower the classification the fewer extras you have.and the fewer young adults attending.

You hit on one key difference. In college baseball you typically don't have someone leading the crowd in cheers. I believe UCD could actually benefit from having a cheerleader who concludes by saying, "My name is Curtis and I'm here to collect your trash" (from the River Cats).. The UCD fans are mostly off not really paying attention. Maybe they will if someone is yelling at them.

Never underestimate the power of a privilege revoked and then reinstated.

What will be interesting to see is if this will cause students who would typically not attend sporting events to do so. Students will get priority over the public for admission, probably to justify the student fees they pay to support it.

I have very little in the way of football game attendance to draw on, but for baseball and basketball the students have vanished. In the case of baseball the only students there are the players. It isn't that the students aren't sports fans. Many are still old enough to be bandwagon SF Giants fans , although they're probably too young to remember the Sacramento Kings being relevant. Normally, it seems they are too cool for school-sports that is. However, take into account the economic downturn and the fact they've been told for a year they can't go to any sporting events, and some might just be desperate enough for entertainment to check out an Aggie game or two. The success of the Aggie Pack in previous years has relied on three key ideas 1) You don't have money, and the games are free-sort of 2) What else is there to do, especially if you don't have a car to leave town? 3) We give you a bunch of free crap just for showing up.

Twenty percent of Dobbins Stadium's capacity is about 700. They'd have to pay about 400-450 people to sit in the stands for that limit to come into play, especially given how poorly the team has played. Think that's 7 losses in a row now and a 5-14 record. Yesterday they lost 6-5 to UCSB which doesn't sound bad, except you read the box score and realize that 5 of the Gaucho's runs were unearned (the direct or indirect result of Aggie fielding errors as opposed to Gaucho hits or walks). Ouch ! I don't know if desperation is enough to get students to attend those games. I wonder if parents ever have this telephone conversation with their baseball playing sons:

Son: "Mom, are you and Dad coming to the game on Saturday ?"

Mom: "We'd like to come see you play. However, it's a 120 mile drive. We gladly do that for you, but it forces us to watch the entire team play. And you know how your father is about sports..he cares about the result. Maybe if nobody kept score, like at your brother's games.."
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He was suggesting a bridge over Exposition. Come to think of it, maybe I'll give the guy a little slack. He might have drawn that conclusion from seeing me talk to the police officer who followed me. I just went back the way I came.

They said there'd be signs telling me where to go. There weren't. I don't blame the cop for being suspicious of someone walking around + not looking like they knew where they were going but the volunteer greeting and directing people outside the clinic kinda rubbed me the wrong way on the way out. Asked if I knew the way out. Then he suggested a way that suggested he thought I was homeless. Ummm, I know I need a haircut and was wearing a jacket but come on man, that's just ignorant !

I got my first Moderna dose today @Cal Expo. My phone was giving me bad directions and a police officer asked me what I was doing there. He showed me where to go but followed me there to make sure I went lol

I like that "Following a nationwide search". Didn't take long to search the nation and decide. I wonder if this was the same kind of nationwide search that netted them Vaughn as head baseball coach ? I suppose they can't as a public institution just hire whomever they wish up front-have to give a diverse group of candidates a chance.

I was under the impression UCD was going to stay the course with the no fan attendance, at least for every non-footballl sport. I still think that is the case. UCD's plan has budgeted for no fan attendance, which means no concession stand workers,no ticket salespeople, and less security. Now with even modest football attendance they could offset the costs of having fans, which of course go up the more spectators you have. Not so with other sports.

UCD baseball fans are already masters at social distancing, so skilled in fact that they don't even show up., except on Picnic Day when no admission is charged. Dobbins Stadium could open with full capacity right now and they'd be well within county limits. Except for when I attend. Wherever I am that's the hot place to sit, judging from how pany people need to sit directly in front of me or in the same row. Once I sat on the visitors side. Same thing 3500 capacity and a crowd of 200- why ?

Unfortunately this news comes too late to be of use to me. Already bought my A's Flex Pack. Terrible seats.. A's fans are also great at social distancing. In all the games I've ever seen in person only 1 had a crowd of over 20,000. It's just as well. I just make the trip for Davis and the stadium. Those bring back memories. The games taking place within it do not.

Sac State announced recently they'll be allowing fans based on what tier the county is in. Up to 100 fans in purple (and limited to insiders) and 20% in red. I don't know how they'll have fans at beach volleyball. Their new court really doesn't have room, not even in lawn chairs. Maybe UCD will adopt a similar strategy if they allow fans.

Who cares what an MSU fan has to say about UCD ? If their team is so great, then why aren't they a higher seed ? That person's entire mental well-being probably rests on the outcome of the games. Get a COVID-19 hobby, friend, and stop living vicariously though college athletes to such an inappropriate extent. Seriously, it's like they're a Fresno State baseball fan with better grammar.

I don't know how the Aggies are going to score at all. Here's a picture of the opponents' top defenders

The aggies won the Megabowl in the Potato-free Dome. Anything else will be a letdown, even a win against Purple State.

Bakersfield often had the Aggies' number in Division II. That was the one team UCD just couldn't beat when I was a student. I remember one game where the Aggies built a big lead, and it slipped away. Came down to the last play with the Aggies needing a 3 to tie. Brandon Laird's last second shot was blocked

C.J. Hutton is supposed to be a baseball player too. Impossible to play both this academic year though. Will be interesting to see which one winds up settling on, as athletes who play both aren't equally devoted to each. Corbin Cutshaw I think played more football. David Buutterworth more baseball, but then he wound up coaching HS football

The football season has a very "exhibitions just for the heck of it" feel to it this year for me. It's no less important to the players but it reminds me of a South Park episode (as time goes by lots of things in real life remind me of South Park, the Simpsons, or Family Guy-they poke fun at everything) in which one of the kids buys an amusement park just so he have it to himself. He takes out TV ads just so he can tell everyone they can't come .

CA college sporting events are basically Cartmanland right now. I bet the people who write those press releases get a little kick out of including parts saying that spectators are not allowed, knowing that their roles give them VIP access. Bunch of Cartmans.

Oh, and I did verify it on ESPN.COM. Tracy McGrady did pitch in 4 games for the Sugar Land Skeeters. He actually did pretty well considering he had a long period of not playing baseball like Michael Jordan. He got his first and only strikeout in the league All-Star game, then he retired. In independent leagues All-Star game doesn't always mean only stars. Jose Canseco pitched in one too.

All dressed up and nowhere to go is an excellent way to summarize things right now. When they announce another stimulus payment you're supposed to be spending it on either necessities-if you're jobless, or on other things if you're not, to stimulate the economy. But how much can you eat out ? Take a trip to somewhere in which all the attractions are still closed ? Maybe go to TX, MS, or FL and maybe or most definitely get COVID-19 because of the non-existent restrictions ? I find it laughable Texas at one time had quarantine requirements for CA visitors. That's the pot calling the kettle black.

For those of us whose discretionary budgets include a lot of sporting events it's tough to know what to do. I donated a little bit to each of my colleges (about what I'd normally pay for tickets), bought a video game system. It isn't a time for being overly generous either. The gravy train has an end to it and when it's gone you wish you had that money you gave away.

I plan on avoiding Texas for a year or two. The prospect of being at a sporting event with no masks and no social distancing is rather unnerving after all this

The Sugar Land Skeeters have an interesting history as an independent league team. Roger Clemens pitched for them at the end of his career, and he was still productive. He was about 50. Tracy McGrady also pitched for them for a second. if memory serves.

Another thing they did was actually play ball when the affiliated minor leagues were shut down in 2020. They hosted the Constellation Energy League-4 teams playing in the same ballpark. It gave some fringe major league/Triple-A players who couldn't find work a chance to play. That strategy has worked out to an extent. One of the CEL pitchers-Scott Kazmir-was able to turn that into a spring training invite with the Giants. He hasn't pitched in the MLB in a few years but there's a good chance he'll pitch for the River Cats this year, at least for a little while.

I am also renewing my personal boycott of games at Raley Field (Sutter Health Park). I'm not trying to cancel them or get anyone else to do it. I thought perhaps if they strictly limited attendance and forced people to stay away from each other it would be like a dream come true, but this ticket business hit a nerve. Staying away is effortless when you're not allowed to be there.

There are a few Triple-A West parks I'd like to visit (again). Reno has a very weird looking park from the outside. You just have to see it. Albuquerque has a great park. Lots of Simpsons references and a weird hill in center field outfielders have to scale. Salt Lake City has a fun 90's looking ballpark that has stand-alone restrooms out in the outfield grass seating area, which is a rare feature these days. Nice they don't make the people with the cheapest tickets walk a mile to see a man about a dog. Salt Lake is one of the teams I contacted. Oklahoma City could be neat too, with the whole Bricktown area. El Paso has a neat design that kind of resembles Wrigley Field and Petco Park in some ways. A funny thing-they have a plaque near the entrance to tell you what a Chihuahuah is in case you don't know.

Some of my favorite team names-

Rocket City Trash Pandas (Huntsville, AL I think)
Lansing Lugnuts
Hillsboro Hops
Everett Aquasox


I think Portland should have an MLB team. They could be called the Voodoo and have a doughnut mascot. I can just imagine a fan calling, "C'mon, Schmitty, put a bird on it !" After a homerun maybe the announcer could e claim "Aaaaannd we can pickle that !!!!"

I was tempted to go to TX as soon as I heard everything is now open, but had to calm down + think logically. An open TX with no COVID rules is dangerous.

It didn't make sense for teams in TN to be in the PCL. I like the new arrangement. Back in the 90's it was mostly just west coast teams and that was nice. Did you notice all the teams in the new league are affiliated with western MLB franchises ? That's nice too.

I hope that fans are allowed at the game too. At least the desination is worth the trip by itself. That's how I'm approaching travel this year- as if I won't be able to see any sports. Except from the trip to Keizer.