The Ohio State baseball team wrapped up its first regional championship since 1999 yesterday when it beat Auburn 9-7 at the Tigers’ home stadium. It was the Buckeyes’ second straight victory over the Tigers in as many days.
But unless you are a diehard Buckeye or college baseball fan, you may not have even known that college baseball was entering its postseason. The only way you would have been able to follow the play-by-play of yesterday’s game was by radio or the Internet. Nowhere in the state of Ohio, or the Midwest for that matter, would average fans have been able to watch their beloved Buckeye batters in action.
In an age where college sports like basketball and football have entire days devoted to their coverage, why is it that fans devoted to all college sports are left out in the cold when spring time rolls around?
Sure, people will always point to football and basketball as “revenue” sports, which bring in money to everyone associated with them. ABC dished out $525 million over seven years when it signed on as the sole provider of Bowl Championship Series coverage. Even more astounding is that the NCAA generates more than $6 billion with its March Madness television contract. But both networks make that and more through its sponsors.
On the other hand, baseball has never been known as a “revenue” sport, especially when it comes to television ratings. While CBS broadcasts the final games of the College World Series in Omaha, the ratings are never as high as their fall and winter counterparts.
But what do you expect? Football and basketball have continuous coverage throughout the regular season on a wide variety of networks. ESPN has specific days devoted to the sports’ coverage, while CBS, NBC and ABC always have weekend telecasts every week during the two sport’s seasons.
Nowhere is that found for college baseball. The closest thing is Fox Sports Net, which often broadcasts Big 12 or Pac 10 baseball games. However, most of these games are broadcast on tape delay days after the original contest.
It’s about time a network took the initiative and began devoting coverage to college baseball. I’m not asking for much. Maybe ESPN could devote Saturdays and Sundays to coverage, calling it something cheesy like College Baseball Blowout. ESPN certainly has the time slots to run it, as I think we are all tired of watching the 1999 finals of the World’s Strongest Man Championships. I know I’ve had my fill of watching Russia’s Vassily Alexeev lugging around oversize tractor tires.
And don’t get me started on the Professional Women’s Bowling Association. If ESPN actually thinks that more people are going to watch this than college baseball, then I have a nice piece of real estate to sell them at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
College baseball is just one of the many intercollegiate sports where the love of the game is still prevalent. Many baseball players aren’t even on scholarship; they’re out there because they want to play the game. In an age where college basketball is simply a one-year stop on the NBA road and college football has become a multi-billion dollar industry, isn’t it time we show the nation what college athletics are truly all about.
College baseball is nowhere near its football and basketball counterparts on the popularity plateau. However, that doesn’t mean TVnetworks should just ignore the sport and wait until the end of the season to get excited about it. College baseball is more popular than most people think; it’s just time for the so-called sports networks to see that.
Matt Duval is a junior in journalism and The Lantern sports editor. He can be reached at [email protected]. He’s not going to apologize for dissing professional bowling because he loves bowling – just not watching it.
