Page 10/The Battalion/Wednesday, December 9, 1987
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Sports
Women’s sports lack support of fans
Hickey: Strong teonns mean better attendance
The women’s basketball team celebrates their first tournament win Photo by Robert W. Rizzo
By Tom Mulos
Reporter
At Texas A&M, like many other
college campuses across the nation,
there is a lot of excitement going on
that many people don’t recognize or
don’t even know about.
It’s called women’s spectator
sports — the sports like basketball,
softball, and volleyball.
The reasons for the lack of in
volvement:
• Some people say the games just
aren’t exciting.
• Simply put, not many attend
the games.
• Especially the students.
• Need to have a winning pro
gram.
• It will come in time.
Women’s athletics at A&M
Part one of a two-part series
First, people claim that the games
just aren’t as exciting as the men’s
games. They say that the guys can
dunk the ball and pass the ball bet
ter.
“Our style of basketball is a lot dif
ferent from the men,” said Lynn
Hickey, assistant athletic director for
women’s athletics and head basket
ball coach. “We have a 30-second
shot clock opposed to the men’s 45-
second clock. We might not be able
to dunk the ball, but our game is
quicker and just as exciting.”
Associate Athletic Director John
David Crow said, “Anyone sports-
minded would believe that the men
could beat the women, and they
could. The level of competition
might not be the same, but the com
petition is definitely there.”
Second, why don’t people come to
the games?
Hickey said: “They simply don’t
know how exciting the gam'es are.
Our style of basketball is a lot differ
ent from the men. We might not be
able to dunk the ball, but our game is
quicker and just as exciting. Just ask
the people that do come to the
games and they’ll tell you that it’s
pretty exciting.”
Women’s athletic departments all
over have had problems getting peo
ple to attend their games. One
would think that the community
would rally behind their local teams,
but they don’t.
At A&M, last year’s basketball
home games averaged 363 people
with a total attendance of 4,174 in 13
home games. Volleyball is much the
same. This year, it averaged 339
from 5,424 total people in 16 games.
The largest crowd this season was
930 for the game against the Univer
sity of Texas.
“Texas had over 17,000 people in
Austin last year for the women’s Fi
nal Four which says something for
women’s athletics,” Charlie Fiss, as
sistant director for media relations
for the Southwest Conference, said.
“That proves that there is an audi
ence out there.”
UT’s total attendance at volleyball
ames was 13,705 for an average of
14. It’s basketball team averaged
6,639 a game with a total attendance
of 92,947.
Hickey said, “Texas’ women out
did everyone in basketball atten
dance except the men at Arkansas.”
On the other hand, Rice’s volley
ball team averaged 192 this year and
their basketball team averaged 296
last year. The University of Houston
averaged 215 for volleyball this year
and 445 for basketball last year.
“We have to compete with three
professional teams: tne Rockets, Oil
ers and Astros,” Rick Poulter, wom
en’s sports information director at
UH, said. “We do pretty well com
pared to other schools in the confer
ence other than Texas.”
Third, the students don’t come to
games. Most of the fans are local res
idents.
“I don’t know why the students
don’t come,”' Patti Spring, Texas’
women’s SID, said. “We hardly have
any students come out. Most of our
fans are town people. I wish we
knew the secret to getting students
to come out.”
Hickey said, “They (UT) have
called us wanting to know how to get
students to come out and we
couldn’t tell them. I don’t know why
they call us, it seems like they would
have more student support than we
do.”
Associate Athletic Director John
David Crow said, “The only reason I
can think of is that they (the stu
dents) have so many things to do and
places to go that they have to make a
decision of where to go. It’s a shame
because it’s good competition and
good entertainment. It’s not a strain
on anyone’s budget because it is rela
tively inexpensive to buy a ticket.”
Even with promotions aimed at
raising the student attendance, the
students come for the promotions
and don’t come back. Hickey has
even made appearances to student
groups.
Hickey said: “We have had so
many promotional events. The stu
dents come out and don’t come back.
I go and give talks to campus groups
and they seem real gung-ho while
I’m there, but I never see them at
games. We’re staging a tug-of-war
contest with the intramural depart
ment for this year. Not even one
teamjias signed up.”
Fourth, why is UT’s attendance so
good compared to the rest of the
conference? They have established
winning programs.
UT’s volleyball team from 1982-
86, has compiled a record of 151-43
and has won the conference and fin
ished in the top 10 in the nation each
year. The basketball team has done
even better with a 155-9 record and
a national championship in 1985.
They reached the semifinals last
year when the Final Four was in
Austin but lost 76-74 to Louisiana
Tech.
“When you have a winning pro
gram like UT’s, the fans will start to
come out,” Hickey said. “They still
don’t have the students, but they do
get the local people. Hopefully, in
the near future, we will get to the
point where they are now.”
With the exception of this year,
A&M’s volleyball team finished sec
ond to Texas in the conference each
year since 1982 and amassed a 138-
62 record. This year the volleyball
team has a 15-20 record and is pres
ently in sixth place in the confer
ence.
The basketball team, however, has
never matched the record of the vol
leyball teams. They have a 67-76 re
cord in the same five year period.
The Lady Aggies are off to a good
start this year, currently holding a 4-
1 record after winning their first
tournament trophy ever last weeked
at the Converse-Hampton Inn Lady
Aggie Classic.
Crow said, “Of c'ourse winning
will help. Anytime you win the peo
ple will come out and watch. Like in
football, when we started winning a
few years ago our attendance grew
and now we (had) the largest crowd
ever at home when we play Texas.”
Fifth, Hickey thinks that the
growth in fans on a nation-wide basis
will only come in time.
Hickey said, “You look at the
growth of men’s basketball during
the past ten years. It has grown im
mensely because of television. 1
think that the women’s programs
will only grow in time. We are still
fairly young.”
Fiss said, “You go back 50 years
and the men were going through the
same things. In due time the women
will evolve too.”
Astros acquire shortstop Ramirez from Braves
DALLAS (AP) — The Houston
Astros acquired shortstop Rafael
Ramirez from the Atlanta Braves on
Tuesday for two minor league play
ers.
The 28-year-old Ramirez batted
.263 in a reserve role for the Braves
last season. He had been Atlanta’s
starting shortstop for nearly six
years before losing his job to Andres
Thomas. Ramirez led or tied for the
most errors in the National League
from 1981-85.
In addition, the Astros received
cash with Ramirez for third baseman
Ed Whited and pitcher Mike Stoker.
Officials said Ramirez will fill
Houston’s need for a starting short
stop, a spot that has been weak since
Dickie Thon was unable to recover
from a beanball injury in early 1984.
Switch hitter Craig Reynolds pla-
tooned with right-handed Buddy Bi-
ancalana and Bert Pena last season
for the Astros after Thon left the
team following 32 games. Bianca-
lana, Pena and Thon combined for
only three runs batted in, all by
Thon.
It was the first trade made by As
tros General Manager Bill Wood,
who had been promoted to the posi
tion one day before.
Ramirez, a career .263 hitter, av
eraged about 50 RBI as a starter. His
best season was 1983 when he batted
.297 with 58 RBI. He is currently
playing winter ball in the Dominican
Republic.
“We’ve added offense to our bal-
Iclub,” Astros Manager Hal Lanier
said. “He’s a good National League
shortstop. Right now, I’m looking at
him as our everyday shortstop.”
Officials said Ramirez was on the
disabled list from July 2 to Sept. 25
with partially torn ligaments in his
left knee. Astros officials said they
are confident he will be fine for
spring training.
Since 1986, when Andres Thomas
took over, the Braves had been try
ing to trade Ramirez. Ramirez
played mostly at third base, along
with some shortstop and outfield in
1986 and split time between short
and third last year.
Atlanta had also wanted to unload
Ramirez’s $875,000 salary.
Houston and the New York Yan
kees pursued Ramirez before the
Astros got him.
Whited and Stoker played for
Class A Asheville, N.C., in 1987.
The 23-year-old Whited led the
South Atlantic League with a .323
average and 126 RBI. He was the
league’s All-Star third baseman.
Stoker, 21, was 13-5 with a 2.91
earned run average in 25 starts.
“We’ve changed the direction
we’re going,” said Braves Manager
Chuck Tanner. “We’ve revamped
our thinking. We’re going with
younger players.”
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