When I left my house on Saturday afternoon to head to the Q and the Aztecs’ home game against New Mexico, it was entirely too late. One thing had led to another, the pug needed to be walked before the trick-or-treaters came around, and to top it all off I had to stop for gas. Leaving La Mesa at 4:10 for a 4:30 game, given how tough it can be to get into Qualcomm Stadium, I should have been lucky to get inside by the end of the first quarter.
Instead, I was comfortably in my seat before the national anthem.
“Sit anywhere you like!” said an Aztecs media relations staffer with a sarcastic breeziness. She was looking, as I was, at a press box which matched the stands surrounding it. Empty, save for two columnists (Canepa and Paris, both dutifully avoiding the handing out of candy at home) and the bare bones staffing of the news-gathering organizations that had to be there.
There are couches in the SDSU dorms that currently are more populated than what we saw in the student section on Saturday evening. And yes, it was Halloween. Yes, of all the times you could possibly pick to start a football game on Halloween, 4:30 would be a particularly bad time. Blame CBS College Sports for selecting the kickoff time, and the Mountain West Conference for taking their money.
But still, when you come to a Division I college football game, in a conference where the top team may well play in a BCS game for the second straight year, you expect to at least see somebody there.
They announced 12,647 as the official attendance. Many said there were less than 5,000 people at the game. I’d have to agree with many people.
There was a Poinsettia Bowl representative at the game for part of the first half in the press box, and they have to be thinking twice about what type of crowd the Aztecs could possibly draw for them. The New Mexico Bowl is probably gulping and hoping that SDSU will stumble against Wyoming or UNLV. If San Diegans won’t drive 5-15 miles to see their team do you really think they’ll book a trip to Albuquerque in December?
It’s a shame. Brady Hoke is the most exciting football coach we’ve had in this town since Boss Ross, and he’s got his team playing tough (though not often pretty) football. San Diego State, in the middle of a year of massive budget cuts, is trying everything from giveaways to slashed prices. Tickets on “Retro Night” were $6, hot dogs $1. Plenty of seating and meating available.
It’s a testament to just how much damage was inflicted by the Craft/Long years. A long period of mediocrity and almost-upsets had eroded the Aztec fan base, diminished the flame…but then that flame was doused by a waterfall of bad years, scandals, and blowout losses.
Craft, of course, looks great in comparison. If he poured a saucepan of water on the flame, Long brought in Niagra Falls. Cal Poly I and II were like sucker punches to the most devoted of followers. When those die hards left, it was down to the A-Talkers, friends and family, and those who just didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Eventually, with years of winning, they’ll come back. Hoke is Survivorman trying to nurse flame out of a soaked piece of wood. He’s going to turn around the program on the field, of this I am sure. To turn around his fan base and his attendance marks even faster, one thing Brady could do better is to nurture that flame.
Hoke has had a bunker mentality in terms of the coverage of his team and it’s reflected in the general lack of talk, buzz, hype or publicity that SDSU receives. This started with (not to beat a dead horse, but it’s true) the decision to close down practices to the media, but more importantly to shut down basically all contact. When Brady was asked what part of this job he dislikes the most, “media” shot out of his mouth faster than his defensive line can fire off the ball.
There’s barely any media covering the Aztecs to begin with. It might help just a little if you try to encourage coverage rather than discourage it. Just saying. It’s not like SDSU has a resilient fan base to fall back on. Those that remain are like the Dust Bowl survivors, they’re not going anywhere. Everyone else is already gone. You need to lure them back, and obviously dollar dogs and a team which is getting a lot better fast is not doing the job.
Hoke recorded a message to the student base and San Diego in general urging people to come out and support the team, which is up on GoAztecs.com. He said something very similar on Saturday night and Tuesday, sticking up for his kids as a group worth watching:
One thing I want to make clear: I do think the Aztecs are worth watching and worth supporting. I’ve been to every home game all year. We’ve covered each game home and away on 619 Sports. The team is getting better, Lindley’s a nice quarterback, and watching Hoke squeeze every ounce of winning potential out of a group that was smack-your-head bad last year has been fascinating.
My personal favorite is hearing the coach after the game. He’s both emotionally raw and brutally honest, in between hallway-shaking coughs. It’s a race as to whether the team will make a bowl game before Hoke finally hacks out his throat on the sidelines. Brady, Tom Waits just called, he’s worried about your throat nodules and has a lemon tea recipe for you.
But in San Diego, the message hasn’t stuck, at least yet. It’s going to frustrate the SDSU athletic department to no end, but just as it took years to completely douse fan interest in Aztec football, it will take years to rebuild it. Even six wins and a bowl game may not do the trick the first time around. But eventually, kicking and screaming, San Diego State will come back onto the sports stage in our city.
In the meantime, there is some good news for the SDSU front office. I’m sure there will be a much bigger crowd on Saturday afternoon when TCU is here. After all, who wouldn’t want to come from Fort Worth for a weekend vacation in San Diego?
