Monday, April 20, 2009

Badger Baseball?

According to Michael Hunt's article on jsonline.com, baseball at UW-Madison is not going to happen any time soon. In a statement made by Barry Alvarez in response to a previous Michael Hunt article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he says UW is in great shape with its cash, staff, and facilities but that coaches need resources. From what I read, Alvarez is saying they have resources, but don't have resources???? Maybe I am reading that wrong, but, what?

Technically the sport was axed due to Title IX, but cutting baseball still baffles me. At least in one sport the Big Ten has, as the conference name implies, 10 teams. It is just a shame the school left out is UW. The city of Madison has proved it has a passionate baseball fanbase by drawing good numbers for the Northwood League's Madison Mallards. Maybe Alvarez understands that with the success of the Mallards in Madison and also the Brewers recent successes in Milwaukee, that UW would be unlikely to secure a solid fan base especially as the first years of a new program would likely struggle to win games. Your opinions?

2 comments:

A.Guss said...

when is the last time a big 10 team did anything in baseball?

Lange said...

In 1964 Minnesota beat Missouri to win the national title, that was also the last time a big ten team was in title game.

I understand the risk involved would be fairly significant, but why build a new stadium right away? I'm sure a deal could be reached to play home games at Warner Park for a couple of years. Also the top Wisconsin born players attending the D. 3 colleges in state have turned the WIAC into a baseball powerhouse.

Realistically I think the athletic department doesn't want to take a risk on Badger Baseball in the case that it doesn't succeed, which I can understand but not agree with.

I'd go.