Fans are beyond apathetic toward Lamar football (1985)

[CSN Log]

04-19-2009 08:34 AM

Fans are beyond apathetic toward Lamar football (1985)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on May 16, 1985

By now it’s become as predictable as Lamar university’s football team being the butt of jokes. The Cardinals, on their way to yet another season when they’ll win at least two games, take the field at home to thousands of empty seats.

Read more ... (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/04/19/fans-are-beyond-apathetic-toward-lamar-f-1985?blog=2#more4752)

[TexasTerror]

Interesting read from 1985, a history lesson for those of us too young to remember or just did not know much about Cardinal football.

Will the LU faithful support football now? One of the things that has always been said about Cardinal athletics are that the students do not support the teams. Will football cultivate that?

Will the "basketball crowd" include football? No question LU runs the conference as far as attendance numbers are concerned in hoops.

[TexasTerror]

Apparently the story, even if from 1985 aggravated a good amount of people...prompting the below Bob West column:

http://www.panews.com/sportsbobwest/local_story_111205928.html?keyword=topstory


Meantime, the biggest obstacle I see for Lamar football is selling and marketing it in an area of divided college loyalties and suspect sports passion. Depending on the school’s ticketing plan, fan numbers should be pretty good for a year or two. But will Southeast Texans support Cardinal football if it doesn’t do the next-to-impossible and become a big winner overnight?

History — there’s that word again — says no. Other than Nederland and PN-G football, I don’t see too much sports passion on a grand scale. High school stadiums in Beaumont certainly aren’t anywhere close to being packed. Beaumont, in fact, is a crummy sports town.