OUR VIEW: 12,556 fans needed to average 15,000

A couple weeks into the 2006 football season, a top 10 list of reasons it is good to be an Aggie football fan came by email to the sports desk of The Utah Statesman.

Being able to look forward to the basketball season was listed as the No. 1 reason.

It is true that the football team is not very good, and hasn’t been for a very long time. That makes it tough to put fans in the seats, especially with wintry weather.

Under Stew Morrill the men’s basketball team has been living in a different world than their friends on the football field – a winning world. Why, then, did only 6,260 fans walk into the Spectrum to watch the Aggie men lose their exhibition game to EA Sports? If the woeful football team is averaging 17,443 fans per game this season, one would think the program that is winning could at least fill up the 10,220 seats in the Spectrum.

Sure, it’s exhibition and doesn’t count towards the overall record of the team. But, if this is what agonized Aggie fans have been waiting for, why wasn’t stronger support shown? Greater support needs to be shown for both teams.

To reach the 15,000 fan average for the season, 12,556 people need to go to the final home football game.

Go! And while you’re at it, find your way to the basketball games too.