Tucson blind to baseball's rebirth

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Summer Wildcat Chris Jackson

At times I admire its grandeur, its tradition and the tension it creates. At other times it drives me nuts.

The former usually comes from the All-Star game, the World Series and off-field acts of kindness by great players like Mark McGwire. The latter comes from my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates, who seem to find a new way to shoot themselves in the foot every year and leave me with less hair and higher blood pressure.

Perhaps in no other sport, save hockey, does the professional league so overshadow all other forms of the sport.

College baseball seasons come and go, and I doubt that more than one in every four people can tell who even won the College World Series title this year (it was Southern Cal, by the way).

Minor league baseball exists as an almost comic novelty, with outlandish promotions and ridiculous mascots dotting the small and medium-sized cities of America.

Throughout most of America, there is a renewed love of baseball at all levels from high school to the Majors.

It is part of what many in the media are calling a rebirth in the interest in baseball by the general public, fueled by a mix of individual stars (McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, et al) and amazing team performances (the Yankees) which have made this labor-strife-free season all the more exciting.

In Tucson, though, it sometimes seems as if the rebirth in baseball interest passed this city by, like so many other pop culture trends that have fallen on this city's populace's deaf ears.

The Tucson Sidewinders, despite being the AAA farm club of an expansion team currently mired with the worst record in baseball, are winning and often winning big.

The University of Arizona baseball team started last year 16-0 en route to its best season since 1993.

The USA Baseball national team has been playing in Tucson for most of the summer, showcasing the best talent in college baseball today against an array of quality international opponents.

But unlike Phoenix, where Bank One Ballpark is packed every night by people watching the Diamondbacks get pounded repeatedly, these three teams are getting minuscule crowds, particularly the latter two.

Former UA head coach and current USA senior advisor Jerry Kindall called Tucson "one of the baseball capitals of the US," but it's obviously not because of fan support.

A whopping total of 311 people were at the USA-Japan game last night. One Arizona game this spring had an attendance of about, oh, 50 people or so.

Now it's true that college baseball and even international baseball aren't on the same level as the Majors, though with the way the Diamondbacks have played that could be argued, but people around here don't seem to care.

UA baseball has been here for over 60 years. USA Baseball will be here for the next 20.

Yet after seeing Coors Field in Denver packed for last night's Major League All-Star Game, one has to wonder where all the fans are down here in Tucson.

Chris Jackson is a journalism junior. And yes, the Pirates are leaving him with a headache again this year, especially after trading .309 hitting Jermaine Allensworth for a minor league pitcher.