The spirit of Orangeville shortlived

On Friday night, the Don Haskins Center was sold out, filled with 12,000+ fans rooting on the UTEP men's basketball team. A week of Orangeville events led up to the big day. UTEP played well, but lost to Pacific, 66-61.

Two days later ... well, I look out the window and see the star on the mountain is still orange, but the fan spirit quickly died.

Slightly more than 2,000 fans (2,000 is not a typo) showed up Sunday afternoon to watch the Miners beat Mercer, 87-74. I talked to several people who said it was the smallest crowd they can remember ever seeing at a UTEP men's basketball game. Sold out on Friday to 2,000 fans on Sunday is an amazing drop and has to be disappointing for the players.

To be sure, there were some extenuating circumstances. For one, the game wasn't included in the season ticket package because it was a tournament game. So, a lot of season ticket holders probably skipped it. Also, in this NFL-centric city, a basketball game at noon on Sunday is going to be a tough sell.

This looks to be a good Miner squad, so I don't expect many more sad scenes like we saw Sunday.

Evidence of Sunday's sparse crowd. (Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre)

 

Comments

[nopainnogain]

there are also those of us who actually go to church on sunday...

[here]

Church smurch, this is UTEP. Get off your pew and worship at the house of Don Haskins instead. Another case of lazy fans and poor planning by administration. A win is a win.

[chris lopez]

This is hardly an NFL-centric city. El Paso talks a good game when it comes to sports and supporting its sports teams, but it is not close to being a "sports town" let alone a rabid "sports town."

[Joe the Plummer]

also i don't believe that there were any utep student tickets given out, therefore the lack of support...

[minerjoe]

I wasn't even aware of a Sunday game until the game was over!

[NineteenRabbit]

The honeymoon didn't last long, did it, Timmy? The way to get love is not by remembering the dead and kissing their widows. The way to get love in El Paso is by thrashing mediocre teams in your opener.

Forget the fair-haired boy routine, Tim. It got old in a hurry, beginning with Pacific.

[nopainnogain]

yea because human entertainment is #1. I'm sure God would love to hear that on judgement day, "here".

[gman]

i had no idea either that they played on sunday.. great marketing for this game UTEP!

[emjay]

I was at church as well during the game. Besides, as much as they hyped the Pacific game, that's how little was advertised for this one... they never even mentioned when tickets would be on sale in the media. As for the "church smurch" comment above, kiss it, buddy. I'm as big a UTEP fan as you'll ever find, but you need to get your priorities straight.

[austexcal]

A Sunday noon game in predominately Catholic El Paso sounds like a very bad idea. There should have been tons of publicity for it... However, asking students to shell out for the game was asking way too much and not including this with season ticket package was a really bad decision. Perhaps circumstances dictated it but, I wouldn't read much into an empty gym under those circumstances. They should have played at Memorial Gym.

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