Kopff's comments

Bigger crowds need to come out to games

Fast forward to Saturday night: Same site, same opponent, different crowd. This ti me, 1,221 fans were on hand. The game's attendance was recorded as the gym's 11th highest. Congratulations to all who showed up.

The match had just about the same excitement as a 49er basketball game. There were the cheerleaders, the rowdy fraternity guys in their own designated section, CSULB President Robert Maxson and his wife sitting with CSULB men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg on press row and last year's NCAA Player of the Year Danielle Scott in attendance. The only element th at was missing was the band.

"It was exciting to see that type of spirit there," coach Brian Gimmillaro said. "The cheerleaders did a great job. The crowd was really in to it. That's the type of school spirit I want to see."

Ma ybe it was the opponent, the fact that it was the home opener or possibly that these were the defending champions. Whatever it was that drew the Long Beach community out to The Gold Mine that night must have worked, but let's not stop there.

For those who may not know, the capacity of The Gold Mine is 1,900. Where were the other 680 fans? It's amazing that more people could not come out and support a team that won its second NCAA title.

Last year, the 49ers drew 14,201 fans to see women's volleyball in 18 home matches - that's an average of 747 fans per game. That's horrible for a school that has always been strong in the sport.

Considering everything that is going on with this campus and its athletic teams, The Gold Mine should be able to sell out all of its games or matches. There's no excuse why 1,900 people can't see a two-hour basketball game or volleyball match.

I just hope that when Nov. 30 comes around and The Pyramid opens for the fi rst time, a sell-out crowd will appear.

The game is the first in one of the finest college arenas in the nation and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. It will be a great opportunity for rowdy college fans to make those signs that everyone does when they are on television. You know, the one's that say everybody supports The Pyramid and the Niners.

But until that day comes, we still have women's volleyball and The Gold Mine.

"It would be fun to see this community ad opt this team and help them grow up and help them mature," Gimmillaro said. "As the crowd gets more and more enthusiastic and more involved, maybe it will be a nice way for both of them to go through college."

Just to remind the students a nd other supporters of beach volleyball, there are 13 more home matces left, including U.C. Santa Barbara, University of the Pacific and Hawaii (twice). Those three opponents are the equivilant to University of Neveda, Las Vegas men's basketball or Wic hita state's baseball.

It would be nice to see more than a thousand people fill The Gold Mine every time there's a match or game. Afterall, these are your 49ers. Your NCAA champions or your Big West Conference champions. Come out and supp ort the teams.

Loren Kopff is a sports editor of the Forty-Niner