Blake Bacho: Why show up at all?

With just six seconds left in regulation last Saturday night at Savage Arena, senior guard Juice Brown nailed a three-pointer to send the Rockets into overtime against the Western Michigan Broncos.

Would you believe that a portion of the season-high 6,089 fans in attendance were already in their cars and on their way home?

It wasn’t the student attendance that left early. Those fans were firmly entrenched in their sections on either end of the court until the final buzzer in overtime signaled a Toledo defeat.

It was the general attendance that decided beating the traffic was more exciting than watching the Rockets tie the game up and force overtime. Families, alumni and the average Joes all chose to stand up and leave with the contest on the line and Toledo charging back.

This matchup was already a high-scoring, dunk-filled heart-stopper even before Juice took it into overtime. UT had barely led, but they were never buried by the Broncos’ attack. That was still apparently not enough to keep the house full until game’s end.

Then again, why should I be surprised? It hadn’t been enough a few weeks ago either.

Toledo’s Mid-American Conference opener against Central Michigan came down to a Chippewa trey with just over a minute to play in regulation. Just as in the Rockets’ loss to the Broncos, a large chunk of the audience was absent for the final buzzer, prompting another member of the media to turn to me and ask a simple question:

Why show up at all?

After seeing this happen twice now this season, I still have yet to come up with an answer. These weren’t blowouts, or games against Division II opponents that didn’t matter; these were conference games that came down to the wire.

Now, I get that things come up. Kids need to get to bed, the game runs longer than expected, you didn’t take a bathroom break at halftime or whatever the reason may be.

But it is mind-boggling to see the amount of people filing out of Savage right when things are getting interesting. If you’ve stayed until that point, if you’ve paid for the tickets, why not stay for the best part?

Why would you show up at all if you don’t care about the ending?

This isn’t a life or death problem, but it’s a pretty annoying issue. Crowds of people leaving early disrupt the remaining audience, the people whose sightlines are impeded by everyone jostling for the exits.

It also doesn’t leave an impression of fan loyalty when ESPN is in the house and national audiences can catch the arena’s attendance thinning before the game has been decided.

Apart from all that, calling it a night before the Rockets do will more than likely mean you miss one heck of an ending, win or lose. With UT’s potent offensive attack, things can turn in Toledo’s favor pretty quickly. With the Rockets’ issues on the defensive side of the ball, no lead is ever safe.

I’m not going to tell you what to do. If you want to get up and leave with a minute on the clock and the game all tied up, that’s your business.

But tickets aren’t cheap, and the people that do want to stay and see the end of the game paid, too. Be respectful of that when you are stumbling in front of their seats just to be the first to get to an exit and out to the parking lot.

And seriously, someone please answer my friend’s question for me so that I have a response for him the next time we see people leaving early when the game is on the line.

Why show up at all?