re: Would LSU fans care about baseball if they sucked at it?

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No. The only reason they care as much as they do is because they found a sport no else cares about in baseball. This allows them to succeed by default. It's not a coincidence that the rise in LSU baseball and its fan bases support happened in the 1990s when they couldn't compete in football.

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I will adjust this a little- LSU football was in deep decline, and LSU basketball was getting hammered by the NCAA.
At that time, Skip had baseball in the process of becoming a dominant team in that sport.
It was a lucky circumstance; baseball is one of the sports most fans understand and can follow, and we were desperate as a base to have something to enjoy. Turned out you could go watch Bertman's team beat everyone, see a lot of homeruns in the process, and generally still spend a weekend afternoon or evening having a good time on campus.

I don't think it emerges otherwise, but it did. The rest of the SEC saw there was some money to be made, and followed suit.