My World: The house that nobody built

The plan to construct a recreation center at Sac State took a major blow last week when Referendum #1 was soundly defeated in the campus elections.

And it wasn’t even that close.

More than 300 votes separated the pros and cons in building a recreation/event facility.

Now it is obvious that we will not progress any further in improving our programs (contrary to the statements of various members of our administration) unless students know exactly what we are pouring our meager dollars into.

I have my own views on this.

Most of them I will choose not to discuss here, so as not to raise the ire of certain people, but I will share a few.

It sounded like a great idea.

We would get our own arena and stop having to hold our indoor sports in decrepit places such as the Mausoleum – oops, I mean downtown’s Memorial Auditorium.

Finally, we would possibly have a place to hold graduations rather than playing stepchild to Arco Arena.

But someone dropped the ball when it came time to school us on exactly what we were getting into, as far as the fee hike was concerned.

All over the campus, the refrain went something like this: “We want to have a rec center and arena here – we just don’t want any more fees coming out of our pockets.”

It doesn’t rule out the possibility of getting it done in the future, but it makes that goal a whole lot bleaker, especially on the heels of a 1995 decision by students to pay fees for athletics.

Those that have a facility stay competitive and thrive.

And right now, what we have is a joke.

While our facilities have improved over the last few years, these places fall way short of what is expected at the Division I level.

Surely, most of you are asking by now, what do I think we should do about getting the programs better.

I am not foolish enough to think I have all the answers.

Nor am I naive enough to believe that just because we start winning some games, it automatically takes the place of important campus issues.

For those of you, however, who continually wander around here saying, “We stink at this and that,” first consider that the sports program is fighting an uphill battle.

Sac State second baseman Jesse Krebs was wooed by San Jose State with a full scholarship. He turned it down because he wanted to stay home.

Since then, Krebs has become one of the Hornets’ most solid performers. We would do well to get other standouts around here to follow in his footsteps, but not everyone lives in California.

Until then, when we are not attractive or even a selling point for consideration for most athletes with letters of intent, why are we surprised to be laughingstocks?

When you settle for bargain basement, you get what you pay for. In this case, it wasn’t even worth that.