The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of freshly cut grass and the crack of a baseball against a wooden bat are the traditional signs of spring in America. However, for a number of years, that last sound has been absent on AU's campus, something that should be returned quickly.
While AU is an NCAA Division I institution, it is one of a handful of schools that does not field its own baseball team. In fact, 85 percent of all Division I schools field a team. When combined with the hundreds of other teams at the smaller divisions, this places AU among the small minority of colleges that do not have their own team.
This has not always been the case. As recently as 1981, AU was a competitive team in the East Coast Conference, winning the league title and coming within one win of the NCAA tournament.
Nonetheless, only five years later, the athletic department decided to eliminate the team, citing the strains placed on the budget by the sport. This ended a chance for students to attend our nation's pastime on our own campus.
It is not like baseball is unpopular at AU. In fact, from the looks of people across campus, I believe that this is far from the truth. Just walking around the quad, students can be seen sporting apparel supporting their hometown teams, from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees, from the Chicago Cubs to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
With such a diverse campus, it is easy to see the large amounts of support these fans give to their teams from coast to coast. An AU club would unite this support towards a single team and rally the school towards a common goal.
Lucky for us, there has already been a precedent of sorts for a renewal of the AU baseball team. After a 33-year absence, the Washington Nationals returned to the nation's capital, the third incarnation of a baseball team in the city, as the previous two moved to Minnesota and Texas. If Major League Baseball can return a team to an area that hadn't seen one since the Nixon administration, why can't the athletic department at AU do the same thing?
I know the arguments against this include the fact that there are two professional teams in the region, the aforementioned Nationals only a Metro ride away and the Baltimore Orioles an hour north.
Although these clubs are fun to watch, they aren't the same as having a team here on campus. The opportunity to see a ballgame after class or in our pajamas on a weekend is an experience that should not be left out of our time at AU.
I also realize that given the recent circumstances with AU athletics and the impending elimination of the tennis and golf teams next year, it is unlikely that any teams will be added to the athletic budget.
Nevertheless, why should we even cut teams? Why not add more? It will add more school spirit to AU and put us on a level with the vast majority of schools across the United States.
At a school named "American," how can we not have baseball?
