Daniel Shirley: Attendance picking up in Middle Georgia

For years, I've used this space to complain (and sometimes whine; it's OK if you thought that) about the lack of support for Middle Georgia teams by fans in our area.

A lot of that has been directed at the attendance for Mercer and Bibb County high school games.

Well, if I'm going to complain about the bad, I have to praise the good.

And this past weekend was really, really good.

Mercer played Wofford on Saturday in one of the best college games that will be played this season. It was high-quality basketball on both ends of the court as the two Southern Conference teams went at each other back and forth in a game that went into overtime and went down to the final second in the extra period.

Even better than the play on the court was the crowd that saw it. Hawkins Arena's capacity is listed as 3,200, and the attendance for the game Saturday was listed as 4,502. There were fans about 10 deep standing at the top of the arena, and the staff even added some chairs in front of the stands for more folks to sit on the floor. It was remarkable. And even the Mercer students showed up, and that hasn't always been the case.

At the same time, Southwest and Central had a doubleheader showdown at Southwest, and there was a strong crowd at that game, as well. Yep, Bibb County fans actually showed up for a high school game.

Again, remarkable.

And there are more chances this week, starting Thursday night.

Mercer's women's basketball team hosts Chattanooga at Hawkins Arena in a Southern Conference showdown. The Mocs have one of the best teams in the nation, and they come to Macon with a 13-5 overall record and a 4-0 record in conference play. Their conference winning streak has reached 52 games, 61 if you count tournament games, and they have won the conference regular-season and tournament titles the past three years.

The only other team undefeated in conference play this season? Yep, that's Mercer. The Bears are also 13-5 overall, and they are 3-0 in conference play, winning all three games on the road -- two in overtime and one on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Susie Gardner's Bears are young, talented and fun to watch, and they have two really tough tests ahead of them Thursday and then Saturday against East Tennessee State. It would be great for the Bears to play in front of two big crowds for those games. The Bears have earned that, and they deserve that kind of respect from the area's fans.

Also Thursday, the Macon Mayhem return home after beating rival Columbus 5-1 -- setting a franchise record for goals -- in their last game. The crowds have gotten better and better for the Mayhem throughout their first season, and that needs to continue through the end of the season.

In fact, that needs to continue at all games in our area. There has been talk about Macon getting a minor league baseball team, and one big key to making that happen is fan support. A prospective team or ownership group is going to know what kind of fan support there is at games, no matter the level -- college, high school or minor leagues -- so there is a lot riding on attendance for our area teams.

So, keep it up Middle Georgia -- for now and the future.

Contact Daniel Shirley at dshirley@macon.com or 744-4227.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Daniel Shirley: Attendance picking up in Middle Georgia ."