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Talk about big games!

Men’s basketball on ESPN2 last Saturday, with a near-capacity crowd for the nationally televised home game.

A “golden” night for women’s basketball this Thursday (March 6).

And, come 4 p.m. Sunday, March 16, the Aggie men’s soccer team, playing Sacramento’s new professional club, , in an exhibition match on the . Intercollegiate Athletics announced the availability of 1,175 tickets, and a spokesman said today (March 3) they were going fast.

�ٺ���Ƶ Children’s Hospital is presenting Sac Republic Football Club’s inaugural season. The USL PRO club will open its home season at Hughes Stadium, California State University, Sacramento, playing at least one game there (April 26) before settling in to a brand-new pitch at Cal Expo.

Women’s basketball — There’s something for students, and something for staff and faculty, when the Aggie women host UC Riverside at 7 p.m. Thursday. Students get in free, as always, but they might want to take up the campus Police Department on its offer of “Golden Aggie Tickets.” Each student who has one will get a free “Aggie Police” T-shirt and a hot dog, and a chance to win prizes (including an iPad) during the game.

“Golden Aggie Tickets” are free — to get one, all a student has to do is ask a uniformed police officer, or go to the front desk of on Kleiber Hall Drive.

Police also are offering tickets to staff and faculty — not “golden” like the ones for students, but “golden” as in free admission to the game. Interested? Send an email to officer Ray Holguin, or call (530) 601-3867.

The Police Department and the Division of Student Affairs are co-sponsoring this game promotion; police aim to promote a game every year with a goal of building partnerships with all members of the �ٺ���Ƶ community. The theme for this year’s inaugural event is “Aggie Pride, Don’t Drink and Drive.”

Men’s basketball — Intercollegiate Athletics reported attendance of 5,227 on March 1 for the ESPN2 game, our second in two years from The Pavilion.

The crowd was blue in a couple of ways: for the “Blue-Out” that looked great on TV, and because of the final score, 67-54, in favor of the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara.