I rarely go off on people on a message board, but your posts are really getting to me (and probably others).
Ten years? Were you following the program in the Paul Westhead years, and then Jim Larranaga comes here and wins the CAA tournament in year 2. George Evans is one of top players in Mason history, and had he been younger, he would have made the NBA (oh, the trivia question last night during a media timeout had him as one of the choices). Did Hewitt set Mason back, yes, no one would argue that, but Paulsen got us to 20 wins last season. No one saw that coming. No one saw Sherrod getting a triple double (only player in school history to achieve that). There were games in the late 90's that wouldn't draw 2,000 people (and Colorado came to Fairfax once).
Paulsen had to get through Hewitt's recruits, institute his own system, and get new recruits. Some worked out really well, others should have stayed and left anyway, and others didn't work out. That happens at every single college sport in existence.
Man, for someone that RARELY attends games, you complain an awful lot. Have you ever attended a road game (CAA or A-10 days)? Did you ever attend the vcu Invitational (I mean, CAA tournament) at any point in time? I have gone as far as Chapel Hill (and drove back the same day) for a game, drove to Charlotte last season for the Davidson game, multiple trips to Philly, a game at Delaware on a WEEKNIGHT, and other arenas that would be too long to list. Frankly, road games are more fun, and Mason is good about planning bus/road trips on a regular basis.
You complain about prices, ever heard of a thing called inflation? If you think Mason is bad, vcu has charging what Mason is charging now for years, and they don't do tiered pricing. Be thankful that families have options for Mason tickets. Also, do you know there have been 3 and 6 game plans for over 10 years? I started off as a 6 game holder, because of the job I had at the time, I knew I could only attend certain games, so I went that route. I became a season ticket holder and the rest is history. Mason sometimes puts deal in various newspapers to boost attendance, which again, works for families. You can't complain about the drive, because frankly, you are not far. I think you are just full of excuses.
I don't think you realize you see a lot more in person than you do at home, especially when a stream goes to crap (which appeared to have happened last night after reading the game thread). The game experience is much better now, and that is an attribute to Brad Edwards. You need to put your money where you mouth is and go to games. There are plenty of weekend games, and we started a 5 game homestand last night. Tuesday is an "off" day for classes at Mason, so traffic at the arena shouldn't be that bad. No excuse.
