This is in response to Rob Glenn’s “All students should be able to get tickets.” I want to offer a solution.
We can no longer focus on who to blame for the ticket fiasco. We must realize we are No. 13 in the country, we are defending SEC Champions, plus we even have a new JumboTron at The Hump.
It is obvious there is a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation surrounding this season; therefore, how great is it that we are having this “problem” of a ticket crisis?
Be gracious that we are not in the same position as the University of Mississippi, where there is absolutely no excitement surrounding the SEC’s worst program that plays in the SEC’s worst coliseum. Most likely you would have to pay students to go to those games.
Also, it is pleasing to note that the athletics department did not lower the allotted amount of student tickets. Currently, there are 3,200 tickets. The athletics department could have sold 1,000 of those to alumni making lots of money, yet the athletics department did not do this. Please transition your anger and dissent from the Rick’s Rowdies, the athletic department and the Student Association to the other team.
Realize that there are still over 1,000 tickets available every Monday morning. Plus, if you still can’t get a ticket, just go to the Hump at game time.
Since the staff will fill any empty seats at tip off with anxious students, they have never turned away a student.
Therefore, we must unite in maroon and white and focus on the task at hand-making the Hump the loudest, most obnoxious place to play in the country.
Therefore, students be innovative, create cheers and start traditions. Realize how great it is to be a student a Mississippi State University.
Seth Robbins is a junior political science.
I am writing in response to Jay D’Abramos’ Nov. 16 article regarding student ticket allocation.
The recent criticism of the opportunity afforded to the Rick’s Rowdies, the first chance at student season ticket packages, strikes me as absurd and misinformed. The Rowdies perform a service for all students at this university, all of our basketball fans and the basketball program by enhancing the experience of watching a basketball game at The Hump.
In an age when so much parity exists among most major college basketball programs, a rabid, enthusiastic fanbase can often make the difference in close games and can provide an edge to a team battling through a season of tough competition. The Rowdies are the edge for our team, and it is only right that we ensure that as many of them as possible are present at every game.
The student ticket packages helped to bring about this effect, and the athletic department and various student organizations responsible for the ticket policy have no reason to be ashamed of having given them this chance.
As is the case with all student organizations, certain benefits are concomitant to membership in Rick’s Rowdies. It is only fair that the dues that the Rowdies pay go toward some kind of advantage, and in this case that advantage came in the form of student ticket packages. In the future, critics of this policy should consider just what the Rowides mean to the success and reputation of our basketball program.
Jay Whittington is a senior in interdisciplinary studies.