Football tickets become a hot commodity as it gets closer to game time, and I know there
are many new students scrambling to figure
out what they can do to get their hands on one of these.
Well, your local sports columnist is here
to help all of you newbies figure out what to do — not only how to get the tickets, but to
help ensure your Oregon football experience is a good one.
First of all, finding out when the tickets are going to be distributed to students is key.
Usually on the first day tickets are available, lines are wrapped around the ticket office in the Erb Memorial Union.
Come early, because people are serious about getting tickets. You will see students in their pajamas or possibly even in the same clothes they were in yesterday after a long night of drin… uh, I mean studying.
Okay, I will reward all of you who have stuck with me this far and tell you a secret — though I am running a risk of getting my ass kicked.
Go to Autzen Stadium and pick up your ticket at the Casanova Center the day they are issued. If you’re willing to take the time to go over there, it will be rewarded because most likely, time will be saved and the pain of possibly having to stand next to a B.O.-drenched student or wondering where that funny smell is coming from in the long line.
Remember, 6,100 tickets are available for a student body with over 20,000 students, so do what you need to do to get that ticket.
Don’t think you can’t get friends or family in to sit with you. Granted they’ll have to pay, but you can get up to four tickets as long as all the student tickets haven’t been picked up.
The downside is you have to wait until the Wednesday before the game and tickets in the student section must be still available — meaning it probably won’t happen. Other means of getting friends in will probably be needed (I can’t expand too much on that).
Now that you have your hands on some tickets, preparations are needed for the game. A tailgate party is always a good way to start a game day. I hope Saturday mornings are kind to you, because someone was nice enough start the games at 12:30 p.m.
To prepare for this, you may want to pull back a little bit on Friday’s late-night activities so that Saturday morning isn’t quite so painful. It would be nice if the games all started at 7 p.m. like last year’s California game.
Yeah, it was a little cold, but the night atmosphere at Autzen Stadium was awesome, and after Oregon’s fourth-quarter comeback, the party continued throughout the night.
Anyway, the key to a good tailgate is getting there early enough to get a spot. People drive from all over to enjoy the surroundings that Autzen Stadium provides, so getting a good spot is hard.
Next, the essentials are needed — good grub and drink. I know for me a steady diet of sausage dogs, hamburgers, chips and an assortment of beverages were a must for my pre-game activities.
Finally getting into Autzen is the culmination of all this preparation. The feel of over 50,000 fans packed into a stadium rushes over you and the excitement builds waiting for kickoff.
One thing I will urge you not to do is to try and sneak alcohol into the game. If you get caught at the front gate, you will lose a perfectly good bottle, and if you are caught in the stadium you will lose a bottle and probably will be asked to leave.
The most important aspect of all of this is to go out and get to a game and have fun. Be loud and yell. High-five your neighbor, boo bad calls and root for your team.
Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, year in and year out, has become one of the toughest places to play football for opponents, and it’s partly in due of the rowdy fans and the atmosphere they create.
Come out and be a part of it.

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