I think this entire discussion about how unfairly the basketball tickets for Oregon’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 have been distributed is really just a lot of hullabaloo about nothing.
When I was assigned yesterday’s story about disgruntled students whining because they had to wait in line for tickets during Dead Week, I went out to Autzen to find out what the problem was.
I could empathize with some of their views.
With more than 55 people in line by about 6:30 p.m. on Monday night, I agreed at that point that it was silly for the Athletic Department to keep people waiting for a whole 15 hours more before they finally opened the ticket office at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
One guy’s suggestion made sense: Have someone check on how long the lines are periodically throughout the day, and if there are obviously more people than there are available tickets – 55 is not exactly a hard number to count out – either take down the names of the first 55 and have them come back to pick up their tickets when the ticket counter opens in the morning, or just give out the tickets right there.
That made logical sense, and logic is something I appreciate.
Which is why I was so appalled by the complaints that some of the people in line were propagating.
Several people felt that by “forcing” them to camp out overnight during Dead Week to wait for tickets, the Athletic Department was actually going against University policy that champions academics over all else.
FORCING. Right.
To me, that word conjures up visions of a masked villain sticking a gun to your head and telling you that if you do not camp out overnight to wait for tickets, he will blow your brains out.
But apparently there are people who disagree with me.
There are people out there who truly believe that the Athletic Department’s admittedly inefficient ticket distribution policy is detracting from the value of their education.
There are people out there who believe that because they ‘have to’ (and I use that term loosely because, as we have established, no one is being forced to do anything against their will) wait in line for tickets during Dead Week when everyone is supposed to be studying, they should be entitled to some sort of compensation for their woes.
And by the way, they did get compensation – the Athletic Department felt bad, came out and set the campers up with power sockets and Internet, and then guess what, Pat Kilkenny pulled a Santa Claus and declared that he’d pick up the tab for all the tickets. At that point, grumbly campers instantly morphed into happy campers.
But the key to this whole equation is that the University never mandated that anyone should have to camp out for tickets during Dead Week.
Tickets are available for those who want to do the work it takes to get them.
Nothing in life comes for free, nothing turns out the way you want it to just because you say so.
I do agree that the Athletic Department could improve its ticket distribution policies. But I think the idea that someone should blame the Athletic Department for distracting them from studying for finals is not just laughable, it’s absolutely ludicrous.
The lesson everyone needs to learn from this little incident is personal culpability.
You, and you alone are responsible for your own actions. You, and you alone decided that you wanted a ticket badly enough to go wait outside in the cold for a full 30 hours before you knew you’d actually get your hands on one.
Those 55 sacred tickets should go to the people who want them most, and who were willing to work the hardest to get them. Because hey, news flash, that’s the way life works.
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