I am a die-hard ND basketball fan. I love ND football, but my true passion is waiting 12 hours in the cold outside gate 11 just to be able to jeer at a Syracuse or Pittsburgh player from 2 feet away. Some people have said the solution to the problem with the basketball ticket distribution situation is to abstain from distributing tickets to the fans at Holy Cross and Saint Mary's College. I can see why this argument was made but it doesn't seem rational to me when Holy Cross ticket holders amount to less than 1.7% of the total student ticket holders. I have been to almost every single game over the last two years, including away games and the last Two Big East tournaments. At all of these events I hear the same question from ND students asking, "Where is everybody?" Game after game, especially early in the season, students don't show up to the games. I don't hold anything against the students for not showing up but wonder why they complain about not having enough tickets when the seats are empty. There is a solution, but I have not seen anyone mention it yet in a Viewpoint letter. Simply raise ticket prices. For real ND fans this should not be a problem. The total cost for 13 tickets is only $50. By raising prices, you would cut out the casual student fan, but have more than enough season tickets left for real die-hard ND basketball fans. I would add to this James Leito's idea of letting students then fill in the empty seats that are left over when people don't show up. This would work out both problems of having enough student ticket booklets and having all the seats full. I hope the administration will do something to alleviate the student frustration at Notre Dame. In the meantime, I will be the guy bundled up outside gate 11 be it rain, sleet or snow. Please don't give me weird looks.
Thomas Hogan
senior
Holy Cross College
Nov. 4
