By Matthew Morris
Anxious students ready for the upcoming year in football and basketball cleared their schedules and put all else aside for the campout Friday night at Cardinal Stadium in hopes of good times that night and great seats next year. The seats still might be good, but many felt shortchanged regarding the other aspect of their aspirations.
Organization seemed to be the resounding complaint of students concerning the camp out for season tickets Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
The confusion started even before the campout really got going. Fraternities and others began to assemble Thursday to ensure themselves a place at the front of the line. However, many were asked to leave by police, and the word was that people would continue to be kicked off until 7:00 PM on Friday. Many campers relocated to Tailgaters across the street, and when it closed around 4:00 on Friday morning, police began to let people set up camp.
The majority of fans arrived Friday afternoon to begin to set up camp and wait for their number. The football team went from site to site and greeted fans, and the atmosphere was positive for the most part. At 7:00 PM, campers were told to assemble in a line starting at Gate 1 of the stadium to receive their numbers, and that’s when the disgust began.
Sophomore business major Ryan Johnson said, ” This was not set up properly. At 4:30 AM [Friday morning] there were four people in front of me, and I’m 160 in line.”
After an hour in line and little progress, many people began to realize that receiving a number was going to take longer than they anticipated. Actually, the process took close to five hours before everyone in the 700+ crowd was assigned a number.
The first line check, scheduled for 9:30 PM, was moved to 1:00 AM to compensate for the additional time taken in giving out numbers.
Ashleigh Lambert, a freshman nursing major, said, “Organization is important when you have this many people. The staff should have thought about better ways to do this.”
Also, for the large crowd, only two portable restroom facilities were provided, and they were operational till about midnight. After midnight, they were full, and the crowd was left to improvise.
Many students felt that the issue of alcohol at the event was handled poorly. Many people were confused as to whether alcohol would be permitted on the property at all. Cardinal Stadium is technically off of University campus, so alcohol can be served at the stadium during games, and it can be present in the parking lot for the campout.
However, since the campout was an SGA event, alcohol was not permitted. This was the rule, but for the first five and a half hours, DPS was extremely lax in their enforcement. Beer bottles and cans were everywhere by about 10:00 PM, and police did not seem to care. One officer, who would not give his name, had this to say about keeping people in order with the rules.
“We’re doing fine. Kids here have a good sense of humor, and we’re just having fun.” Police continued to allow drinking, but the mood changed abruptly, and at about 12:30 AM, police suddenly decided to start enforcing the rules. Minors were arrested for drinking and taken to squad cars, and in the process, some lost their spot in line and were not able to get tickets. DPS went from site to site and through the line and searched coolers and confiscated alcohol, whether the people were of age or not. Basically, confusion took over, and no one in line had any idea what was going on. John McCarty, a graduate marketing student, said, “This is the worst that I’ve ever seen it.”
In addition to the extremely long wait in line, some in attendance were not even able to purchase basketball tickets. The weather did not help either, making early morning hours miserable for most. Better ways of handling the event and complaints about the weather, the wait in line, the Portapots, the cutting in line, and the police circulated through the crowd. “Ticked off is what we are,” said undeclared sophomore John Malloy about the event. Former SGA President Angela Richie said, “People were upset at how it was set up, and we have to take this experience and learn from it.” After the 6:00 AM line check in the rain, John L. Smith, head football coach for the Cards, showed up with doughnuts for fans. Many people were encouraged by his showing, but most were still miserable.
The 2002 season ticket campout was definitely an interesting experience, to say the least. Dedicated fans weathered the elements and complications for tickets to see their beloved Cards in the upcoming season. Some were discouraged by the way things ran, but spirits were lifted when men’s head basketball coach Rick Pitino arrived at about 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. He went down the line and greeted fans and signed autographs. Cara Harris, a freshman majoring in psychology, put the whole event in perspective when she said, “It was all worth it to see Rick.”
