By Glypie Grider
Students braved tornado warnings, hail and severe thunderstorms Friday night to lay their claim on 2005-2006 season football and men’s basketball tickets. According to Greg Virgin, the student ticket chair, 485 students made it through all phases of the ticket tailgate, which began last Wednesday at 7 a.m.
“It’s gone well, but I wish the weather would let up,” Virgin said at halftime of the annual Red-White football scrimmage. “I think most people are going to wait [to get their ticket], given the circumstances of the weather.”
The scrimmage was delayed half an hour due to the inclement weather.
The three-day tailgate required two check-ins Wednesday and Thursday, and a series of check-ins Friday. The tailgate concluded at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning following the scrimmage football game and a Nappy Roots concert at PJCS.
Virgin, who was in charge of the event last year, said the procedures and regulations were very similar to last year’s.
“It took a long time for the senate to decide what they were going to do with the tickets,” he said. “Last year, they had around four or five months to plan. This year, they only had a little under a month.”
While Virgin said he was pleased with the way the event turned out, students were not happy with the early morning check-ins and the fact that work wasn’t an excuse to miss a check-in.
“It was absolutely ridiculous,” junior Shauna Hart, 20, said. “It’s ridiculous that they have it right before Finals Week and we have to come so early in the morning,” she said.
Freshman Nikki Henehan, 19, and her friends said they lost their spots and had to re-enter the ticket selection process because they had to work Thursday and missed a check-in.
“I think they should figure something out because a lot of people work,” she said. “It’s not like I didn’t want to come—I wouldn’t have been up by 6 a.m. just to get here—but a lot of students have to go to work to go to college.”
She suggested that an excuse from a manager should be allowed to miss a check-in.
Virgin said that while he understands that people have jobs and other commitments, he thinks people need to make the sacrifice. “Not everyone can just be handed out season tickets — there has to be some sort of process,” he said.
Students were excused from the check-in for class.
Last week marked Henehan’s first ticket tailgate at U of L. Last year, she got her season tickets through orientation and wasn’t familiar with the process. She had several friends to turn to, however, for guidance.
Senior Shane Snelling, 24, said it was The Cardinal that inspired him to make the trek to PJCS and go through the ticket tailgate process.
“In general, I think it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on, but I read The Cardinal and found out where to go and what to do,” he said.
He added that previously he had never attended the tailgate but wanted to do it at least once before he graduates in December.
The football-basketball ticket combo cost $192. Football season tickets alone cost $48.
