Ticket Line "disassembles"

[French Rage]

I'll chime in with my opinion on this year.  I arrived with my group Thursday night and we were the second group there.  We stayed through the night and heard we were going to be cleared out at 7 AM.  At 7 no one came and we thought we were in the clear.  But when I was in class from 9 to 10, someone came and cleared out the line and all were gone when I returned.

I headed over to the benches next to the biotech building and was the thrid person in that line, which kinda became the de facto line.  As the day went on, people went to Bartels, started reforming a line, and got kicked out again; some headed and joined our line.  Around 3 more people started coming in larger numbers, so ours grow, being the closest possible point to athletic grounds (since we were not allowed to form a line of any sort on athletic grounds).

 About 3:30 to 4:00 things started getting out of control, as the line grew from 30 or 40 to hundreds.  Most people were good and went to the back of the line right up until about 3:50 when it was so clogged most people gave up doing that.  Cartain groups did not.  TEP I guess felt that they didn't have to wait their turn despite getting there around 3:30.  DKE, as I hear, was kicked out Wednesday and got assurance from Gene they would be allowed to go to the front; I dont know if this is true or not.  Frankly that's BS; if you really care, form another line elsewhere; dont leave for 2 days and expect t o come back and be allowed to thew front.  They just stood next to a brick wall in front of the line and told everyone who told them to go to the end that they weren't buying tickets. As someone mentioned earlier, no one really wanted to raise a ruckus because we wanted the athletic people to know our line was under control and we didnt wanna risk any sort of confrontation that would risk the reputation of our line.

Besides these two groups, the pseudo-line went pretty well.  As 4 drew closer, there was a little pushing, buy hey, thats human nature.  The police came and let ppl go in order to the real line, and it went calmly (as i side note, my group was the one split, but thats our fault, and our front group went to join our back group).

The line outside Bartels I was pleased with.  The security (consisting of several older ladies and a 400 pound fat guy) did a decent enough job of policing the line and I think there was very little, if any, cutting.  People at their food, talked, basically had a good time.  I was pleased that once we got into Bartels for the night, they gave out the line numbers, since it seemed policing the line would be harder in there.

My group got decent numbers which will get us seats somewhere in B, so I'm happy there.  The only thing that pisses me off were the people ahead of me who got there between 3 and 4, whereas I had beenm there since Thursday.  Aside from that, I gotta say I had a fun time.  The atmosphere in Bartels, while hot and humid and without air circulation, was relaxed and people did work and played video games and watched TV.  I didnt wait in line last year, but from I've heard this year seemed much much better.  The only thing they might want to alter is how they deal with early lines.

Edit: Does anyone know when the last of the people outside got in?  I fell asleep at 2 and people were still coming in.  Though if you arrive at 6 on Friday, I really dont think you should expect to get much ticketwise.  Also, props to Adam, a transfer from U of Indiana, who started the line outside the biochem benches.  If it weren't for that one central line, who knows what kind of clusterF we could have had, especially with the popel who arrive and 3:30 and feel they're entitled to go to the front of the line.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]The only thing they might want to alter is how they deal with early lines. [/Q]
Agreed.

[Q]Does anyone know when the last of the people outside got in? I fell asleep at 2 and people were still coming in.[/Q]
We got in at around 2:30 and there were still over 200 people after us. They turned the lights off about 3:30-4, so I assume everyone was in by then.

[Q]Though if you arrive at 6 on Friday, I really dont think you should expect to get much ticketwise.[/Q]
I have no idea where this new attitude came from. Last year there were, what? A hundred people that camped out? The year before I remember hearing that the FIRST people arrived about 3 am. All of a sudden, spending "only" 28 hours in this process means you 'shouldn't expect much'?! I LOVE Cornell hockey, but when did people loose their minds? The general opinion was that camping out was supposed to be for the diehards, with everyone else showing up Saturday morning.

I'm sorry that I had to work Friday as did other people in my group (some as late as 5), and we all had classes. The opinion was expressed on this forum that getting there at 6 am Saturday would likely be good enough for Section B. Everyone can obviously do what they wish, but I'm really confused why this year 7 times as many people decided to camp out.

Well, I'll be in Lynah, and that's good enough for me. Night, I'm beat.

-Fred

[jtwcornell91]

For what it's worth, I haven't voted in the poll, since as people point out, I'm not there.

But from people's accounts, everything after around 5pm Friday afternoon seems to have gone pretty well.  The problematic issue seems to be what to do before then.  On the one hand, if substantial numbers of people are willing to line up before then, dispersing early lines seems to cause the troubles French Rage talked about.  On the other hand, there seem to be enough ill-mannered individuals out there to make it impossible to line up fairly without some official supervision (as a side note, lining up in an orderly way and remaining behind people who got there before you and in front of people who got there after you seems to be lost on Continental Europeans as well; the Swiss told me lining up properly was a British/American thing).  On the third hand (!), the University doesn't want to be seen as sanctioning people cutting class by lending an official stamp to lines which form during the school week.  (Although as people pointed out, there are some Saturday morning classes; I had one spring semester freshman year, and it was required for my major.)

So I don't know what the best solution is, although I'm inclined to say let people line up and figure out how to police themselves until the University considers it okay to begin official monitoring.  Put up one of those movie theatre cordons so people won't block more than half the sidewalk, and to make it more difficult to cut without the consent of the whole line.

Next year, can we have a "live view of the ticket line"?  That would be cool.

[French Rage]

Delta,

I think the whole timeline (what time in line get's you what line number) has to do with the team's success last year and anticipation of what they're going to do this year.  I think's it's safe to say that way more people are excited about this year than the last few (not to say that there aren't ppl who are always excited, but now there are people who usually dont care much about the games who want tickets).

As for classes, well, the people who sell the tickets should do just that: sell the tickets.  It shouldn't be an issue to them if people miss class.  If someone misses class, it's they're loss.  And people who take the time to organize their groups so people alternate and no one misses class (like my group) gets to both go to class and get good tickets.  That way, people who take time to think about it and organize are rewarded for their efforts.  This year, though, all our plans went to hell when they broke up the line and things suddenly went up in the air.

Yeah, I guess spending well over a day and only getting number 600 is sorta wierd, looking back.  But hey, you gotta anticipate that.  The amount of interest in the team fluxes, so you never really know.

[Greg Berge]

Well, under the ancien regime if you were a freshman you could wait 36 hours and get a number in the 1,100's, because the other classes had preference.

Nothing I've read convinces me that they shouldn't simply assign line numbers starting two days in advance, have one minimum wage kiddy cop check IDs every couple hours, allow at most two tickets for each line number, and confiscate the ID of anybody who cut and tell them to come pick them up at Day Hall on Monday.  That would reward the best fans, allow people to alternate, and keep TEP, DKE and the other cretins either in line or utterly out of it.  Slap "caveat linor" all over it so Lilith Lawn Guyland can't sue for a billion dollars when her precious little girl turns up drunk in the Zamboni a week later.

As logistic puzzles go, this just is not that demanding.

[Tiredasshit]

This year's line was a hell of a lot better than last years.  At least this year people who waiting got the first line numbers.  Last year you just needed to be awake at 7am and you could run to the fuckin doors and get a good line number.  That's why people who originally counted themselves at 35th in line ended up getting #111.  I agree, cutting was limited, also better than last year!  As for the groups who arrived at 3-4 on Friday and stood in the front...TEP and DKE were both kicked out of line Thursday at 1 in the afternoon.  And yes, Gene did assure them their places in line when they came back Friday afternoon.  The first group in line knew this, and let them go either ahead (as is DKE's case) or behind them (as is TEP's case).  Those in the BioTech line obviously didn't know this, so of course they were pissed.  That doesn't mean that the people who were kicked out on Thursday should get fucked and have to go to the back of the line.  That's why Gene assured them their spot in line.  As for everything else, this year was 20 times better than last.  It was organized, monitored (though I guess not enough for some people), and students were, for the most part, well informed about the process.  Sure they started line numbers early.  But why not?  The people were there.  The only real problem was the stench in the Ramin Room...but bearable if you truly are one of the LYNAH FAITHFUL!

[DeltaOne81]

I hope the theory about expectations for this years team is accurate. I'd hate to think I lost section B to a bunch of people who were of the mind set "eh, it's a Friday night, why not?" (last year's camp out night was Thursday night). So, for my sanity, I'm going to convince myself they are all as pumped as I am :-).

[Q]As for classes, well, the people who sell the tickets should do just that: sell the tickets. It shouldn't be an issue to them if people miss class.[/Q]
Unfortunately, that's not the case. The athletic department is part of the University and they ahve to act as such. It'd be like one professor telling you that if you want a good grade in his class, it'd be best if you would skip all your other classes and just sit in his office all day. A professor like that would cause problems.

[Q]And people who take the time to organize their groups so people alternate and no one misses class (like my group) gets to both go to class and get good tickets.[/Q]
Ah, but... the official rules stated that no one could hold the place of anyone else before line numbers were given out. Therefore, by coming back after class, officially, you would be cutting. If you followed the rules, that plan didn't work.

[Q]But hey, you gotta anticipate that.[/Q]
Accept, yes, anticipate, no. Believe me, I'm not bitching, I got there at the time I did and deserve the number I got, fine. I never would have imagined that there'd be over 400 people there by 7 though. No way to anticipate a crowd 5 times (I know I said 7 before ;-) ) bigger than last years.

Overall, I agree with Greg. If you're going to have this many people showing up anyway, may as well regulate line #s from the start. I don't think handing out line #s with one person doing line checks would really constitute too much endorsing. Especially if they put a disclaimer in the official rules saying so. Ya know, sorta like how they told us again that we can't say "sucks" ::rolleyes"" .

They could say that before, say, midnight Friday night, you could hold the line # for 2 other people plus your own, thereore more likely for people to be able to go to class. And only for one other person afterwards. The only issue would be how to have a line check system where some o the people won't be there or the irst bunch of them, but I'm sure a little more documentation could do it (line check #1 - 10 pm Thursday night - highest line # as of now: 24).

I think we're damn close to having a fine line system all around. Free of official endorsement (or at least officially disclaimed) - cutting-free. Maybe if I do an MEng, I'll even be here to see it :-).

-Fred

[Speculation]

I have to say that there were some "mistakes" with the process this year:

1. Moving a line of 700 unordered people at 9:30 PM Friday was a mistake.  They should have figured out a better way to get people inside and hand out numbers (at least they figured out they better hand out numbers at the time!) -  The 400 people who were left outside after the initial 300 went into the field house were left totally in the dark about what was going on, and this is when the line cutting happened.

2. Another thing was the random line checks every two hours, and some were announced an hour in advance.  People were taking advantage of this big time and it was a slap in the face for the people who were "playing by the rules" and staying in the field house.

3.  Another mistake: It didn't really matter if you didn't show up for line check, as long as you were there within 45 mins of the line check your number was reinstated.  What's the point if you don't kick people out for not being there.  I think 16 people got removed all weekend, and only because they never came back.

Next year - one line number, one person, truly random line checks - athletics needs to be more strict to get faithful fans.

This year really was a piece of cake for getting tickets, let's hope people actually show up BEFORE the game starts - you know since all the people in sections A,B, and D are so hardcore - ha!

*At least the athletics dept. didn't care about the home entertainment systems people set up to pass the time.

[ericho_4511]

Hey, I resemble that remark.

[dodger916]

One line number, one person would greatly increase the number of people involved and add to the stink in the Ramin Room!  Generally, the fewer the people the more orderly things tend to be.

[ugarte]

I'm glad to hear that everything went as well as can reasonably be expected.  It seemed fairly orderly, non-violent, and there was a good dedication-to-success ratio.

That said, if Dodger 916 (many of whose posts were useful and informative) is not a shill for the athletic department, he should apply for a job.

[dodger916]

I can see where it might appear that I'm a shill.  I'm trying to be factual and objective, recognizing that until we've walked in someone's shoes, "uneducated" judgments tend to detract form the quality of the conversation.

Ultimately, the results are what matter most, not conjecture or opinions.  It appears from most accounts that the sale was successful and went very smoothly.  Even the Daily Sun had a difficult time criticizing, something they are VERY inclined to do.  Sure, it's not perfect, but this event is a moving target.  Each year it changes.  Last year it was clear they were ill-prepared at the beginning of the event.  This year they incorporated what they learned from last year's mess, and the result was an improvement.  They also took steps to improve the "event" aspect, like no line checks during the soccer game, live entertainment, and $5 commemorative t-shirts.  These are positives, and indicate a desire for improvement.  And, I'll bet they will learn from this year's shortcomings and improve it next year.  To me, the question becomes how well did the administrators adapt to the unexpected.  From most accounts, it appears they did a good job of that, especially on Friday night.  They deserve credit for that, and most postings here reflect that.  The vote also reflects that.

Hey, if being objective makes me a shill, so be it!