your suggestions

[nyc94]

OK, but I also got the impression that some people feel the Sun did something wrong last week.  Did they encourage cutting, lining up early, etc.?

[ugarte]

Jeff Hopkins '82 wrote:What a couple of assholes! If that's what the line is like these days, you guys are in serious trouble.
 

I agree, Jeff.  That article is the roughly analagous to the urban legend of the guys who robbed a house, leaving behind only a camera and the toothbrushes.  

They should have their tickets revoked for publicly bragging about cutting the line.

[jy3]

i agree with adding seats to lynah. might be costly but could the locker rooms be moved to under the stairs/under the walkway between lynah and the soccer fields? or is the syncotron too close - i figured i was deep underground. then build seats where the current scoreboard is and have it go all the way around. have a little opening where the zamboni comes in...

[Bjammin 03]

There's always tar and feathers. . .wait, no. ::nut::

[rhovorka]

Wow.  There used to be care and concern about "doing the right thing" and being nice to our own in the Lynah community.  Now, judging from the article, it's more of a "yeah, I did this...what are YOU gonna do about it, nerd?" attitude.  I used to have a bit of respect for the Sun writers, since I saw them often on roadtrips.  Now if I see them, I'm not gonna let them forget what pricks they were from this hockey line story.

[Will]

Rich H '96 wrote:

I used to have a bit of respect for the Sun writers, since I saw them often on roadtrips.  Now if I see them, I'm not gonna let them forget what pricks they were from this hockey line story.

Well, be fair.  As far as we know, only Mike Pandolfini and Jon Auerbach are guilty of this.  We don't have any direct proof of other Sun writers partaking in this.  At least, not yet.  Of course, one could reason that the editor(s) is/are pricks for printing the article as well.

[rhovorka]

One of the guys who got revenge on Volonnino wrote:

Well, be fair.  As far as we know, only Mike Pandolfini and Jon Auerbach are guilty of this.

True enough.  It's still seems to be a representative mindset of a larger percentage of the hockey line (and therefore the Lynah crowd) than I've been used to.

[Will]

Rich H '96 wrote:

True enough.  It's still seems to be a representative mindset of a larger percentage of the hockey line (and therefore the Lynah crowd) than I've been used to.

Then join us in wearing "Go back to Long Island, facetimer" shirts to the games this year. :-D

[Robb \'94]

John,

You're basically proposing the system that UVM uses, except that the tickets they pick up on Wednesdays are general admission, so they still have to get to the games ON TIME (what a concept) to get a good seat - sort of combining your idea with Keith's.  Also that way, you don't have to line up early on Wednesday - just pick up your tickets any time before close of business, and the lining-up doesn't occur until Friday (for unclaimed tickets and then to get into the rink).  

On the down side, during the Perrin/St. Louis years, the line for unclaimed tickets would start ~5 am on Friday.  Cornell certainly wouldn't want to have to police the line each home weekend, since they can't even figure out how to do a once-a-year line!  Still, I do like the idea.  There's no reason it would have to be general admission, either.  Your voucher could be for a particular seat, but you still have to show up on Wed to claim it.  That gives continuity for those who make it to all the games, while allowing Cornell to re-sell the unclaimed tickets, thus ensuring that all the seats are filled every weekend.

My only suggestion for Melissa's letter is to tell the athletic department to get off the students' backs, let them set their own priorities, and have an open line with and OFFICIAL LIST MAINTAINED BY ATHLETICS PERSONNEL WITH RANDOM LINE CHECKS.  If *they* maintain the list, there would be no need to provide security, because there would be no cutting - much cheaper than trying to police an undocumented line.

[Mike Pandolfini]

To all who read our article:

Please realize that we did not cut the line in any way, shape or form.  Jon and I both switched out with people who had taken our place hours beforehand.  The article was supposed to give a perspective on how ludicrous the whole pre-line line system was, and to make the Cornell administration understand that the system remains imperfect.  I have been a dedicated fan since 2001 when I matriculated, and was a proud member of the Lynah faithful last year.  So, on that note, don't blame our editors, as our article had nothing to do with the Sun directly (although they did remove some of the more hilarious but offensive parts).  Additionally, I'm not interested in any pornographic listservs.  Thanks and let's go Red.

Sincerely,
Mike Pandolfini '05

[cornelldavy]

[Q] I used to have a bit of respect for the Sun writers, since I saw them often on roadtrips. Now if I see them, I'm not gonna let them forget what pricks they were from this hockey line story. [/Q]

As a former Sun Assistant Sports Editor, I've followed the comments on this forum for a long time, but after seeing this, I feel compelled to defend the writers as a whole. I certainly am not condoning cutting at all, and I am neither happy nor proud to see our writers representing the Sports section the way they did.

However, I also would like to point out a few things. First, their narrative, disappointing as it may have been, could be used for good - namely, giving the ticket office a blow-by-blow example of what went wrong with the line procedure.
Also, a similar article was written last year about the ticket line experience in which the writers followed all the rules and ended up with their tickets. Speaking for myself, as a senior last year, I had a press box seat but still waited in line for tickets just because you can't cheer in the press box and there were some games where I wasn't going to deal with that restriction.
The Sun writers whom you are seeing on road trips are extremely dedicated. If I recall correctly, the only games last season at which the Sun was not represented were the North Country games over winter break and the game at Yale, due to Sun elections that day. I believe that they deserve your respect, as does the rest of the sports staff. If you're unhappy with the two writers who effectively admitted to cutting in line, then feel free to e-mail them or e-mail the Sports department (sports@cornelldailysun.com) and let them know about it. However, the Sun's Sports section not only provides the most coverage of Cornell hockey that I know of, it is also one of the best and most dedicated Sports sections in the Ivy League, and should be recognized as such.

-Alex Fineman '03

[Jon Auerbach]

Dear eLynah Forum members:

Let me respond to accusations concering the "line cutting" mentioned in my article today in the Daily Sun. I do not think that we "bragged" about cutting the line in the article at all. In fact, we already had people waiting on line and we simply switched places with them. When most people went home on Friday night, we were among the few who stayed over in the Ramin Room

I have had season tickets since I was a freshmen. Two years ago, we slept overnight in front of Bartels Hall. When the doors were opened early in the morning, we lost several hundred spots in line because we were not awake yet. While we did not have the best seats, we went to every game and were probably the loudest fans in section E. Mike in fact got kicked out of the 2002 Harvard game for cursing loudly at Harvard's Kenny Smith.

I have been to nearly every home game the past two years, and went to Buffalo for the Frozen Four in April. My mom camped out for tickets when she was a student at Cornell, so I already knew about the passion that Cornellians have for hockey before I even applied.

Don't accuse me of being a "facetimer" just because you think I "cut" the line. I don't appreciate being insulted and threatened.

I'm sorry if some of you didn't get tickets this season. Hopefully the Athletic Department will be able to remedy the situation before next year's line.

Sincerely,

Jon Auerbach '05

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

Let's see, the authors call anybody who tried to police the line "idiots" or "nerds".  They make fun of the methods used by people who are tired of cheaters and point out incidents where they get humiliated by the crowd.  I know that satire is often lost on the people being satirized, but even after re-reading the article, I still thought the message that the article was sending was "You have to be an idiot to be in the line."

Nowhere in the article did it say, "the system doesn't work"  or "Athletics need to fix this problem."  I'll bet the admin staff are having a good laugh over your piece.   I'm not sure they see what happened as a problem other than one of campus order.

If you want to get the message that the system is broken to the administration, I suggest an editorial, not a satire.

JH

[Mike Pandolfini]

First off, my reference to the "nerds" on line for 24 hours refer to MY GROUP on the line - The grand troupe of adventurers (or nerds with nothing better to do than sit on a hockey line for 24 hours) finally made its way into the Ramin Room in the late afternoon. After taking advantage of the large amount of space available because we had the early line numbers 50-54, we nearly incited several brouhahas when things...

The reference to someone being an "idiot" is referring to one of Jon's friends who was yelled at by said idiot despite being legitimately on the line.  

I'm not going to respond to the problems with this article all day.  They are many and easy to find.  You are wasting valuable time on a worthless article that had only the purpose of entertaining.

[LETS GO RED!]

As far as the people "policing" the line are concerned...they WERE idiots...

It was plain to see that the very people who were trying to "police" the line, were also the ones letting in friend after friend in the front of the line. The front of the line doubled in width after people succumbed to these guys' speeches. I noticed it, my friends noticed it, but what were we to do. They had already brainwashed most of the crowd. If there is one set of people to blame for everyone moving back about 150 spots in line from 2:00-4:00, its them.

(This is not to say that the athletic department is not the most to blame, just that these guys clearly had a plan.)

To me, it was refreshing to see someone finally make fun of them for their ridiculous speeches. I really wanted to respond on friday but I didn't want to start a riot.

Either way, I got section D when I probably should have had section B, but ticket purchasing is over, and I am looking forwared to a fun, exciting season at Lynah.

LETS GO RED!!!