News from the front… worst line ever

[ORgrad]

You folks joining me in section B should start doing your hockey cheer homework.

By far the worst line in my 3 years here, and that’s coming from grad line #23 (roughly undergrad #200).  How can 1300 pushing students be expected to squeeze through a single door at Lynah?  What about all those fools pushing from the right who didn’t know there was a railing between them and the door?  I saw numerous women fall down/get trampled/ twist their ankles.  Some gave up halfway to the door -- either due to injuries, asthma/panic attacks or claustrophobia -- and tearfully screamed their way out the opposite direction of the chaotic mass.

The police directing traffic were good for preventing the car-vs.-pedestrian accidents intimated by last year’s procedure.  However, the security manpower was clearly needed at the front.  If you weren’t there, just picture a few hundred students crammed on the stairway leading up to the main doors outside of section A.

Afterwards (~45 minutes after the initial announcement) the police were re-deployed to front of Lynah where they were needed all along.  But mass chaos was still in effect and it was hard for a handful of shoving officers to try to squeeze the remaining students on the steps into some semblance of a line.  Clearly these were the people right at the borderline of receiving tickets and many were frustrated by the sudden changes in (shoving) procedure that the officers brought with them.

Grad students with line numbers around 100 were screwed the worst, as in all the chaos some representative from the athletic department decided an hour into it that they should be in an entirely different line (duh) and so those that actually made it into Lynah later found out that late arriving grads had leapfrogged them by way of the ‘new’ grad line forming by the ticket window.

Heard lots of chants along the way, lots of comments about Gene Nighman’s family.  I certainly think it’s time for one of the injured students to step forward and sue the Athletic Department for negligence.  Maybe then they will finally feel some pressure to get rid of some of the gratuitous leniency shown alumni Nighman (who is consistently cursed every year but usually survives the process because the students who firsthandedly observe the chaos end up with tickets and are content to hold onto them rather than risk some backhanded revocation of tickets for calling upon him to resign).  Whether you ended up with a number or not, start writing those letters to the Cornell Daily Sun, even if we can’t get Mr. Nighman fired, it will definitely make for a good read throughout the week.

Mr. Nighman, if you’re reading this and want to have a roundtable session with eLynah faithful about what a better procedure might look like (especially one with a goal of minimizing injuries), you know where to reach us.

[Beeeej]

Re: Roundtable discussion:

Been there, done that.  1991.  How do you like the results?

Beeeej

[jaybert]

i smell like the bushes out front after getting pushed into them for 20 minutes before the line began to move

[ORgrad]

We don't blame YOU Beej.  Here's a start: how about no season tickets for freshmen (the hockey diehard freshmen will get tickets somehow, I didn't have season tickets my first year in Ithaca and still managed to get to most games).

[Beeeej]

Oh, I didn't think you blamed me.  I just didn't want you getting your hopes up that having a representative of Athletics sitting down and "listening" to people who had constructive suggestions would actually result in any positive changes.

It really is astonishing how every year they completely forget every lesson they possibly could have learned from previous years.

Beeeej

[French Rage]

This year's ticket line killed my father, and raped my mother. :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/

[bjybjy]

[Q]French Rage Wrote:

 This year's ticket line killed my father, and raped my mother.      [/q]

I don't think the girl that had the ambulance called for her would find this very funny. And neither do I.

[French Rage]

[Q]bjybjy Wrote:

 [Q2]French Rage Wrote:

 This year's ticket line killed my father, and raped my mother.      [/Q]
I don't think the girl that had the ambulance called for her would find this very funny. And neither do I.[/q]

No, but perhaps people who don't have a stick up their ass and get the reference do. ::rolleyes::

[mtmack25]

Is a sad attempt at humor really that important to you? You don't need be insulting. Someone actually got hurt at an event that is supposed to lead to a lot of fun for everyone.  I think bjybjy has a good point.  

[canuck25]

I agree, this definitely does not call for humor.  Someone at athletics (Gene) should have to answer for all this!

[MB]

I was there in under 1 minute, and still got number 1276.  This was the absolute worst idea ever.  There's no way to do a smart crowd control IN A BUILDING.  Nightman should have known that at least 1/4 of the campus will be in one place tonight.  You need a big open field for those kinds of numbers if you're going to do it this way.

But what about this girl?  I was in a massive clump of confusion, so I have no idea what happened.  Can anybody elaborate?  

[bjybjy]

[Q]MB Wrote:



But what about this girl?  I was in a massive clump of confusion, so I have no idea what happened.  Can anybody elaborate?  [/q]

I don't know exact details but I was just a few feet away. Basically the cops were physically forcing people back from the front, but the middle and back of the line didn't know. I guess the girl was in the middle and got pushed against. When I first saw her she was on the ground sprawled out. Dunno if she actually got trampled or not. One guy near me said her arm was all bloody, but I couldn't see in the dark. EMS 'ambulance' SUV was called and were treating her for awile and were still with her when we left.

Hope she is ok...

[Molgestron]

I wasn't aware that anybody required really serious attention. When we left, there were a handful of people on the curb being treated by EMS for what looked like cuts- one of them might have been the girl you're talking about. It didn't look extremely serious but it's certainly worse than nothing. Of the 15 people I was with, almost everyone had small cuts or bruises. One small girl hurt her back and another said she had almost fainted from being crowded in.

Not good news, and hopefully this girl had something minor.

[TCHL8842]

[Q]ORgrad Wrote:

Mr. Nighman, if you’re reading this and want to have a roundtable session with eLynah faithful about what a better procedure might look like (especially one with a goal of minimizing injuries), you know where to reach us.

[/q]

I will be all four a roundtable discussion.  If we do this I think us faithful just think of new ideas for the line since I dont think they will ever have the line at this time again because of the threat that students will miss school.  But seriously there has to be a better way then 2000 ppl standing around center campus waiting for an announcement and then creating a huge mob because of the sheer number of ppl.

[Joe T]

One of my friends got shoved into the pavement about 50 yards from Lynah by some ass.  All of the skin on one of his knees is gone.  He got better tickets than I did, though.  I feel bad that he has to block with me around 500 numbers behind where he was.