Last week, I decided that, for the first and only time this season, I would attend a Rutgers football game as a fan.
The only problem was that I decided this at about 12:20 a.m. last Wednesday, roughly 21 minutes after the deadline to sign up for tickets to the South Florida game. I assumed that the demand would outweigh the supply and there would be a student ticket lottery - after all, it's against a Top 10 team (this week, USF is ranked No. 2 in the BCS) and is on national television. Also, the lovely Erin Andrews will be roaming the sidelines for ESPN - why wouldn't the game be sold out?
I still have no idea. But, on Sunday night, a full 13 days after tickets became available, I was able to register for and receive a ticket - no hassle, no lottery, no problem.
This, simply put, is embarrassing. While all of the student tickets have now been claimed - according to Rutgers Sports Marketing, the student tickets were gone by Monday night - it took a full two weeks. Fourteen days. The biggest game of the year, in primetime, in front of a national television audience, with Erin Andrews on the sideline, took two weeks to sell out.
Near the end of the last season, with the addition of the endzone bleachers, there were 10,500 student seats available at Rutgers Stadium. This year, that number has been cut down somewhat, as the student section now begins at section 109, rather than 107. Rutgers Sports Marketing didn't give an exact number, so let's say there are roughly 9,000 student tickets available for every game.
In contrast, Penn State football offers season tickets to its students. This year, there were 21,000 available.
They sold out. In 59 minutes.
It took Penn State 59 minutes to sell an entire season's worth of student tickets. And Rutgers students didn't gobble up less than half of that number in two weeks? For one game?
Although it's simply ridiculous that a game against an opponent ranked in the top five on a Thursday night in front of a national television took two weeks to sell out, I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you have something better do on a Thursday night.
What could you possibly be doing? Why did it take two weeks for this game to sell out? Here's a list of things that you could do instead of attending the game tonight:
Enjoy a delicious meal at Brower Commons. Since the dining hall closes at 9 p.m., and takeout closes at midnight, you might not be able to eat if you can't stand Rutgers Stadium food. So, skip the game and enjoy the fine cuisine at Brower or at one of the other fine dining halls spread around this campus. Hey, I hear Thursday night is sub night at Brower, so why wait till Monday?
Sit around in your room, take shots of vodka out of a plastic bottle and pray that your preceptor doesn't catch you. Now, while most students do this before the game, you could instead choose to do this during the game. Besides, watching the game on TV is much better than being there anyway. I mean, why would you want to go to the game when you can watch it on TV? It's only the No. 2 team in the nation, coming into what is supposed to be YOUR stadium. Sit back, watch the game on TV, and enjoy the coziness of your dorm room.
Study for that midterm coming up in two weeks. You've only got two weeks until the midterm for your psychology 101 class, so it's important that you skip this silly football game and study. I hear it's going to be extremely difficult, with 50 multiple-choice questions. So, pop open those books.
Watch as the New Jersey Devils take on the Philadelphia Flyers in exciting early season NHL action. Eric Lindros and Rod Brind'Amour will be looking for revenge against Claude Lemieux, Ken Daneyko and the rest of the Devils after New Jersey took down the Flyers in last year's Eastern Conference Finals. That happened last year, right? Or maybe that was just the last time I watched hockey. Regardless, regular season NHL hockey is much more exciting than your college football team taking on an undefeated, second-ranked South Florida team. So you might want to sit this one out, turn your TV to whatever obscure channel hockey can be found on these days.
Watch videos of Erin Andrews on YouTube. Sarcasm aside, I can't fault you for this. Who among us hasn't spent many a night doing this?
For those of you going to the game tonight, I applaud your will power.
I mean, why would you support this team? They're not undefeated, and ESPN doesn't talk about them as much as last year, so they're not worth your attention. There are much better things to do with your Thursday night.
