[Cracked Sidewalks] Update: You are to blame

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Update: You are to blame

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (mu_hilltopper)

Ok, Tuesday I wrote that I thought MU made a bad decision on adding UW to the 5-pack slate because in the end, Badger fans will buy the package, profit from selling the other 4 games and essentially go to the biggest game of the year for free.

That got Marquette's attention, and I've swapped many emails with the Athletic Department about the issue. The MU/UW game never went on sale to groups, nor individually to the public.

While it is still true a number of Badger fans get their tickets through 5-Packs, MU believes most of the trouble is the Season Ticket Holders themselves.

See, in 2006 each Season Ticket Holder got to buy 10 extra tickets, all in the upper bowl. With where the red invaders were sitting, Marquette contends that the majority of the problem rests with the Season Ticket Holders selling their tickets to our hated rivals.

Additionally, about a fourth of the lower bowl was red, which means Season Ticket Holders are giving their own seats up.

I am dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. Astonished. Horrified.

So I am writing to you, my fellow Season Ticket Holders. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?

For a couple seats, you drop around $1,500 each year, schlep to the Bradley Center in the cold and snow 20 some times. You wait two years for this day, the biggest game of the year in the whole state, and give up your seat to our most hated rival? HAVE YOU NO SOUL?

As for the uppers you are apparently selling .. again. Have you no loyalty? Have you no Marquette friends? I know it's a down economy, but come on. You need money that bad? That you'd sell out your own team?

YOU were the reason we lost in 2006. It wasn't Tim Higgins or Ed Hightower who screwed us. IT WAS YOU. It was the 6k-7k Badger fans YOU let in that screwed up our home court ju-ju. You're like the guy who buzzes the burglar in to the apartment complex.

In 2006, I bought my 10 tickets for Warrior friends, and told them days before: No gold, no ticket on game day.

So this year, take the Cracked Sidewalks Pledge: I WILL FIND 10 MARQUETTE FANS TO GO TO THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR. I WILL NOT SELL OUT MY TEAM.

Oh, and I promise you this. Ever go to FandAFanPhotos.com? We'll be sure to compare some before/after shots and publicly shame lower bowl offenders. (Especially guys named Larry.)

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/07/update-you-are-to-blame.html

[Blackhat]

I took my old man to the UW/MU game in '04 and I told him if he wants to wear red that's fine but he'll have to wait outside in the cold till the games over.  And I was dead serious I would have left him and picked up a chick from a local bar or something.    I think he wore green. 

[bilsu]

I have an agreement with a relative that works for UW. I get him tickets here and he gets me tickets at UW. I thoroughly enjoy the win at the Kohl Center last year. There were several people that were wearing gold at the Kohl Center. It goes both ways. Quit whining, anybody has a right to go to a game.

[Sir Lawrence]

I bought five upper bowl tickets last time the evil empire was in town.  All, plus three of my four season seats went to gold and blue wearing, died in the wool, MU fans.  To please your ju ju god, I'll buy ten or whatever maximum is alloted to me this year, and give them to MU students or whomever I know is a fan, but I'll be damned if I'm not inviting my partner, and he will be wearing red.  Look for the guy with a look of disgust on his face as we hand their asses to them. 

Can I come out of the garage now?  The one with the dormers?   

[Blackhat]

I bought five upper bowl tickets last time the evil empire was in town.  All, plus three of my four season seats went to gold and blue wearing, died in the wool, MU fans.  To please your ju ju god, I'll buy ten or whatever maximum is alloted to me this year, and give them to MU students or whomever I know is a fan, but I'll be damned if I'm not inviting my partner, and he will be wearing red.  Look for the guy with a look of disgust on his face as we hand their asses to them. 

Can I come out of the garage now?  The one with the dormers?   

Tell your life partner that for one night red is unacceptable.  Why is it so hard telling your friend to wear a nuetral to the game.  I know I've had to do that before. 

[Sir Lawrence]

Tell your life partner that for one night red is unacceptable.  Why is it so hard telling your friend to wear a nuetral to the game.  I know I've had to do that before. 

Life partner?  I'm talking business partner.  He'll wear neutral the day I wear neutral in Madison.   Never.

[Blackhat]

Life partner?  I'm talking business partner.  He'll wear neutral the day I wear neutral in Madison.   Never.

I'd rather not watch the game in Madison then allow someone into our house wearing the opposition's colors.  That's crazy to me and I've got family that work for UW.   If he's just your business partner then there's no excuse; it's time to nut up and lay down the law to your buddy.   Unless he's the brains behind your business.   

[mu03eng]

I'd rather not watch the game in Madison then allow someone into our house wearing the opposition's colors.  That's crazy to me and I've got family that work for UW.   If he's just your business partner then there's no excuse; it's time to nut up and lay down the law to your buddy.   Unless he's the brains behind your business.   

See I just think thats insane.  My by then wife will be coming to the game with me and she will be wearing red.  I'm not willing to pick that fight, I'd never win.  I will limit the badger people I bring in to her, but to be this ironclad is insane.

[Blackhat]

To each his own I guess.   We really are our own problem then.   No need to blame 5 packs. 

[mu_hilltopper]

I'll be damned if I'm not inviting my partner, and he will be wearing red. 

Can I come out of the garage now?  The one with the dormers?   

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  

Oh, and I hear your brother is moving to Tosa to run for Alderman so you have to kiss that garage good bye.

---

I still blame 5-packs, am still against putting UW in that group.    You know what?  Make it a 10 pack, put the UW game in there.  THAT would be a killer for UW fans to dispense with 9 other tickets.

[ToddPacker]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  

Oh, and I hear your brother is moving to Tosa to run for Alderman so you have to kiss that garage good bye.

---

I still blame 5-packs, am still against putting UW in that group.    You know what?  Make it a 10 pack, put the UW game in there.  THAT would be a killer for UW fans to dispense with 9 other tickets.

Brilliant idea.  Let's make it really, really difficult for all of the MU alums who want to purchase tickets to the game too!  Believe it or now, there are many, many MU fans who live out of state or simply cannot afford to purchase season tickets, but they would still like to go to some games including one of the biggest on the schedule.  By making it a 10 pack, you not only are making it tough on Badger fans, but you are also making it tough on MU fans. 

[jce]

I'd rather not watch the game in Madison then allow someone into our house wearing the opposition's colors.  That's crazy to me and I've got family that work for UW.   If he's just your business partner then there's no excuse; it's time to nut up and lay down the law to your buddy.   Unless he's the brains behind your business.   

Are you kidding?  Its just a basketball game.  We sound like a bunch of small town idiots in this thread.  Do you think UW fans obsess like this about the "opposition's colors?"

[Sir Lawrence]

Are you kidding?  Its just a basketball game.  We sound like a bunch of small town idiots in this thread.  Do you think UW fans obsess like this about the "opposition's colors?"

Um, actually they start the "a-hole" chant if they see opposing colors.  But, truth be told, it's rare for opposing colors to be seen at the Kohl Center, since the grateful (puke) red sell out every game. 

[MilwaukeeSportsFan]

Selling the other four games for a profit and going to the UW game free assumption is invalid.

The excess supply of tickets for the 4 so-so games will far outweigh the demand.  As a result, ticket prices for the resale of those games will be very low.

Say a Bucky fan pays $125 for a ticket package ($25 per ticket).  He or she could resell the WVU ticket for about $10 and the other three games for about $5 each.  The way I see it, he or she will be paying $25 in the aggregate for the WVU, Seton Hall, DePaul, and Cincy games and $100 for the UW game.

If you were to buy this five pack and sell it off in pieces, you'd be very dependent on the UW game going for over $100 to make a profit.

Likely, the other games will have so little value UW fans will either go or give the tickets to MU fans... either way, MU will probably have added support for conference opponents.

[mu_hilltopper]

Brilliant idea.  Let's make it really, really difficult for all of the MU alums who want to purchase tickets to the game too!  Believe it or now, there are many, many MU fans who live out of state or simply cannot afford to purchase season tickets, but they would still like to go to some games including one of the biggest on the schedule.  By making it a 10 pack, you not only are making it tough on Badger fans, but you are also making it tough on MU fans. 

.. Sorry, I should have been more specific.  Offer a 5-pack.  Hell, offer two of them.   Just no UW game in the 5 packs.    Then, also offer a 10 pack, with the UW game.

My intention is not to make it harder for other alums to get to games.  I understand the need for 5 packs.  The UW game is a special one, no doubt, and no system would be perfect. 

[77ncaachamps]

TAKE ME!

But you're going to also have to cover my airfare and hotel expenses.

[TJ]

my friend, an mu fan/alum, came to the game in 2006 dressed in a red fleece.  He hadn't even thought about it.

[jce]

Um, actually they start the "a-hole" chant if they see opposing colors.  But, truth be told, it's rare for opposing colors to be seen at the Kohl Center, since the grateful (puke) red sell out every game. 

In the student section yes...but not in the rest of the place.  I have a friend with season tickets at the Kohl and I wear my gold everytime he takes me regardless of who they are playing, and I have never gotten a single bad word.  Some ribbing, yes....I am the "Marquette Guy"...but my friend has never told me *not* to wear it.

[warriormom]

See I just think thats insane.  My by then wife will be coming to the game with me and she will be wearing red.  I'm not willing to pick that fight, I'd never win.  I will limit the badger people I bring in to her, but to be this ironclad is insane.

I would never marry a Badger fan in the first place.

[bilsu]

What they should do is raise the ticket price for the UW game. What is happening at UW (and at other univeristies) is the big donors who have first crack at buying away game tickets in football are buying them and selling them on ticket sites for profit. I do not have a problem with someone buying a ticket to go to a game. What I have a problem with is people who have first crack buying the tickets and reselling them for more than face. Since there is great demand for UW tickets, MU should raise the price of single game tickets for UW.

[bilsu]

I would never marry a Badger fan in the first place.

Opposites attract

[MUCrew]

Opposites attract

....definitely according to Paula Abdul.  Bless her heart.  :-p

[MUfan12]

I would never marry a Badger fan in the first place.

A ring a ding ding! Game, set, and match 

[mu03eng]

I would never marry a Badger fan in the first place.

Hey I can't pick who is actually willing to marry me....you could make the argument that a badger fan is the only one mentally damaged enough to do so.

[1990Warrior]

I would be interested to see some pictures of the crowd from one of these games.  I haven't been to a game since 91 and I do not think it was a bad problem back then.