University of Virginia Library

Playing Games

There have been several
suggestions for a more
equitable scheme, including
gathering the student body in
Scott Stadium and dropping
the tickets out of a 7 Society
plane, or having a contest
wherein students would submit
statements of twenty-five
words or less on the subject of
"Why I want to go to a varsity
basketball game more than
anything else." The answers
could be given to the English
Department for evaluation or
the language department if we
get rid of the requirement and
they need something to keep
them busy. We could have
separate categories for all of
the various foreign languages.
Of course there would be a
new question for each game
and we could get a mix of
education and sports.

On a serious note though,
the old system seems to be the
preferable one. Sure you
waited, but you got to see the
freshmen play as well as the
varsity, you were assured of
getting in if you arrived early
enough and you didn't have to
worry about being the 200th
person in line only to find out
that all 3,800 tickets were
taken up by the people in front
of you.

A frequent justification for
the new system, if it can be
called that, is that most of the
other schools in the ACC have
similar set-ups and have had
them for years. That argument
is conspicuously unpersuasive.
So what? Virginia has always
prided itself on its many
differences with other ACC
schools, why suddenly rely on
what they do as the standard
of excellence?

It would be unbelievably
satisfying to find out that we

still have an athletic program
that is geared to those who
compose the University
community—faculty and
students, and not a business
operation hiding under the
cloak of athletic respectability.
Maybe then, students at Duke,
UNC, and Maryland will say
that "All of the Virginia
students get to go to their
games," and for once someone
in the ACC will follow our lead
instead of the other way
around.

It's obvious that Mr.
Corrigan and the ticket people
will have to reconsider their
new plan. Hopefully they will
respond to the student body
and not the income statement
and reinstitute a policy
whereby those students who
want to see the Amazing
Cavaliers can. It has been a
long time since we had a
winner, how about giving us
the opportunity to see them
play?