September 8th, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
It was terrible.
I got there about an hour and a 15 minutes early and stood in line to get my little section 26 piece of paper. That wasn't too bad, but it was about to get ridiculous.
We got over to the entrance to our section and it all went to hell. Something was going on and the line wasn't moving at all. We stood outside of section 26 for about 35-40 minutes in a giant unorganized mass. Eventually the line started moving but even then it was a mess. Ended up getting into our seats eventually, but it started the game experience out on a really sour note.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^
Did you end up getting a blank row ticket? The log jam was created because ushers were escorting each person to a seat number and handing them a row ticket. It wouldn't surprise me if they just gave up on that terrible idea.
September 8th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
Nope, I didn't get in until they eventually just said screw it and let us sit wherever.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^
I'd like to say that as a student...most students I know dont complain as much as the ones here (alright I'll just say it, they arent as bitchey). Of course being in that line isnt as fun as pregaming like before, but its not like you are just sitting looking at the floor. There's free food, phone charging stations, water and toilets. Theres a big ass tv to watch the early games and obviously you can bring in drinks (ooohh ahhhhh) and other stuff like that to make the time go by! Shit there's other humans too, talk to em. I got there around 10am and that time flew pretty quick.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
i hate to break it to you, but your idea of fun and 99% of michigan students' idea of fun aren't the same. at all.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
I was one of the ones who waited in line all day. I got to the stadium at 11 AM, waited for 5 hours outside the stadium until 4 PM. Then I waited another hour in the chutes waiting to enter the stadium. The waiting obviously wasn't fun, but I had no issues with it, I knew what I was getting into, so I have no complaints about that.
Once it hit 5 though, and they started letting people into the stadium, it was a fucking shit show.
Basically they now give every student in the first 22 rows a ticket saying what section and row they're in, and they have to show it to event staff to get back to their seat if they leave it at any point.
Instead of giving these out during the hour we were waiting in the chutes so the people who were waiting the longest and at the front got the first rows, they gave them out at the seats themselves.
So once they started letting people into the stadium, it became a madhouse and everyone just started sprinting towards their sections. It was a fucking mess, and we're lucky no one got trammpled and hurt. It also made it so people who got there at 7AM ended up in like the 5th row while people who got there at noon got the 1st. That was fucking bullshit and it needs to be changed,
On a seperate note, like I said I got there at 11, and I'm also greek life, so a big fuck you to all the anti-greek assholes out there.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 1:06 PM ^
Besides, everyone knows Socrates loved him some cheap beer and was known to go around Athens wearing a structured ball cap sideways at all times ;)
(PS just to be clear I have nothing against fraternities/sororities and those in them. Even considered pledging at one point. Some of them just take themselves a bit too seriously at times - lighten up and have fun)
September 8th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 1:31 PM ^
But then a guy goes 8 hours early for a night game and you still make fun of him. Grow up.
September 8th, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
I got there at 10:45 AM and got into the front row after 6 hours of waiting in line (worth it, though I would only do this for big games). I agree that it would have made more sense if they handed out the section cards in the chutes rather than at the seats themselves to prevent the mad bull rush.
The new GA system is flawed, but I much prefer it to arriving two hours before kickoff to sit in the front row, only to get kicked out of my seat half-way through the first quarter by some students who just finished pre-gaming.
September 8th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
Side note: for those who believe GA is a resounding success, UTL I had on-time, frenzied students as did the '11 Ohio Stare game.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 12:24 PM ^
Sure, but that's not really the problem. The problem was all the other games, particularly the noon ones, where the student section was half full by the end of the first quarter.Side note: for those who believe GA is a resounding success, UTL I had on-time, frenzied students as did the '11 Ohio Stare game.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^
Yeah no kidding. For all the talk about GA, these past two games haven't been the real tests.
Everyone was gonna show up for UTL2, and the Opener is always full. We don't have that many Noon games, but Akron, IU, and maybe even Minny could be not full sections
September 8th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
Hour and a half early. Really fast getting into the stadium (scanning tickets), but going from there to your seat required wading through an enormous log jam that I had never experienced before at Michigan Stadium. Difficult to tell where the line for one section ended and another began, so much line cutting that the lines past a certain point weren't moving. Not really sure (again, because tough to tell where the lines were), but I think I probably cut about half of the line to get into section 27. Ended up just about as high up as possible, but all I care about is getting into section 26 or 27 (so I was happy). Took a LONG time to clear room for emergency vehicles because of the crowd in the way, feel like that was kind of dangerous.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
I mean, this is what pregaming for a college football game should be all about:
Nothing says Michigan Football like tailgating on a griddle made on some Diet Dew cans with a homemade spatula. And I'm assuming these are the same kids who were cooking hot dogs one at a time over a sterno can last week. Points for creativity, ingenuity, and all that, but still...
September 8th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
I feel slightly horrible, but whenever I see pictures of kids like this, or of other people waiting around for 8 hours, this is all that comes to mind.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
GA yesterday was a complete disaster. The problem is that once the section begins to really fiill up, people entering don't know where the empty spaces are, and the ushers don't help one bit. This resulted in people jam-packed all the way down the staircases, which is a major public safety issue. It took me nearly 30 minutes to make my way to the bathroom, and when I got back, my seat was gone.
I don't see why they can't just do GA for the games where people aren't going to show up on time and assign seats for the big games. We don't need GA for UTLII. We need it for games like Central Michigan.
September 8th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^
Everyone that is unhappy, I highly suggest tweeting at hunter lochmann at kickoff. I'll take a page out of the ad's book and use #GASucks
September 8th, 2013 at 12:43 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
September 8th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
It wasn't that bad last week, but I think they're still figuring out this whole GA thing and how to go about it. This time around they admitted us row by row, seat by seat. You couldn't just sit wherever. It took absolutely forever.
September 8th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
That would be problem solved, at least for my biggest pain point of yesterday.
September 8th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
It was a fucking disaster. Making students file in one by one until each seat of a row was full was dangerous and a massive waste of time.
Fuck every non-student who says suck it up. You haven't had to go through the asinine process.
September 8th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
I was sitting in section 32, non student seating, but above where the students come in. An hour before game time, it was a nightmare....it took forever to get in and out. Seemed like they were ushering students to their seats row by row, a painfully slow process.
At $260 for the ticket, this cannot continue in the future.
September 8th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^
I'm for the most part pretty ambivalent about the GA change as even though I'm a senior, I'm a UM-Flint Senior so I'm commuting in and out anyway.
What bothered me about the whole thing was how meticulous they were in planning the "outside" part of the GA and how half-assed the "inside" part was. They set up this huge winding queue to get wristbands, which I didn't have to be in because I showed up at 6 PM. I was given a red slip for Section 26. Things were orderly and fine.
Once inside, things were not orderly and fine. If they're going to hand you a ticket for a section, there should be queues and barriers set up to make the flow of traffic better getting into the section itself. Section 26's pile of people actually converged upon lines for both concession stands around the entrance, making it confusing as to whether we were in line for hot dogs or our section. A mass of people crushing against the entryway while ushers do whatever they're doing (Standing around? Not letting people in at all?) and State Policemen glare and shout at us is not a safe environment. There was a girl barely pushing 5 feet tall in front of me in the mass that I was legitimately worried for. People were shoving on me as if I was just not moving fast enough. I'm sure I wasn't the only one like that.
Our "line", for lack of a better term, finally started moving at about 7:05. We were basically led to believe, as there was nothing even resembling an informational process, that they weren't letting anyone in until then. People who did not have section 26 tickets were allowed to stand in the wrong mass of people until they got into the bowl before they were turned away, which made traffic flow much worse. If someone, anyone, had been giving us information, I think things would have gone smoother. They had MSP officers there who essentially just yelled at the crowd to "shut your mouth." That's not particularly informational.
I was pleased with the freedom to choose which section I was in, and I was happy to end up on the 5 yard line. I was not pleased with the seeming lack of planning and forethought to the second half of the logitics of getting students in. The ushers were essentially forced to be exceedingly hostile, which damages relations for every game, not just the ones where things are stressful. The easiest fix for this is to simply put someone out there with a bullhorn giving out information on the wait time, and the second easiest fix is to set up a real "line" that each section queues in to reduce the danger of a stampede or crush.
September 8th, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^
I got there about two hours early and the line to get into section 26 was horrible. It kept wrapping around on itself and the 2 middle aged women there that were supposed to keep everyone from cutting did NOTHING. We had to hear it from them as people just walked by and cut in line. Eventually everyone had too much (even my group and others that were tying to wait in line) and it became a mob free for all to get into the secition opening. Packed in there like sardines, shoulder to shoulder, no free movement. They are lucky someone didn't get hurt (though paramedics did try to get to someone a little bit back). We were like this for a good 45 minutes, at least.
Some of it was funny though, like all of the movie quotes people were yelling (Braveheart stuff, "Hold your ranks!") etc as pushing ensued. One kid was jokingly yelling "Everyone forward on 3. 1. 2. 3!"... but then literally everyone pushed forward anyway haha. Mob mentatlity. Drunk people. Whow knows, but it was pretty crazy.
To end it all I had like row 60ish seats which pisses me off because I'm a Sr... should be way higher up. That was heard from a lot of the seniors around me. A "Fuck Dave Brandon" chant started a couple times, and he was booed as he was mentioned pre game.
September 8th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
I agree with TheGhostofChappius. GA wasn't needed in 2011 for ND and OSU. It was needed last year because we had a much worse home schedule. They should nix the GA until the Nebraska game.