OT: Auburn students working hard to keep Bama fans out of the stadium
http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1r1day/auburn_ticket_exchange_is_getting_wild_in_prep/
Auburn fans do NOT want Alabama fans getting hold of student tickets, and are taking some pretty hilarious steps to do so.
The Auburn Ticket Exchange is a facebook group for Auburn students to negotiate ticket prices, buy and sell, etc. Tickets go on a student's "ignited card," which is swiped at the gate (although anyone can use anyone's card) for entry. Buying a ticket from a student (if you're not a student) involves borrowing their ignited card (for a deposit on the card). Anyways, moving on from that.
it's getting real up in the ticket exchange.
In response to Alabama students attempting to join the group and/or messaging members of the group, the group is now "closed."
Anyone on any University of Alabama network was booted from the group, and this is checked daily.
The group quickly bans any member caught selling tickets on the Alabama Ticket Exchange... permanently. If they're not a senior, they're going to have a tough time ever selling a ticket again as a result.
Oh yes, it's Iron Bowl time, and the insanity has definitely already begun.
War damn?
Edit: Now the mods are deleting all posts not directly related to buying and selling tickets, so there's less posts about not selling bama fans tickets or complaining about how the mods are nazis, and less craziness on the timeline in general, but it's still happening.
November 20th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
I'm guessing they show up before the second quarter as well? And we wonder why the SEC is dominating the B1G...
November 20th, 2013 at 9:52 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 9:53 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
Oh, SPEND SPEND SPEND! That got us: Al Borges (3rd highest paid OC), Brady Hoke (8th highest paid HC), and the Million-Dollar man of Greg Mattison. Kirk Ferentz is the 6th highest paid coach... how is that working out? There needs to be a culture shirt where we start caring about wins and losses and not just our perceived image as "Michigan Men."
November 20th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
football is increasingly becomming its own seperate entity, distinct from the school in perception. So you have Alabama the school and Alabama the football team, and the football team is so unapologetically a business entity with distinct participants, goals and values from that of the school that students no longer feel an intrinsic connection to the footballl team. It is not just Bama, it is all over the country. College football has forged its own identity unrelated to being an "athetic representation" of a university, and the students are not vested in the outcome by way of their attendance at the school because the football program is very literally a different world that exists on and for ESPN and for the sponsors of the bowl games at the end of the season. That is what people are really saying about the problems with the gameday experience right now. College football is football that has nothing to do with college, and really not a whole lot to do with the average student.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:41 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
SEC assistants are among the most well compensated in the country. Spending is not the problem -- spending on the wrong people is. Otherwise I agree with your point.
November 20th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 12:48 PM ^
Look at UConn women's basketball. They used to sell out the student section, but they couldn't sell out because students became bored of them winning and blowing teams out especially against ranked teams. Of course, the drive to the arena is a bit far doesn't help as well.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
No, the big 10 needs *consistent* coaching. Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida can spend all the money they want for Bret Bielema, Butch Jones, and Muschamp. They all got terrible coaches, though.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
Bret Bielema did pretty damn well with Wisconsin. Douchebag? Yes but he's a good coach.
Tennessee -- I think the jury is still out on Butch Jones but he has some positives for a program that hasn't had much to cheer about for a few years.
Muschamp was touted at Mack Brown's successor until he got tired of waiting around. The defense is really good -- if they get some of their offensive woes figured out, they'll be fine.
Seriously, are they Nick Saban? No. But in no world are they terrible.
November 20th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
Waaaaaaaayyyyy too early to call Butch Jones a miss. This is his first year guy! Wtf?
November 20th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
The jury is still out on Jones. He inherited a program that was in a state of total disarray. He beat a ranked team this year (South Carolina), which is something Derek Dooley never did.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^
Bama has a big problem with students not showing up on time for games too. It's a general problem in college football, not a Michigan specific one.
November 20th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
I dont blame Bama fans. It is like the Red Wings fans during the latter part of their multi decade run - it was all about the playoffs and you've have some issues with attendance (despite "sellouts") and a lot of late arriving fans as the regular season was sort of just ho hum...wake me up in April.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
SEC student sections are struggling just like Michigan's. A quick Google search of 'SEC student section attendance' yields numerous articles about how down student section attendance is and such.
It's not unique to Michigan.
November 20th, 2013 at 5:51 PM ^
You guess wrong.
November 20th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^
Those mods, always meddling in the affairs of...wait...never mind.
For some reason, I see this particular iteration of the Auburn-Alabama rivalry devolving into Sylvester McMonkey McBean trying to sell Auburn fans the "War Damn Machine", which will implant a symbol on them so they can identify each other at the gates.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
Sylvester McMonkey McBean was a stone cold business assassin. Rumors are that Gordon Gekko was based loosely on his likeness and business prowess. +1E6 for referencing this raging business maniac. Made my morning.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
"I've heard of your troubles. I've heard you're unhappy. But I can fix that. I'm the Fix-It-Up Chappie. I've come here to help you. I have what you need. And my prices are low. And I work with great speed. And my work is one hundred per cent guaranteed!"
God bless Sylvester McMonkey Mcean
November 20th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
Time for a McBean Appreciation Thread?! Love that guy.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
Just when I thought the board had sank irretrivably into the abyss, LSAClassof2000 drops a Sneetches reference and reinforces my faith in the future.
November 20th, 2013 at 3:02 PM ^
Given Michigan's up and down season, a little medicine from the Dr. (Seuss) goes a long way.
Thanks LSA
November 20th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^
So when Auburn's stadium is 99% Orange, and The Big House is 33% Red, the nation will know what the best rivalry in college football is...
(Hint... it's not the one where the fans would rather make a few hundred bucks rather than help their team beat their rival)
November 20th, 2013 at 10:03 AM ^
Not even a "few hundred" bucks. It's a FEW bucks. They'd rather sell their tickets to an ohio fan for $175 than to UM fan for $150. I have seen the conversations on Facebook!
November 20th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
I hope you're writing their names down and submitting them to the proper authorities.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^
The problem is that the University has educated the alumni too well. We know a good deal when we see one.
November 20th, 2013 at 2:08 PM ^
Getting an extra 25 bucks in your pocket is a "good deal", when you're exchanging a Michigan fan for an OSU fan AT THE BIG HOUSE, then I wouldn't be bragging about your intelligence.
November 20th, 2013 at 2:53 PM ^
Not really. Depends on what you personally value more if you're looking at it subjectively and from a pure self interest stand point 25 more dollars is always better.
November 20th, 2013 at 4:40 PM ^
I'd have to side with DB and say that person isn't a "true fan".
November 20th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^
last year when they were 3-8 going into the game. Clearly, their rivalry is much better.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
Seconded. It's a bad comparison. If we looked like we had a good chance to beat an undefeated OSU team this year, we'd do the same thing.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^
We aren't 3-9 for God's sake. The hatred of Ohio should be enough to have fans attending.
November 20th, 2013 at 1:06 PM ^
I'll be honest, the guy I normally get tickets from (a former captain of a Rose Bowl winning U of M team), offered me his extra tickets for the OSU game for free this year. I'm taking them, but I honestly hesitated. I'm not sure I want to be there in person to see what most likely will transpire that day. I hate OSU so much that I'm not sure I can mentally handle the first hand viewing of a complete beatdown to them. Hopefully that won't be the case and I'll cheer my heart out to support the Wolverine cause, but I'm just being realistic.
November 20th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
"a former captain of a Rose Bowl winning U of M team"
Careful you don't out him. Given our RB record, there are only a couple of those guys out there that are still alive.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
How exactly are fans going to help the team win? Are we going to get out of the stands and block to keep Devin off his back?
November 20th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
You ever watch a Seahawks game, or see the Lions-Bears game in 2011 at Ford Field? Or ever hear of "Home field advantage" or "the 12th man" or "Common sense"?
November 20th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
It can provide an edge when the teams are more evenly matched but I do not believe that to to be the case here. Our offense has not shown it can produce much of anything. Our defense is pretty damn good but so is OSU's offense and when your defense is contantly given a short field after numerous three and outs, things start to go poorly -- you get tired out there. Urban Meyer will go for the kill -- he doesn't care if he's up by 17 or whatever -- he wants style points.
I think the comparison to Seattle or Ford Field (I was at that game) or even if you wanted to bring up TAMU is inalagous. There could be not a single Buckeye fan in the whole Big House and we'd still live up the reputation of the quietest crowd of over 100,000 people in existence.
November 20th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
If the home crowd did nothing to help teams win, no one would count how many home games there are or ever reference them as a positive thing. Don't be obtuse dude.
November 20th, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 10:57 AM ^
red is being generous to Michigan fans. The Nebraska game, that was 33% red. The typical crowd at the Big House for The Game for the last few has been more like 50-50. That is actually good for this year though because half of the crowd will be Ohio fans that are watching their team lose their undefeated season. (I just got a feeling alright, kind of like Crenshaw before the last day of the 99 Ryder Cup. I just feel good about it. The rivalry is due to be thrown off-kilter by an unforeseen occurance. I think this year is a very ripe upset year).
November 20th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 12:24 PM ^
to being 10-90
November 20th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
are selling their tickets? It's easy to focus on the kids, but a number of non-student commenters here at MGoBlog have stated that they're selling their OSU tickets as well.
I'd bet that a large percentage of those UM students and non-students who don't care who they sell their tix to as long as they get top dollar see themselves as ballsy young capitalist entrepreneurs and can't wait to brag about how much profit they made selling to those suckers from Ohio.
November 20th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
Students aren't the problem for us - at all.
The student section is as maize as ever. It's everyone else who is gutting us
November 20th, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
2011 was a lot different.
November 20th, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 11:46 AM ^
November 20th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
Agreed. If Dave Brandon does everything he can to maximize profit at the expense of the fans, the fans are probably going to turn around and do the same.