Section B · Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Instill Jayhawk pride give good seats to real fans
O okay, hotshot, think you know all there is to know about Kansas basketball? Let's take a quick quiz:
Which of the following is not a Kansas basketball tradition?
a. Singing the Rock Chalk Chant after every trouncing
b. Camping out with your friends for seats
c. Packing the stadium for Late Night d. Leaving early
If you didn't choose D, it probably means you can get to Allen Fieldhouse five minutes before the game begins. All too many times during this season, and in years past, the student section remains filled until the bitter end, regardless of the outcome, while the rest of the fieldhouse files out early.
This tradition needs to stop.
Many students spend hour after hour waiting in line, anticipating a glimpse of the perennial powerhouse Jayhawks. We may not be able to help the Jayhawks' free throw situation, but we do everything else we possibly can.
We dress the part. We make signs. We jump up and down. Yet some students end up sitting so far back, they have to place one pair of binoculars in front of another to catch the action. But they stay the whole time.
The rest of the fieldhouse seldom stands or participates as Kansas fans should. The wide age range of these sections makes most of the fans' participation understandable — a 70-year-old tossing his wife into the air to the band's rhythm really is not a good idea.
In spite of this, why leave early? Does the cradle of basketball deserve fans who need to beat the rush home? If that is your reason, give your tickets to people who will donate their full evening to the Jayhawks. Regardless of the score, the traditions of this game and program deserve more than they are being given.
In Durham, N.C., Duke gives its students seats all the way around the court. It is apparent that, though honoring its alumni, the school gives the students the seating privilege because it is a school program.
They dress the part. They make signs. They jump up and down. They stay the whole time.
Three hundred sixty degrees of noise and pride.
So what is missing here? We have the pride and noise, but in the wrong sections. The oddly-shaped student sections cheer on each free-throw; the alumni sit on their wallets. The students hug and sway to the alma mater; the alumni reach the front of the funnel cake line. The Rock Chalk chant begins, and so does a mass exodus to the stairwells.
It is overwhelmingly evident that
while, generally speaking, the majority of the fieldhouse "fans" support the team and program financially, their vocal and visual support makes the game look like it is being held in a geriatric center. There is clearly a misplacement of fans.
It is time to give seating priority to the students. They are the most vocal and visual supporters. As long as the team is a University product, the atmosphere should be largely collegiate.
One idea that should be considered includes taking the number of seats allotted to students, and stretching them at least one length of the court. Leaving the other length open would satisfy the demands of nonstudents, while giving those who stay the entire game some much-deserved credit.
Coach Williams recruits the top prospects to come play at the birthplace of the game, year after year. That quality product is regularly and largely underappreciated. So the next time some of the blue hairs or "wine and cheesers" decide to get up off their checkbooks with four minutes to go against Prairie View A&M, remind them that their ticket is a valuable possession.
Jayhawk basketball has greatly improved the quality of life in Lawrence, as well as instilled in the University a tremendous sense of pride. Plenty would love to have their seat for those four minutes. Plenty others deserve it.
Now, about those free throws
Tatar is a Highland Park, Ill., senior in music education.
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