The Nuisance That Is Basketball Tickets

Ok, so I realize it's going on three weeks since my last blog post. I also realize that I say that pretty much every time I get on here to actually write something down. I realize all of this, but calm your senses and listen to me for just a few sentences so I can try and explain myself.

College is time. Time is college. My good buddy Scott Westphal once said that to me, and when I gave him a queer look all he said was, "This is how college is to me. All the time in the world, yet no time in the world." I took that to heart because both the fact that I love the kid to death and he is absolutely right. When you're in college you are paying for your education (obviously), so you can decide what to do with your time because in a way you are paying for it. You can choose to go to class, utilize libraries and teaching assistants, and do everything you possibly can to better yourself while you are earning your degree. Or you can opt for the alternate of going to class whenever you feel like it, not doing any homework or entering a library and instead spend your time drinking with your friends and playing video games. I for one am opting for the former, and coupling my classes with the amount of time I am allotting to Club Basketball I have not had a whole lot of down time to write much. Even now as I sit here to tell you about the last three weeks of my life and a few of my opinions on certain things I feel as if I should be reading something and taking more notes or doing some sort of data analysis practice for my statistics class. But instead I'm taking a little personal time to be with my roommates and discuss living arrangements for next year (crazy right?) and to blog.

With that having been said, I think it is time to talk a little bit about the nuisance that is basketball tickets at The Ohio State University. Or any tickets for that matter. Now, whether you want to buy football or basketball tickets at OSU you must do it online and depending on what time you get on (sometimes) to the website that sells the tickets you may not get what you want. Before I get into the situation from two Saturdays ago I just want to say that I am sorry to all of the die hard fans who did not get the basketball tickets they wanted or simply did not get any at all. And if you are looking to not get upset by my writing I suggest you to stop right now.

Ok, so like I said the time slot for buying basketball tickets was two Saturday mornings ago, conveniently placed on our bye weekend. I was at a friends house when I logged onto the ticketing website. All I wanted was to buy the tickets that are included in the student package, which includes all the Big Ten home games and various other big match-ups. (Oh and in case you have been living under a rock for the past three months or so Ohio State is going to be pretty good this year at basketball. They have the only unanimous selection to the preseason All-America team in Jared Sullinger, a stellar recruiting class, and are ranked #3 in nearly every preseason poll I look at. In addition to all that, Duke and Florida are coming to entertain the Buckeyes this winter. Needless to say, this season is going to be hella awesome.) I logged in at about 8:45 in the morning and got right into my account and began to wait until 10 a.m. arrived. Once it did I selected buy tickets and then "2011-2012 basketball season." Everything seem to be going according to plan until I clicked "add to cart" at the bottom of the page. Then it proceeded to freeze on me and say "We apologize, but your request could not be completed at this time. Please click here and try again in a few minutes." So I clicked the button and the site then proceeded to put me back in line. You could say I was in a bit of an uproar at this moment, because if you do not get in right away you are not getting tickets. Period. With Ohio State only selling 1,400 students ticket packages there is no way.

Like I mentioned before I was at my friends place while I was doing this (on my own computer mind you) and she was on hers. She logged in at about five minutes until ten and then selected the tickets she wanted and checked out. No problem at all. She then proceeded to get her roommates tickets. Me, being very upset told her my account information and password and she punched it into her computer. She then put my credit card number in the computer and all that hoopla and boom. I had basketball tickets. I called my roommate who had been texting me that morning about it and got his information. Entered it into her computer and bought his for him. Yes. You read that correctly. My friend bought four sets of tickets for people in a matter of about eight minutes. Talk about stupid.

Immediately Facebook and Twitter blew up about who got tickets and who did not. A lot of my close friends did not get theirs and were very perturbed much like I would be if I did not have that stroke of luck on my side. I am very fortunate and excited for the upcoming season.

As you can see, buying tickets at Ohio State is a nuisance. But you know what is even more of a nuisance? The fact that they only sold 1,400 tickets to students. The story about it is that the university "loses money" on student tickets. Alright, I'm sure it does because alumni are willing to pony up the dough for the seats that they want and Ohio State loves nothing more than cash. But if they say that they lose money on us, my argument is that it is their own fault. In case you don't know Ohio State uses the Jerome Schottenstein Center for their basketball games, both men's and women's. The Jerome Schottenstein Center is not designed to be a basketball arena. Sure it's great for hockey and concerts, but not basketball. Sound dies in their because it is so large and open. Why not step up the game of our basketball program for a little bit and construct a building that is specifically designed for basketball? I know Ohio State has the money. There is no question about that. The university houses nearly 60,000 people and tuition is not exactly cheap-nothing is. Plus they make money on parking for football games, football tickets, basketball tickets, intramural sports, and many other things.

Of course those of you who are die hard Buckeye football fans (I am too don't worry) will say that Ohio State is a football school-always has been and always will be. I know it's true. I do. But sooner or later people are going to have to realize that our basketball program is pretty damn good too thanks to Thad Matta and company. They deserve some love I think, and even though I know that our facilities are unreal and Matta's contract is plenty enough for him I think a new playing facility is needed. Real bad.

Again I apologize to all who did not get any tickets, you deserve better. But now I'm going to take my mean-mug off and talk about a very exciting weekend.

As you all know, this past weekend into Monday was Halloween. Saturday was also the first home night game of the season for the Buckeyes and was against those pesky Badgers from Wisconsin. Now all of you know I have a bit of a soft spot for that state in the form of the Green Bay Packers, but I hate with a passion the Wisconsin Badgers. Bret Bielema (their coach) can suck one for being in my opinion the biggest prick in the Big Ten. And I really just don't like how that program is ran. Anyways, the game Saturday night was without a doubt one of the top five sporting events I have ever attended in my life. Complete with a thrilling comeback from the Badgers to take the lead with less than two minutes to go as well as Braxton Miller making his best play of his young career to lead us back to a victory. Watch that video. It gives me chills every time I watch it.

It was simply a wonderful weekend. My roommates and I went out Friday night as the Channel 4 News Team from the movie Anchorman-complete with dirty staches and suits-and just had a grand ole time.

That's about all I have for right now, simply because I'm tired and can't wait to sleep tonight and get up early for class tomorrow. I will blog as soon as I can. I promise.

Proud Buckeye and Sports Enthusiast,

Eric Seger

Daily Segs

As a side note, Mark Titus has announced he will no longer blog at the ever popular clubtrillion.com due to being recently employed by grantland.com. As much as this is disappointing I wish him all the best and look forward to continue seeing his work on Grantland. GO BUCKEYES!